Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022-23: Jharkhand Review

Jharkhand placed in Group B with all matches played in Kolkata. The Virat Singh lead squad finished 3rd in the Group. However, they qualified as best 3rd place team to join the 5 Group runners-up in the Pre-Quarter Finals, where they once again met Karnataka and met a similar fate. Overall, it was a decent campaign. Some of the batters were amongst the runs. And in Kumar Kushagra, they have found another wicket-keeper batter who can keep a calm head in a crisis both in chases as well as while rebuilding an innings. Won’t be surprised if some of the franchisees looking for a back-up wicket-keeper show a keen interest in him during the upcoming IPL Auction!

Here is a game by game summary of the tournament.

Game 1: Jharkhand 309/3 (50) beat Sikkim 116/10 (40.1/50) by 193 runs
Highlights: Rahul Shukla 5/19, Utkarsh Singh 52 & 1/4, Virat Singh 75, Saurabh Tiwary 63*, Kumar Deobrat 51*

Game 2: Assam 163/10 (39.4) lost to Jharkhand 166/2 (35) by 8 wickets
Highlights: Vivekanand Tiwari 4/42, Utkarsh Singh 83* & 1/12, Virat Singh 50

Game 3: Jharkhand 107/10 (40.4) lost to Karnataka 108/4 (26.3) by 6 wickets
Highlights: Kumar Kushagra 56

Game 4: Rajasthan 270/10 (49) lost Jharkhand 271/5 (49) by 5 wickets
Highlights: Rahul Shukla 5/53, Utkarsh Singh 91 & 1/31, Saurabh Tiwary 76

Game 5: Jharkhand 321/2 (50) beat Meghalaya 129/10 (40.3) by 192 runs
Highlights: Utkarsh Singh 128*, Virat Singh 112, Vikash Singh 3/17, Sushant Mishra 3/33

Game 6: Delhi 259/5 (50) lost to Jharkhand 260/5 (48.5) by 5 wickets
Highlights: Virat Singh 116*

Game 7: Vidarbha 297/3 (50) beat Jharkhand 288/6 (50) by 9 runs
Highlights: Saurabh Tiwary 138*, Kumar Kushagra 55

Pre-Quarter-Final: Jharkhand 187/10 (47.1) lost to Karnataka 188/5 (40.5) by 5 wickets
List A Debut: Arnav Sinha
Highlights: Kumar Kushagra 74, Anukul Roy 57

Tournament Stats
Highest Scorers
  1. Virat Singh: 390 @ 65.00, 2x100, 2x50
  2. Utkarsh Singh: 370 @ 61.67, 1x100, 3x50
  3. Saurabh Tiwary: 367 @ 91.75, 1x100, 2x50
Highest Wicket-takers
  1. Rahul Shukla: 16 @ 16.25, 2x5
  2. Shahbaz Nadeem: 8 @ 37.50
  3. Sushant Mishra: 7 @ 19.86
Top Score: Saurabh Tiwary: 138* vs Vidarbha
Best Bowling: Rahul Shukla: 5/19 vs Sikkim
Players Used: 17 
List A Debuts: 1

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

Vijay Hazare Trophy 22-23: Bihar review

Bihar were placed in Group C with all matches played in Bengaluru. Another poor outing for Bihar as they finished with 4 points from 2 abandoned games and 5 losses to finish 7th in the 8 strong group. The learning curve has still a long way to go for the Ashutosh Aman lead side.

There was no consistency in selection with 21 players used off whom 6 played only one game each!

Here is the game by game summary

Game 1: Tamil Nadu 106/2 (17.1/38) vs Bihar: Match Abandoned due to rain
List A Debut: Harsh Singh, Surya Vansh

Game 2: Goa 329/6 beat Bihar 241/10 (46.5) by 88 runs
Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 3/42, Sachin Kumar 76, Surya Vansh 63

Game 3: Bihar 158/10 (47.5) lost to Haryana 159/1 (22.2) by 9 wickets
List A Debut: Raghuvendra Pratap Singh

Game 4: Andhra 302/7 (50) beat Bihar 170/10 (44.3) by 132 runs
Highlights: Veer Pratap Singh 60
Vijay Vats played his first senior game in India, having earlier played in Sri Lanka earlier this year!

Game 5: Chhattisgarh 304/7 (50) beat Bihar 241/9 (50) by 63 runs
List A Debut: Adhiraj Johri, Shishir Saket
Highlights: Bipin Saurabh 110* (86)

Game 6: Bihar 201/10 (49.3) lost to Kerala 205/1 (24.4) by 9 wickets
List A Debut: Gaurav, Himansu Singh
Highlights: Sakibul Gani 68

Game 7: Arunachal Pradesh 170/10 (48.4) vs Bihar 56/2 (13.5): Match abandoned due to rain
List A Debut: Ravi Shankar
Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 3/19, Sachin Kumar 3/26, Veer Pratap Singh 3/39

Tournament Stats
Highest Scorers
  1. Sachin Kumar: 183 @36.60, 1x50
  2. Bipin Saurabh: 159 @53.00, 1x100
  3. Sakibul Gani: 113 @18.83, 1x50
Highest Wicket-takers
  1. Harsh Singh: 8 @34.75
  2. Ashutosh Aman: 7 @ 33.57
  3. Sachin Kumar: 6 @22.00
Top Score: Bipin Saurabh 110* vs Chhattisgarh
Best Bowling: Ashutosh Aman 3/19 vs Arunachal
Players Used: 21
List A Debuts: 8

Overall, a very disappointing show from Bihar. Lets see how they perform in the Ranji Trophy