Ranji Trophy 2022-23: Jharkhand Review

Jharkhand were placed in the Elite Group C. After a roller-coaster ride in the league stages, the Virat Singh led squad finished second and reached the Quarter-finals. In a repeat of last season’s match-up they again lost to Bengal and ended their campaign.

Once again it was the veterans Saurabh Tiwary and Shahbaz Nadeem who stole the show with Nadeem reaching the milestone of 500 first-class wickets. Anukul Roy had a good outing with both bat and ball, while Kumar Kushagra kept a firm grip on the wicket-keeping gloves in absence of Ishan Kishan who missed most of the season being on national duty.

Here is the game by game summary of the season.

Game 1: Kerala 475 & 187/7d beat Jharkhand 340 & 237 by 85 runs

Points: Jharkhand 0, Kerala 6

• First Class Debut: Manishi
• Ishan Kishan - 132 in 1st innings, 6th First class century
• Shahbaz Nadeem - 5/167 & 5/79, 23rd & 24th 5-wicket and 7th 10-wicket haul

Game 2: Jharkhand 386 & 212/3d drew with Goa 362 & 61/3

Points: Jharkhand 3, Goa 1

• Virat Singh – 100* in 2nd innings, 8th First class century, completes 2000 First-class runs in 38th match
• Utkarsh Singh - 1000 career first-class runs in 25th match

Game 3: Services 367 & 214 lost to Jharkhand 551/8d & 31/1 by 9 wickets

Points: Jharkhand 6, Services 0

• Anukul Roy - 6/67 & 4/63 and 57, 1st 5-wicket haul & 1st 10-wicket match haul
• Saurabh Tiwary - 165, 20th First Class Century
• Shahbaz Nadeem - 60 & 5/78, 25th 5-wicket haul

Game 4: Jharkhand 92 & 470/9d drew with Rajasthan 287 & 194/4

Points: Jharkhand 1, Rajasthan 3

• First Class Debut: Aryaman Sen, Supriyo Chakraborty
• Aryaman Sen - 38 & 119, Century on debut & top scorer in both innings
• Anukul Roy - 125 in 2nd Innings, 3rd First Class Century
• Ashish Kumar - 5/76 in 1st innings, 5th 5-wicket haul

Game 5: Jharkhand 103 & 366 beat Chhattisgarh 113 & 312 by 44 runs

Points: Jharkhand 6, Chhattisgarh 0

• Shahbaz Nadeem - 500 First-class wickets in 129 games
• Ashish Kumar - 5/44 in 1st innings, 6th 5-wicket haul
• Anukul Roy - 5/45 in 2nd innings, 2nd 5-wicket haul

Game 6: Pondicherry 231 & 250 lost to Jharkhand 412 & 73/0 by 10 wickets

Points: Jharkhand 7, Pondicherry 0

• First Class Debut: Monu Kumar
• Virat Singh - 124 in 1st innings, 9th First Class Century
• Saurabh Tiwary - 116 in 1st innings, 21st First Class Century
• Kumar Deobrat - 50th First Class match
• Anukul Roy - 1,000 career runs in 23rd match

Game 7: Jharkhand 164 & 201 lost to Karnataka 300 & 66/1 by 9 wickets

Points: Jharkhand 0, Karnataka 6

• Kumar Suraj - 1,000 career runs in 15th first-class match
• Shahbaz Nadeen - 5/141 in 1st innings, 26th 5-wicket haul

Group Stage: Jharkhand finished with 23 points, and somehow with all their opponents also messing up ended in 2nd spot to qualify for the knockouts.

Quarter-Finals: Jharkhand 173 & 221 lost to Bengal 328 & 69/1 by 9 wickets

Season Stats

Highest Scorers

1. Saurabh Tiwary: 653 @59.36 2x100, 4x50
2. Virat Singh: 498 @38.31, 2x100, 2x50
3. Kumar Kushagra: 429 @33.00, 2x50

Highest Wicket-takers

1. Shahbaz Nadeem: 42 @26.81, 4x5
2. Anukul Roy: 26 @22.77, 2x5
3. Ashish Kumar: 19 @26.89, 2x5

Top Score: Saurabh Tiwary 165 vs Services

Best Bowling: Anukul Roy 6/67 vs Services

Players Used: 21 

First Class Debuts: 4