Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22: Bihar Review

Bihar played in the Plate League. With 3 wins and 2 losses from 5 matches, Bihar finished 3rd in the 8 team Plate League, thus missing out on a knock-out berth. Ashutosh Aman led the side. 

Here is the game-by-game summary of the tournament. 

Game 1: Bihar 222/8 (50) lost to Mizoram 223/3 (47.4) by 7 wickets 

Highlights: Sakibul Gani 114 

List A Debut: Abhijeet Saket, Bipin Saurabh, Malay Raj 

Game 2: Meghalaya 273/6 (50) beat Bihar 272/10 (50) by 1 run 

Highlights: Amod Yadav 3/44, Sakibul Gani 94 

List A Debut: Amod Yadav 

Game 3: Bihar 280/8 (50) beat Nagaland 142/10 (31.4) by 138 runs 

Highlights: Bipin Saurabh 79, Mangal Mahrour 94*, Sarfaraz Ashraf 3/18, Ashutosh Aman 2/14, Shashi Shekhar 2/9 

List A Debut: Nikhil Anand 

Game 4: Sikkim 193/9 (50) lost to Bihar 194/3 (36.5) by 7 wickets 

Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 4/37, Bipin Saurabh 92* 

Game 5: Arunachal Pradesh 83/10 (21.3) lost to Bihar 87/4 (19.1) by 6 wickets 

Highlights: Malay Raj 5/38, Sachin Kumar 3/6, Sakibul Gani 2/29 

List A Debut: Aditya Singh, Kumar Rajnish, Washim Ashrar 

Season Stats 

Highest Scorers 

1. Sakibul Gani 231 @ 77.00, 1x100, 1x50 
2. Mangal Mahrour 188 @ 62.67, 1x50 
3. Bipin Saurabh 182 @ 60.67, 2x50 

Highest Wicket-takers 

1. Ashutosh Aman 7 @ 19.14 
2. Malay Raj 6 @ 13.00 
3. Shashi Shekhar 6 @ 15.83 

Best Batting: Sakibul Gani 114 vs Mizoram 

Best Bowling: Malay Raj 5/38 vs Arunachal Pradesh 

Players Used: 22 

List A Debut: 8 

Overall, not a particularly great run for Bihar. No steady team selections, Debuts being handed out all over the place. Pure batters coming in at the tail! Difficult to see how this team gets better in the near future. 

And now we enter a phase of uncertainty for the next fixture. Although there is an IPL auction coming up as well, but with the exception of Sakibul Gani and maybe Bipin Saurabh, the performances just aren't good enough. Let's see how many progress into the final auction list!

Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 2021-22: Bihar Review

After last season’s run into the knock-outs, Bihar got promoted into the Elite groups. After a good start with a win against Railways, the momentum fizzled out for the Ashutosh Aman led side. Here is a game-by-game summary of the tournament for Bihar 

Game 1: Bihar 169/4 (20) beat Railways 134/10 (18) by 35 runs 

Highlights: Bipin Saurabh 72 (54), Abhijeet Saket 3/15, Hrishi Raj 3/31, Ashutosh Aman 2/25 

T20 Debut: Bipin Saurabh, Hrishi Raj, Yashasvi Rishav 

Game 2: Bihar 131/5 (20) lost to Kerala 132/3 (14.1) by 7 wickets 

Highlights: Sakibul Gani 53* (41), Ashutosh Aman 2/31 

Game 3: Bihar 135/8 (20) lost to Assam 136/17 (18.5) by 3 wickets 

Highlights: Babul Kumar 82 (57), Ashutosh Aman 1/9, Abhijeet Saket 2/25 

T20 Debut: Kumar Rajnish, Malay Raj 

Game 4: Bihar 59/10 (18) lost to Madhya Pradesh 60/1 (5.4) by 9 wickets 

T20 Debut: Shashi Anand, Shekhar Singh 

Game 5: Bihar 118/6 (20) lost to Gujarat 121/5 (19.1) by 5 wickets 

Highlights: Mangal Mahrour 64* (51), Ashutosh Aman 2/10 

T20 Debut: Anunay Singh 

Season Stats 

Highest Scorers 

1. Babul Kumar 131 @ 32.75, 1x50 
2. Bipin Saurabh 125 @ 25.00, 1x50 
3. Mangal Mahrour 119 @ 29.75, 1x50 

Highest Wicket-takers 

1. Ashutosh Aman 7 @ 10.71 
2. Abhijeet Saket 7 @ 18.29 
3. Hrishi Raj 4 @ 17.00 

Best Batting: Babul Kumar 82 vs Assam 

Best Bowling: Abhijeet Saket 3/15 vs Railways 

Players Used: 19 

T20 Debut: 8 

Overall, a poor run for Bihar finishing bottom of the group.

Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 2021: Bihar Review

Bihar had a good run in the tournament. Won all their games in the Plate League and with Nagaland-Chandigarh match called off got sole pole position to qualify for the Quarter-Finals. The Ashutosh Aman lead side had its moments against Rajasthan but fell short in the end. This was the first televised game for this lot, so lets see if any of them have got the eye of the IPL scouts. 

Game 1: Bihar 122/10 (20) beat Arunachal Pradesh 104/9 (20) by 18 runs 

Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 3/17, Sachin Kumar 3/22 

T20 Debut: Amod Yadav, Rahul Kumar, Sachin Kumar, Sakibul Gani, Vikash Yadav 

Game 2: Sikkim 110/8 (20) lost to Bihar 111/2 (19.1) by 8 wickets 

Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 4/18, Mangal Mahrour 55 (46) 

Game 3: Meghalaya 89/9 (20) lost to Bihar 92/4 (16) by 6 wickets 

Highlights: Anuj Raj 3/15, Ashutosh Aman 2/15, Shasheem Rathour 2/17 & 33 (28) 

T20 Debut: Anuj Raj, Akash Raj 

Game 4: Manipur 105/8 (20) lost to Bihar 107/1 (17.1) by 9 wickets 

Highlights: Amod Yadav 4/17, Shasheem Rathour 60* (40) 

Game 5: Mizoram 83/8 (20) lost to Bihar 84/4 (12.4) by 6 wickets 

Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 4/9 

T20 Debut: Mohit Kumar 

Bihar topped the Plate Group and reached the Quarter-Finals 

Quarter-Finals: Rajasthan 164/5 (20) beat Bihar 148/4 (20) by 16 runs 

Highlights: Mangal Mahrour 68* (58) 

T20 Debut: Suraj Kashyap 

Season Stats 

Highest Scorers 

1. Mangal Mahrour 168 @ 33.60, 2x50s 
2. Shasheem Rathour 142 @ 28.40, 1x50 
3. Babul Kumar 108 @ 27.00 

Highest Wicket-takers 

1. Ashutosh Aman 16 @ 7.63 
2. Amod Yadav 7 @10.86 
3. Samar Qaudri 6 @ 17.83 

Best Batting: Mangal Mahrour 68*vs Rajasthan 

Best Bowling: Ashutosh Aman 4/9 vs Mizoram 

Players Used: 15 

T20 Debut: 9

Coming Up Next: Vijay Hazare Trophy 

P.S. Incidentally, this is the 500th post on this blog!

2018-19: Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy: Bihar Review

Bihar’s T20 debut as a team. Unlike the Ranji & Vijay Hazare Trophies, there was no separate Plate Group for the newcomers. And the inexperience showed in the results and numbers. Overall, a disappointing performance. Finished 6th in the Group, after scraping through with a win against Meghalaya. Hopefully it will have been a good learning experience! 

Game 1: Bihar 103/8 (20) lost to Vidarbha 104/3 (14.2) by 7 wickets 

Key Performers: Vivek Kumar 2/27 

T20 Debut: Mangal Mahrour, Vijay Bharti, Babul Kumar, MD Rahmatullah, Asfan Khan, Ashutosh Aman, Vivek Kumar, Prashant Singh, Vishal Das 

Game 2: Bihar 131/9 (20) lost to Tamil Nadu 132/4 (18.5) by 6 wickets 

Key Performers: Ashutosh Aman 2/19 

T20 Debut: Piyush Singh 

Game 3: Bihar 78/10 (18.5) lost to Himachal Pradesh 81/1 (10.3) by 9 wickets 

Game 4: Gujarat 199/4 (20) beat Bihar 116/7 (20) by 83 runs 

Key Performers: Keshav Kumar 61* (62), Vishal Das 2/40 

Game 5: Meghalaya 124/8 (20) lost to Bihar 126/9 (19.5) by 1 wicket 

Key Performers: Ashutosh Aman 4/15, Prashant Singh 2/16, Keshav Kumar 43 (40) 

T20 Debut: Puneet Malik 

Game 6: Rajasthan 129/8 (20) beat Bihar 110/8 (20) by 19 runs 

Key Performers: Prashant Singh 3/23, Vivek Kumar 2/29 

Season Stats 

Top Scorer: 

1. Keshav Kumar – 145 @ 36.25 
2. Asfan Khan – 70 @ 11.67 
3. Mangal Mahrour – 58 @ 9.67 

Highest Score – Keshav Kumar 61* vs Gujarat 

Most Wickets 

1. Ashutosh Aman – 7 @ 18.43 (Who else!!!)
2. Prashant Singh – 6 @ 21.17 
3. Vishal Das – 5 @ 24.80 

Best Figures – Ashutosh Aman 2/19 vs Tamil Nadu 

Player Count: 13 

Debutantes: 11 

Captain Count: 1 (Ashutosh Aman) 

Overall, a big learning experience on being the first time out of the comfort zone of the Plate League. No big standout performance as such. 

Till next season for Bihar!