Ranji Trophy 2022-23: Bihar Review

Bihar - Ranji Plate League Champions

That has a nice ring to it.

Bihar were placed in the 6 team Plate Group. After finishing 4th in the group stage, the Ashutosh Aman lead side upped the ante and registered comprehensive victories in the semi-finals and finals to be crowned the inaugural Plate League winners of the Ranji Trophy. And they also got the much-awaited promotion to the Elite League next year!

Here is a game-by-game review of the season

Game 1: Arunachal Pradesh 212 & 84 lost to Bihar 517 by an innings & 221 runs

Points: Bihar 7, Arunachal Pradesh 0

• First Class Debut: Baljeet Singh Bihari, Adhiraj Johri
• Adhiraj Johri – 118, Century on Debut
• Sachin Kumar – 156, 1st First Class Century & Player of the Match
• Malay Raj – 2/48 & 5/35, 1st 5-wicket haul

Game 2: Bihar 311 & 287/9d drew with Manipur 296 & 248/8

Points: Bihar 3, Manipur 1

• Babul Kumar – 156, 4th First Class Century
• Malay Raj – 5/35, 2nd 5-wicket haul

Game 3: Bihar 264 & 99 lost to Meghalaya 167 & 200/6 by 4 wickets

Points: Bihar 0, Meghalaya 6

• First Class Debut – Anuj Raj, Raghuvendra Pratap Singh
• Bipin Saurabh – 107 in 1st innings; 1st First Class century

Game 4: Sikkim 157 & 122/4 drew with Bihar 157

Points: Bihar 1, Sikkim 1

• Veer Pratap Singh – 5/30, 4th 5-wicket haul

Game 5: Bihar 474 drew with Mizoram 176 & 379/6 (f/o)

Points: Bihar 3, Mizoram 1

• First Class Debut: Varun Raj
• Babul Kumar – 209, 5th First class century
• Shivam Singh – 110, 1st First class century

Bihar finished 4th in the Group Stage and met group toppers Meghalaya in the Semi-Finals

Plate League Semi-Final: Bihar 428 & 164 beat Meghalaya 134 & 156 by 302 runs and qualified for the Elite League next season

• First Class Debut: Nawaz Khan
• Bipin Saurabh – 177 in the 1st innings, 2nd First-class century
• Ashutosh Aman – 150 first-class wickets

Plate League Final: Bihar 546 & 335 beat Manipur 337 & 224 by 220 runs

• Sakibul Gani – 205 in 1st innings, 3rd First-class century, 1,000 career runs in 10th game
• Sachin Kumar – 132 in 2nd innings, 2nd First-class century
• Bipin Saurabh – 155 in 1st innings, 3rd First-class century
• Nazwaz Khan – 5/82 & 5/95, 1st & 2nd 5-wicket haul and 1st 10-wicket haul

Season Stats

Highest Scorers

1. Sakibul Gani: 585 @53.18, 1x100, 3x50
2. Sachin Kumar: 562 @51.09, 2x100, 2x50
3. Bipin Saurabh: 521 @47.36, 3x100, 1x50

Highest Wicket-takers

1. Ashutosh Aman: 28 @21.25,
2. Sachin Kumar: 20 @24.35
3. Veer Pratap Singh: 16 @24.94, 1x5

Top Score: Babul Kumar 209 vs Mizoram

Best Bowling: Veer Pratap Singh 5/30 vs Sikkim

Players Used: 24

First Class Debuts: 6

Overall, a good season for Bihar with Sachin Kumar being their best player closely followed by Bipin Saurabh. Looking forward to the next season in the Elite Leagues now!

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

Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 2022-23: Bihar Review

Bihar were placed in Group D. All matches held in Indore and mostly televised live presenting a great opportunity for the players to present their cases for the next IPL auctions.

Things did not go too well for the Ashutosh Aman lead side. They beat Nagaland and almost trumped Andhra but were outplayed in the other matches to finish 6th in the group.

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

Game 1: Nagaland 145/8 (20) lost to Bihar 148/4 (19.1) by 6 wickets

T20 Debut: Raghuvendra Pratap Singh, Rishav Raj

Highlights: Anuj Raj 4/32, Abhijeet Saket 2/19, Bipin Saurabh 29 (19), Sachin Kumar 34* (18)

Game 2: Himachal Pradesh (179/7) (20) beat Bihar 150/6 (20) by 29 runs

T20 Debut: Anshuman Raj, Apurva Anand

Highlights: Sakibula Gani 48 (29), Bipin Saurabh 40 (32)

Game 3: Baroda 156/5 (20) beat Bihar 120/8 (20) by 36 runs

Highlights: Anuj Raj 2/19, Sachin Kumar 0/15 & 38 (35)

Game 4: Bihar 181/2 (20) lost to Andhra 186/8 (19.4) by 2 wickets

T20 Debut: Pietar Mardi, Sakib Hussain

Highlights: Babul Kumar 72 (50), Bipin Saurabh 52 (39), Abhijeet Saket 3/31

Game 5: Bihar 119/10 (19.4) lost to Saurashtra 124/2 (14.1) by 8 wickets

T20 Debut: Roshan Madhav

Game 6: Bihar 161/7 (20) lost to Gujarat 165/6 (14) by 4 wickets

Highlights: Mangal Mahrour 51* (37), Sakib Hussain 4/20

Tournament Stats

Highest Scorers

1. Bipin Saurabh: 141 @ 23.50, 1x50
2. Sakibul Gani 140 @ 28.00
3. Sachin Kumar 127 @ 31.75

Highest Wicket-takers

1. Anuj Raj: 9 @ 14.56
2. Abhijeet Saket: 7 @ 25.14
3. Sakib Hussain: 4 @ 11.75

Top Score: Babul Kumar 72 vs Andhra 

Best Bowling: Sakib Hussain 4/20 vs Gujarat

Players Used: 20

T20 Debuts: 7

Overall, not much to write about for the Bihar team, although the things are improving slightly.

Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Bihar Review

Bihar finished 5th in the Plate group with a campaign which started promisingly ending in a whimper. However, Sakibul Gani’s breakout performance were certainly the highlight of the campaign. Let’s see how he builds on from here.

Ashutosh Aman lead the side. Here is a game-by-game summary of the season.

Game1: Bihar 686/5d drew with Mizoram 328 & 199/4 (f/o)

Points: Bihar 3, Mizoram 1

Highlights:

• Sakibul Gani 341 – 1st player to score a triple century on first-class debut – world record for highest score on debut
• Babul Kumar 229* - Highest score, 3rd First-class century
• 538 – partnership between Sakibul & Babul
• Bipin Saurabh – 50 on first-class debut
• First-class debut – Bipin Saurabh, Malay Raj, Sachin Kumar, Sakibul Gani, Vikash Kumar

Game 2: Bihar 431/9d & 263/3 drew with Sikkim 673/8d

Points: Bihar 1, Sikkim 3

Highlights:

• Sakibul Gani – 98 & 101*, the fantastic start continued, 2nd First-class century
• Yashasvi Rishav – 112* in 2nd innings, 2nd first-class century
• First-class debut – Abhinav Kumar

Game 3: Arunachal Pradesh 196 & 253 beat Bihar 109 & 325 by 15 runs

Points: Bihar 0, Arunachal Pradesh 6

Highlights:

• Ashutosh Aman – 4/51 & 5/56 and 75 in 2nd innings; 15th 5-wicket haul in 20 matches!
• Vikrant Singh – 50 on debut
• Rishav Raj – 50 on debut
• Sakibul Gani – 4 wickets & 61 runs in the match
• First-class debut – Amit Sotiya, Banshidhar Kumar, Govind Chaudhary, Rishav Raj, Saurav Kumar, Shivam Singh, Vikrant Singh

Season Stats

Highest Scorers

1. Sakibul Gani 601 @ 150.25, 1x300, 1x100, 1x50 – Highest scorer in this year’s Ranji Trophy
2. Babul Kumar 372 @ 93.00, 1x200, 1x50
3. Bipin Saurabh 126 @ 126.00, 2x50

Highest Wicket-takers

1. Ashutosh Aman 14 @ 20.50, 1x5
2. Abhijeet Saket 8 @ 29.75
3. Sachin Kumar 6 @ 37.50

Best Batting: Sakibul Gani 341 vs Mizoram

Best Bowling: Ashutosh Aman 5/56 vs Arunachal Pradesh

Player Count: 20

Captain Count: 1 

First-Class Debut: 13

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!

Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021: Bihar Review

BCCI managed to conduct the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy across 6 bio-secure bubbles. Given their previous performances, Bihar had moved out of the Plate group. And the step-up to the Elite level was too big a gap for the team. Bihar lost all their 5 games and were competitive in only one game against Odisha. 

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

Game 1: Bihar 189/10 (45.5) lost to Railways 190/0 (29) by 10 wickets 

Highlights: Anuj Raj 72 from No.9 

List A Debut: Anuj Raj, Akash Raj, Rahul Kumar, Shabbir Khan 

Game 2: Karnataka 354/3 (50) beat Bihar 87/10 (27.2) by 267 runs 

Game 3: Bihar 193/10 (46.1) lost to Uttar Pradesh 194/5 (28) by 5 wickets 

Highlights: Yashaswi Rishav 67 

List A Debut: Lakhan Raja, Rishav Raj, Yashasvi Rishav, Suraj Kashyap 

One unnamed Bihar player tested positive for Covid-19 prior to the game. 

Game 4: Bihar 255/7 (50) lost to Odisha 258/3 (48.1) by 7 wickets 

Highlights: Babul Kumar 78 

List A Debut: Apurva Anand 

Game 5: Bihar 148/10 (40.2) lost to Kerala 149/1 (8.5) by 9 wickets 

Highlights: Babul Kumar 64 

List A Debut: Vikash Patel 

Kerala went hammer and tongs to overhaul Bihar’s target! 

Tournament Stats 

Highest Scorers 

1. Babul Kumar 181 @ 26.20 with 2x50s 
2. Sakibul Gani 111 @ 22.20 
3. Anuj Raj 104 @ 26.00 with 1x50 

Top Innings: Babul Kumar 78 vs Odisha 

Most Wickets 

1. Ashutosh Aman 3 @ 63.00 
2. Anuj Raj 3 @ 69.67 
3. Rahul Kumar 2 @ 70.50 

Best Bowling: Ashutosh Aman 2/44 vs Uttar Pradesh 

Player Count: 18 

List A Debuts: 10 

So 5 straight losses and one covid positive result. Not too great a series. 

And now the team moves back into uncertainty as we do not know when the next fixture will come up!