Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018: Jharkhand Review

A bad season for Jharkhand comes to an end with the team finishing 5th in Group D of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.  Here is a summary of the action.

Ishan Kishan takes over as captain of the Jharkhand team, while Ishank Jaggi continues to miss out on account of injury.

Game 1: Vidarbha 300/10 (49) beat Jharkhand 293/7 (50) by 7 runs

• Key Performers: Rahul Shukla 4/52 (10), Shahbaz Nadeem 2/53 (10) & 21*, Atul Surwar 2/52 (9), Vikash Singh 2/78 (9) & 59* (37); Saurabh Tiwary 65 (77), Kumar Deobrat 60 (76). 
• A valiant 8th wicket unbeaten partnership off 85 runs off 50 balls between Vikash & Nadeem wasn’t enough for Jharkhand to cross the line.
• List A Debuts: Nazim Siddiqui, Atul Surwar, Sumit Kumar
• Nazim Siddiqui had a golden duck on debut!
• Vikash Singh recorded his highest List A Score & best bowling performance.

Game 2: Hyderabad 333/7 (50) beat Jharkhand 267 (46.5) by 66 runs

• Key Performers: Rahul Shukla 2/69 (9), Ishan Kishan 51 (65) & Atul Surwar 58* (57)
• Another valiant lower order partnership after a top order crumble!
• Nazim Siddiqui got his 2nd duck in a row in his 2nd List A Game!
• Virat Singh gets his 1st List A wicket.
• Maiden List A 50 for Atul Surwar

Game 3: Services 202/9 (50) lost to Jharkhand 203/5 (30.5) by 5 wickets

• Key Performers: Varun Aaron (3/20), Anukul Roy (2/20), Ishan Kishan 106 (75), Saurabh Tiwary 56* (67)
• Senior debut for U-19 World Cup star Anukul Roy, who had an excellent game. 
• 1st List A century for Ishan Kishan.

Game 4: Jharkhand 329/9 (50) lost to Saurashtra 333/6 (48.2) by 4 wickets

• Key Performers: Ishan Kishan 93(96), Sumit Kumar (64)
• List A debuts for Utkarsh Singh & Ashish Kumar
• Maiden List A Fifty for Sumit Kumar

Game 5: Jharkhand 288/9 (50) lost to Chhattisgarh 294/3 (46) by 7 wickets

• Key Performers: Saurabh Tiwary 107 (105), Kumar Deobrat 51 (74), Varun Aaron 2/51
• 5th List A century for Saurabh Tiwary

Game 6: Jharkhand 296/9 (50) beat Jammu & Kashmir 199/10 (46) by 97 runs

• Key Performers: Virat Singh 96 (97), Ashish Kumar 3/23 (7), Vikash Singh 3/37 (8), Anukul Roy 2/38 (10)
• Team captained by Virat Singh in the absence of the injured Ishan Kishan.
• Highest List A score for Virat Singh.

Season Stats

Top Scorers:

• Saurabh Tiwary: 322 @ 64.40 
• Ishan Kishan: 313 @ 78.25
• Virat Singh: 195 @ 32.50

Most Wickets:

• Vikash Singh: 8 @ 32.25
• Rahul Shukla: 8 @ 36.00
• Varun Aaron: 7 @ 34.14

That's it for this season with just the Irani Trophy and IPL left. Hoping to be back again next season where there is a good chance of Bihar also featuring. So might cover two teams instead of one!

Ranji Trophy 17-18: Jharkhand vs Saurashtra

Match Summary: Saurashtra (553/9d & 59/4) beat Jharkhand (270 &341 (f/o)) by 6 wickets
Points: Saurashtra 6, Jharkhand 0

Cheteshwar Pujara has had a lean patch in recent times and he chose this very match to come back into form! In the process shattering the record for the most double centuries by an Indian batsman. For some reason Ranji, after whom the Trophy is named is not counted as an Indian batsman!!

Jharkhand were simply outplayed by the Saurashtra side. Although there were some passages of play when they were on top. In the first innings after taking down the first 4 Saurashtra wickets quickly. And in the entertaining passage of play following-on when Nazim Siddiqui and Sumit Kumar were going at over 5 runs per over. Siddiqui was unlucky to miss out on a century by a whisker - out for 99 off just 75 balls! With the ball, they did knock off 4 Saurashtra wickets while defending a meager target of 59.

The result makes the task of qualifying even more difficult.

Highlights

• Playing XI:Changes: 
• In: Sumit Kumar, Sonu Singh, (both in their first appearance of the season), Ashish Kumar
• Out: Jaskaran Singh, Sunny Gupta, Virat SIngh
• Maiden first-class century for Sumit Kumar, who also kept wickets, while Ishan Kishan played as a pure batsman.
• First-class century #18 for Ishank Jaggi, also his 3rd of the season.
• 50 FC wickets for Ashish Kumar in his 15th game

Season Stats

• Top Scorer: Ishank Jaggi - 399 @66.50
• Top Wicket-taker: Sunny Gupta - 15@20.20
• Player Count: 17
• Captain Count: 2

Points Tally - 8 after 4 games. Stayed at 4th. However, the gap with Top 3 has widened quite a bit. Need outright victories in both remaining games to stay in contention.

Coming Up Next

Jammu & Kashmir who are in the 6th place.

Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 15-16: Jharkhand Group Stage Review

Its been a good season for Jharkhand. Different format, yet the same result. Jharkhand marched into the second stage with ease in the national T20 tournament.

Game 1 : Tripura [146/7(20)] lost to Jharkhand [150/1(18.3)] by 9 wickets 

Points: Jharkhand 4, Tripura 0 

Lineup: Virat Singh, Ishank Jaggi, Saurabh Tiwary, Kumar Deobrat, Shahbaz Nadeem, Vikash Singh, Ankit Dabas, Monu Kumar, Prakash Seet, Kaushal Singh, Sumit Kumar 

T20 debuts: Ankit Dabas, Monu Kumar, Sumit Kumar 

Key Performers: Nadeem (3/18), Virat Singh (65), Jaggi (75*) 

Game 2: Rajasthan [120/9(20)] lost to Jharkhand [121/2(19.5)] by 8 wickets 

Points: Jharkhand 4, Rajasthan 0 

Key Performers: Vikash Singh (4/12), Saurabh Tiwary (61* & 3 Catches), Sumit Kumar (38*) 

Game 3: Jharkhand [104/9(20)] lost to Punjab [105/3(17.3)] by 7 wickets 

Points: Jharkhand 0, Punjab 4 

Team Changes: Out – Saurabh Tiwary, In – Anand Singh 

Key Performers: Virat Singh (41), Prakash Seet (2/31) 

Game 4: Jharkhand [179/4(20)] beat Jammu & Kashmir [103/7(20) by 76 runs 

Points: Jharkhand 4, Jammu & Kashmir 0

Team Changes: Out – Anand Singh, Monu Kumar, Ankit Dabas; In – Saurabh Tiwary, Shasheem Rathour, Sonu Singh 

T20 Debut: Shasheem Rathour, Sonu Singh 

Key Performers: Rathour (50 & 1/17 on debut), Tiwary (57*), Sonu Singh (2/16), Nadeem (2/16) 

Jharkhand beat J&K across all 3 formats in the 2015-16 season 

Game 5: Saurashtra [128/5(20)] lost to Jharkhand [132/3(19.3)] by 7 wickets 

Points: Jharkhand 4, Saurashtra 0 

Team Changes: Out – Ankit Dabas, In – Saurabh Tiwary 

Key Performers: Sonu Singh (2/23), Rathour (1/18 & 27), Virat Singh (41) 

Game 6: Kerala [169/6(20)] lost to Jharkhand [174/4(19)] by 6 Wickets 

Points: Jharkhand 4, Kerala 0 

Team Changes: Out- Virat Singh, In – Ankit Dabas 

Key Performers: Nadeem (3/31), Jaggi (45), Kaushal Singh (33) 

Season Stats: 

Top Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary 174 @174 

Most Wickets: 9 @15.67
Player Count: 14

Jharkhand qualified for the quarter-finals finishing joint top of the group with Kerala. And alongwith Vidarbha are the only 2 dometic teams to reach the second stage in each of the 3 national competitions. Thats quite an achievement, specially given the absence of some key players on national duties.

Coming Up Next: Syed Mustaq Ali Super League where Jharkhand are clubbed with Uttar Pradesh, Delhi & Gujarat, with the group toppers reaching the finals. 

Fixtures: 

15-Jan-16: Jharkhand vs Uttar Pradesh 

16-Jan-16: Jharkhand vs Delhi 

18-Jan-16: Jhakrhand vs Gujarat
20-Jan-16: Finals

Ranji Trophy 15-16: Jharkhand vs Tripura

Match Summary: Tripura (166 & 161) lost to Jharkhand (394/4d) by an innings & 67 runs

Points: Jharkhand 7, Tripura 0 

This was the best possible result for Jharkhand's qualification chances. A win with a bonus point as well. Knocked out Tripura for 166 riding on the back of Rahul Shukla's 6-wicket haul. The opening partnership was dodgy but the rest of the line-up all batted big and achieved a huge lead. Second time around also Tripura were found wanting as Nadeem ran through the lineup. The Tripura batsme were just about able to extend the game into the 4th day.

Game Notes

• Shahbaz Nadeem remains the captain. 
• Team Changes: Ajay Yadav and Sumit Kumar returned while out went Ishan Kishan and Samar Qaudri.
• 11th first-class century  for Ishank Jaggi who seems to have recovered from his bad run of form.
• A career-best 6 for 40 for Rahul Shukla, his second career fifer
• Nadeem got his 7th career fifer and his second for the season.
• Sumit Kumar pouche 5 catches behind the stumps in the Tripura 1st innings.

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary 383 @ 42.56

Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 29 @ 19.52
Player Count: 20 from 6 Games
Captain Count: 3 from 6 Games

Points Tally - 17 after 6 games. Moved up one place to 5th. Now, lying 7 points behind Himachal Pradesh who are currently in place for the second knock-out spot from the Group. With 2 rounds left, it is still mathematically possible though need quite a few results going in our way.

Coming Up Next - Away game against second placed Himachal Pradesh. Full points here would do the qualification chances a world of good.

Ranji Trophy 15-16: Jharkhand vs Goa

Match Summary: Goa (302 & 102/5d) drew with Jharkhand (209 & 105/6)

Points: Jharkhand 1, Goa 3

After the high of victory against Kerala comes a one-point draw against Goa. In a match effectively reduced to three days owing to a wet outfield on first day, Goa chose to bat first after winning the toss. Goa scored 302 and it was set to be a clash for the first innings lead. Jharkhand's batting misfired again as they conceded 93 run lead. Having secured the first innings lead, Goa scored a few quick runs, and set a target of 196 in 36 overs in search of an outright victory. Jharkhand avoided a complete collapse and managed to secure a single point from the game

Game Notes

• Jharkhand captaincy changed hands again as Varun Aaron sat out the game and former skipper Shahbaz Nadeem led in his place. 
• Lots of team changes as out went Ishan Kishan, Jaskaran Singh, Kaushal Singh, Varun Aaron and Ashish Kumar. Kumar Deobrat, Rahul Shukla and Samar Quadri came back into the squad while Sumit Kumar and Sunny Gupta got their first game of the season.
• Sumit Kumar scored his maiden first class half-century in his 3rd game.
• Rituraj Singh who turned out for Jharkhand last year played against them for Goa in this season.

Highlights

• Samar Quadri's 6-wicket haul in Goa's first innings.

Season Stats

Top Scorer: Saurabh Tiwary 226 @ 32.29

Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 18 @ 17.94
Player Count: 20 from 4 Games
Captain Count: 3 from 4 Games

Points Tally - 7 after 4 games. Moved down to 7th spot. Lying 13 points behind Himachal Pradesh who are currently in place for the second knock-out spot from the Group. The task is certainly getting more and more difficult though still not improbable.

Coming Up Next - A home game against Jammu & Kashmir, who are one spot ahead in the table. 

Ranji Trophy 14-15: Jharkhand vs Himachal Pradesh

Match Summary: Himachal Pradesh (304 & 91/6) drew with Jharkhand (232) 

Points: Jharkhand 1, Himachal Pradesh 3

It was a weird sort of game. A tale of 2 big second wicket stands followed by a collapses. Batting first, Himachal had a big 2nd wicket stand between Ankus Bains and Ankit Kalsi. The second days play was lost due to weather. Then Himachal had a spectacular collapse from 224/1 to 304 all out. Jharkhand produced a big second wicket stand of their own. Going into the final day they looked set for the first innings lead. Instead they suffered a collapse of their own moving from  127 for 1 to 232 all out. Though they managed to reduce Himachal to 91 for 6 the second time around, time had run out . Himachal managed to take the vital innings lead.

Sumit Kumar made his first class debut for Jharkhand. He is now the 3rd wicket-keeper to play for the team this Ranji season.

Highlights: 127 run 2nd wicket partnership between Nemat & Tiwary which gave a glimmer of hope for the innings lead. Also taking out the last  8 wickets for 80 runs after conceding a 200 plus 2nd wicket stand in the 1st innings.

Season Stats:

Top Scorer: Ishank Jaggi 371 @53.00

Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 17 @21.76

Standings - 6 points from 5 games. Drop down to 8th place. A knock-out berth is now only a arithmetic possibility and not a realistic chance/

Coming Up Next - 4th place Hyderabad.

P.S. The Jharkhand captaincy has changed mid-season with Kumar Deobrat now at the helm. Saurabh Tiwary apparently decided that captaincy was taking a toll on his batting and decided to step down to focus on his game.