2019-20 Ranji Season: Bihar Review

After a good run in their comeback/debut season, Bihar entered 2019-20 season riding on a 6-match winning streak with a shot at Mumbai’s overall record of 8 wins in row. Although those were dashed in the very first game itself. Overall, this was an inconsistent season for the Ashutosh Aman lead side and Bihar finished 5th in the Plate league. The Plate League has also got more competitive this year unlike last season when it was a straight contest between Bihar & Uttarakhand for the top slot!

Highs & Lows

• Ashutosh Aman had another great season picking 49 wickets and also getting 3 50s.
• Babul Kumar, Rahmatullah and Vikash Ranjan have formed the core of the batting with each of them scoring over 500 runs in the season.
• The initial form of Yashasvi Rishav looks good. 
• Abhijeet Saket picking up consecutive 7-wicket hauls.
• Meanwhile nepotism rocks – Otherwise how does Lakhan Raja keep playing after getting ducks in his first three innings. 

Here is the Match-by-match season summary:

Game 1: Bihar (173 & 196) lost to Puducherry (300 & 70/0) by 10 wickets

Points: Bihar 0, Puducherry 7

• First-Class Debut: Nishant Kumar, Sabir Khan
• 2nd 5-wicket haul for Vivek Kumar

Game 2: Chandigarh (420) drew with Bihar (115 & 175/6 f/o)

Points: Bihar 1, Chandigarh 3

• First-Class Debut: Shashi Shekhar 
• 10th 5-wicket haul for Ashutosh Aman

Game 3: Bihar (326 & 162/1) drew with Goa (470)

Points: Bihar 1, Goa 3

• First-Class Debut: Kumar Mridul
• 11th 5-wicket haul for Ashutosh Aman 
•  First-Class Century #1 for Babul Kumar

Game 4: Mizoram (378 & 68) lost to Bihar (262 & 188/4) 

Points: Bihar 6, Mizoram 0 

• First-Class Debut: Lakhan Raja, Shabbir Khan 
• 12th 5-wicket haul for Ashutosh Aman 
• 1st 5-wicket haul for Abhijeet Saket 

Game 5: Bihar (431) beat Manipur (94 & 154) by innings & 183 runs 

Points: Bihar 7, Manipur 0 

• First-Class Debut: Atulya Priyankar 
• First-Class Century #2 for Indrajit Kumar 
• Abhijeet Saket: 2nd 5-Wicket haul & 1st 10-wicket haul 

Game 6: Nagaland (166 & 444/4) drew with Bihar (509/7d) 

Points: Bihar 3, Nagaland 1 

• First-Class Century #2 for Rahmatullah 
• First-Class Century #1 for Vikash Ranjan 

Game 7: Bihar (208 & 361/4d) drew with Meghalaya (179 & 138/2) 

Points: Bihar 3, Meghalaya 1 

• First-Class Debut: Basukinath, Yashasvi Rishav, Sarfaraz Ashraf & Amod Yadav 
• First-Class Century #3 for Rahmatullah 
• First-Class Century #1 for Yashasv Rishav 
• 100 First-Class wickets for Ashutosh Aman 

Game 8: Arunachal Pradesh (351 & 163) lost to Bihar (291 & 227/4) by 6 wickets 

Points: Bihar 6, Arunachal Pradesh 0 

• First Class Debut: Nikhil Anand 
• First Class Century #4 & #5 as well as 1000 career runs for Rahmatullah. 
• 5-wicket haul #13 & 10-wicket haul #6 for Ashutosh Aman 

Game 9: Bihar (305 & 417/8d) drew with Sikkim (272 & 69/1) 

Points: Bihar 3, Sikkim 1 

• 1000 First-Class runs for Babul Kumar & Century #2 and Highest score 
• First-Class Century #1 for Shasheem Rathour 
• 14th 5-wicket haul for Ashutosh Aman

Season Stats 

Most Runs:

1. Babul Kumar – 822 @54.80, 2x100s & 5x50s
2. Rahmatullah – 695 @63.18, 4x100s & 2x50s
3. Vikash Ranjan – 570 @57.00, 1x100 & 4x50s

Highest Score – Babul Kumar – 195 vs Sikkim

Most Wickets

1. Ashutosh Aman – 49 @18.10, 5x5s 
2. Abhijeet Saket- 26 @15.65, 2x5s
3. Shivam Kumar – 24 @38.75

Best Bowling – Abhijeet Saket – 7/12 vs Mizoram

Player Count: 23

First-Class Debuts: 12 – quite a high number, but expected given that this is just the second season.

Till next season!

Vijay Hazare Trophy 18-19: Bihar Review

Bihar made an excellent comeback to the big leagues, topping the Plate group and reaching the Quarter-finals. It was a team of newcomers with 14 players making their List debuts during the campaign. They were also not helped by the loss of Pragyan Ojha midway through the campaign. Ojha led the side till a mid-campaign injury sidelined him and Keshav Kumar took over in his place. Short summary of the team’s performance follows. 

Game 1: Nagaland 253/8 (50) lost to Bihar 254/2 (43.4) by 8 wickets 

Key Performers: Babul Kumar 121*, Keshav Kumar 76* & 2/35, Samar Quadri 3/35 

List A Debut: Vikas Ranjan, Kundan Sharma, Babul Kumar, Anunay Singh, Rohit Raj, MD Rahmatullah, Diwan Khan 

Game 2: Uttarakhand 160/10 (43.2) lost to Bihar 163/5 (37.3) by 5 wickets 

Key Performers: Vikas Ranjan 79, Anunay Singh 3/21, Samar Quadri 3/37 

List A Debut: Ashish Sinha 

Game 3: Bihar vs Puducherry – Match abandoned due to rain. 

Game 4: Bihar 211/9 (50) beat Meghalaya 103/10 (42.5) by 108 runs 

Key Performers: Samar Quadri 5/22, Ashutosh Aman 3/15 

List A Debut: Anshuman Gautam 

Keshav Kumar led the side in Pragyan Ojha’s absence 

Game 5: Arunachal Pradesh 145/10 (45.3) lost to Bihar 150/5 (26) by 5 wickets 

Key Performers: Keshav Kumar 5/23, Ashutosh Aman 3/15, Babul Kumar 57 

Game 6: Bihar 338/6 (50) beat Sikkim 46/10 (31) by 292 runs 

Key Performers: Rahmatullah 156*, Babul Kumar 92, Keshav Kumar, 3/7, Anunay Singh 3/12 

List A debut: Eshaan Ravi 

Record: Biggest victory margin in runs in List A history in India 

Game 7: Manipur 172/8 (50) lost to Bihar 176/2 (29.1) by 8 wickets 

Key Performers: Rehan Khan 3/39, Babul Kumar 100*, Rahmatullah 50* 

For Manipur, Yashpal Singh scored 134 out of the 172 runs! 

List A debut: Kumar Mridul 

Game 8: Mizoram 83/10 (27.2) lost to Bihar 87/1 (15.4) by 9 wickets 

Key Performers: Keshav Kumar 4/21, Ashutosh Aman 3/2, Vikas Ranjan 59* 

List A debut: Manish Rai 

Bihar topped the group and qualified for the Quarter-Finals 

Quarter-Finals: Bihar 69/10 (28.2) lost to Mumbai 70/1 (12.3) 

List A Debut: Vijay Bharti, Sabir Khan 

Overall, a good run for Bihar!They have got a promotion to Group C of the tournament next year, which is a tougher group to qualify through!  

Coming up next: Ranji Trophy also in the Plate League. Given the recent performances and relative strengths of the sides, Bihar should be able to make it through to the quarters from this group. 

Season Stats 

Highest Scorers 

1. Babul Kumar – 419 @ 83.80 with 2 centuries (earlier represented Jharkhand)
2. Rahmatullah – 256 @ 85.33 with 1 century
3. Vikas Ranjan – 247 @35.29 

Most Wickets 

1. Keshav Kumar – 15 @ 9.40 
2. Ashutosh Aman – 15 @ 8.40 
3. Samar Quadri – 12 @ 16.25 (who earlier represented Jharkhand)

Highest Score – Rahmatullah 156 vs Sikkim 

Best Bowling – Samar Quadri 5/22 vs Meghalaya 

Players Used – 18 with 14 List A debutantes