Ranji Trophy 2022 | Snippets of Mumbai, UP, Bengal, Karnataka from league stages
Ranji Trophy knockouts start on Monday, June 6th, marking the return of the four-day cricket to conclude the 2021-22 domestic season in India.
This year, the premier domestic red-ball tournament is being held in two parts to make room for the smooth conduct of the Indian Premier League. The league stage was held in February and March, with the knockouts being scheduled to be played from June 6th in Bengaluru.
Mumbai, Bengal, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh qualified for the quarterfinals after finishing at the top of their respective groups with Jharkhand being the 8th team to qualify for the last eight after beating Nagaland in the pre-quarterfinal.
As we build up to the knockout stages of the Ranji Trophy, let's take quick snippets of the final eight teams, making their road to the quarterfinals from the league stages, starting with Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal and Karnataka in this Part.
Shades of old Mumbai…
Drawing in the same group as last time winners', Saurashtra, nobody, predicted Mumbai to be going into the knockouts. Mumbai played Saurashtra at the colossus Narendra Modi Stadium - what a place to hold a Ranji Trophy game between two absolute giants, seeing veteran Ajinkya Rahane and the young batting sensation Sarfaraz Khan shining on Day 1. Sarfaraz, who is known for making big hundreds, went on to score a massive 275, with Mohit Avasthi, on debut, carving out the Saurashtra's batting order with the ball. However, the reigning champions fought back on the last day, stalling Mumbai's first victory of the season.
A disappointed Mumbai side squared up against Goa in the second round, a must win game for both the teams. A poor start with the bat saw the 41-times champion losing their sight on a quarterfinal berth. But as i said, there was a sense of old Mumbai in this brand new Mumbai team. After conceding a 164 lead in the first innings, they were 208 for 7 with just 44 runs ahead. Then comes the duo of Tanush Kotian and Shams Mulani, who added 116 runs and changed Mumbai's this year's campaign completely. Tanush Kotian's 98 with the bat, followed by an 11 wicket haul for Shams Mulani, took Mumbai home by 119 runs. They later went on to defeat Odisha and qualified for the quarterfinals ahead of defending champions Saurashtra.
With 29 wickets in three games, Mulani leads the wicket-taking chart this season and Sarfaraz Khan was the highest run scorer for Mumbai with 551 runs at an average of 137.
Rinku Singh and Uttar Pradesh
I'm literally short of words for Rinku Singh. He does it for Uttar Pradesh again and again and again.
If you see UP's recent domestic tales, Rinku Singh will be the hero in half of those. That's the impact of this Aligarh-born cricketer on his stateside.
It was the first round of the Ranji Trophy this season, and Uttar Pradesh were 126 for 6. 121 runs behind on the final day against Vidarbha before the duo of Rinku and Saurabh Kumar managed an incredible heist taking UP from 126 for 6 to 280 for six at the end of the day, taking a draw out of it.
That massive partnership played such a significant role that, up until the final day in the group stage, Uttar Pradesh and Vidarbha were in a close battle for the quarterfinal berth.
UP needed to chase 357 on the final day against Maharashtra, with quarterfinal hopes on the line. Playing his first game of the season, Almas Shaukat and skipper Karan Sharma hit centuries, keeping the chase alive. In the last hour, an unbeaten 60-ball 78 from Rinku Singh made history for Uttar Pradesh as it was the fourth highest successful run chase in Ranji Trophy. UP topped the group and made it to the knockouts.
Bengal's mission to take one step further
After falling short in the final of the 2019-2020 season, this Bengal side looks hungry like never before. The only team that won all three games in the group stage is all set to go one step further this time.
The game against Baroda showed that this Bengal side can rise up from any ruin as they did the unbelievable on the final day at Cuttack.
Bengal were bowled out for 88 in the first innings before Baroda asked them to chase 349 on a damp four-day wicket in the fourth innings.
Bengal were 176 for five, losing wickets consistently after a good start from the top order. It was a blast from the past once Shahbaz Ahmed was in the middle as it was him who stood tall for Bengal in a successful run chase of 320 against Rajasthan last time around. But this time, he could not have done it alone.
Abishek Porel, remember the name
The young wicket-keeper batter, who was a part of the India U19 World Cup-winning team earlier this year, made his first class debut against Baroda after scoring a truck load of runs in the Cooch Behar Trophy. He along with Shahbaz went on to chase the 349 total, steering Bengal to a four wicket victory. That was some statement, by recording the highest successful run chase after getting bowled out for just 88 in the first innings.
Karnataka on a revamp
After losing their veteran pacemen in Vinay Kumar, Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Aravind, the eight-time winners are in a transition period, especially in their pace attack. Prasidh Krishna's unavailability makes it more difficult for the Manish and co.
During the first round against Railways, it was clearly reflected that the Karnataka side was struggling with their pace attack. Having conceded more than four hundred runs, Karnataka could only manage to take three points from that game.
However, the return of Prasidh Krishna made things easier for them in the last two group games. Their batting looks a lot stronger, with Manish Pandey leading from the front. The right-hander scored more than 300 in the group stage, which included two centuries as well. Karun Nair also came back to form, scoring a First class century after four years.
Meanwhile, that draw against Railways could have created a lot more damage to Karnataka had the predicted rains in Chennai ruined their round three fixture against Puducherry, which they managed to win in the end.
