Ranji Trophy 2010-11: Super League

[kabira]

Vohra is not as tall as Pankaj Singh, but seems to have big heart. Can crank it upto 132 right now..puts lot of effort in the delivery stride.. I think he can get better if groomed well.

[rkt.india]

Vohra is not as tall as Pankaj Singh' date=' but seems to have big heart. Can crank it upto 132 right now..puts lot of effort in the delivery stride.. I think he can get better if groomed well.[/quote'] At 132k, he is faster than Pankaj Sigh..Pankaj rarely touches 130..what Pankaj bowled in this match?

[Chandan]

FINAL, DAY TWO Baroda vs Rajasthan Baroda starts its pursuit well, chasing Rajasthan's 394 Baroda's Jaikishan Kolsawala has made a fine impression in his debut season in the Ranji Trophy championship. But he's spent far less time in the middle and faced fewer balls, to be truly tested this season, than Connor Williams, a veteran in first class competition and marked to play the anchor role by the team coach. Both are left-handers and the comparison ends here. On Wednesday afternoon, soon after Rajasthan posted a total of 394 and took the field, Kolsawala faced a litmus test of sorts at the Moti Bagh Palace ground pitted against Pankaj Singh and Deepak Chahar, the leading wicket-taking pair of the season with 74 scalps. It was a crucial phase for the home team in the final and Kolsawala made a definite impact. Different approach While Williams dealt matters with calm demeanour, the 21-year-old Kolsawala showed guts, courage and punched the ball straight and square of the wicket for fours. Putting up an immaculate display of sound defence and attack for five minutes short of two hours, Kolsawala (46 batting, 115 mts, 89 balls, 9 x 4) won the new-ball tussle and along with Williams raised a half-century stand. Intense contest This intensified the contest in the tricky twenty minutes before tea interval and it required the persisting effort of the accurate leg break bowler Vivek Yadav to separate the two as Baroda finished the second day at 73 for the loss of Williams. Signs of a peculiar behaviour of the pitch with ball staying low emerged when Rajasthan's off-spinner Madhur Khatri and Yadav and the home team's left arm spinners Bhargav Bhatt (five for 103) and Swapnil Singh were in operation. Unpredictable pitch The pitch teased, taunted and tricked the batsmen. Rajasthan's well-set batsman Robin Bisht (77, 313 mts, 228 b, 5 x 4, 1 x 6), while on the forward play, was flummoxed when he lost his off stump to a delivery from Bhatt that had pitched outside his leg stump. Baroda would need plenty of luck to survive on the declining pitch. Rayudu the key “It would be test of character and temperament for the batsmen. They have to be patient and Ambati Rayudu is the key,'' said Baroda coach Mukesh Narula. Kolsawala's did not have look beyond his teammate Bhatt, almost a year younger to him, for inspiration. Bhatt showed a big heart and gave a magnificent display of left arm spin, bowling 42.1 overs in several spells and took his tally to 45 wickets for a meagre 19.93. He was chiefly responsible for restricting Rajasthan to under 400, especially when the likes of Bisht, Rashmi Rajjan Parida (56) and Ashok Menaria (45), danced down the pitch and piled up runs. Bhatt spins the web By the time Bhargav Bhatt began his 32nd over in Rajasthan’s first innings, he had already picked up 42 wickets, the most by a bowler this season in the Ranji Trophy. But in cricket, as in life, it’s often with one singular awe-inspiring piece of magic that a player announces his arrival. Something similar to what Shane Warne did almost two decades ago by delivering the much-acclaimed ‘ball of the century’. While Bhatt’s moment of reckoning might not quite warrant a similar hyperbole, the Baroda left-arm spinner did leave everyone present at the Moti Baug ground — not the least his victim, a well-set Robin Bist — completely spellbound with the ball that pitched well outside the right-hander’s leg-stump and spun viciously past the bat to knock the off stump down. With a couple of Rajasthan Royals officials also present among the spectators, the 20-year-old stocky spinner might also have earned himself more than just admiration at the end of the day. By tea, Bhatt had added two more wickets to his kitty and finished with figures of 5/103, his fourth five-wicket haul of the season, as Rajasthan were bowled out for 394 in their first innings. In reply, the home side had cruised to 73/1 at stumps. After picking up one wicket on his debut against Orissa, Bhatt had made the headlines in his second outing, finishing up with a 10-wicket haul against Haryana. Ever since, the youngster has regularly been among the wickets and played a key role in leading his team into the final after a nine-year hiatus. Along the way, he has also dismissed a number of established domestic batsmen such as Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey, whom he has dismissed on two and three occasions, respectively. Though coach Mukesh Narula believes that Bhatt still has a long way to go before he perfects his action, the two impressive facets of the youngster’s bowling have been his control and a judicious use of the crease. And it was by going very wide of the crease that Bhatt foxed Aakash Chopra, who played for the angle and attempted a sweep, only to find the ball straighten slightly and trap him lbw. One of the problems with most present-day left-arm spinners in the country, including those who have played at the highest level, has been their tendency to bowl with a flatter trajectory. Bhatt, however, is not fearful of giving the ball some air. His bowling action, too, is also unlikely to raise any eyebrows. Ashok Menaria’s dismissal was a perfect case in point. With a well tossed-up delivery, Bhatt managed to extract enough bounce off a dry wicket to catch the left-hander’s edge and have him caught bat-pad by Kedar Devdhar at short-leg. He then used the width of the crease to sneak the ball through half-centurion Rashmi Parida’s defences to bring an end to Rajasthan’s innings and take his tally of wickets for the season to 45, which have come at 19.93 apiece. “I have been learning a lot with each experience and there’s still a lot of fine-tuning to be done. The most important lesson I have learnt at this level is that the bad ball goes unpunished very rarely,” said Bhatt after yet another successful haul. And the learning will continue over the next few seasons as Bhatt tries to build on a remarkable beginning and better his skills along the way. Chopra confident bowlers can restrict Baroda It has been a dream Ranji season for Bhargav Bhatt, and the left-arm spinner's run continued when he picked up five wickets in Rajasthan's first innings to move past Pankaj Singh as the highest wicket-taker with 45 victims. The Moti Bagh track was assisting spin, there was a rough to be exploited, and Bhatt capitalised, bowling Robin Bist with what is surely one of the best deliveries of this year's tournament. The ball pitched outside leg stump from over the wicket, and turned sharply past Bist's forward push to take out the off stump. "It was a planned move," Mukesh Narula, the Baroda coach, said. "Bhargav saw that Bist was playing with an open face of the bat, and felt that he should go for the changed angle from over the stumps. It was good thinking on his part." Aakash Chopra, the Rajasthan opener, told ESPNcricinfo that Bhatt was pretty accurate throughout his 42.1 overs. "He didn't bowl many loose deliveries, and obviously the wicket suited him. He looks good. Of course, he must have done many things right to have taken 45 wickets." Bhatt, who is playing in his first full Ranji season, said that he has had to learn fast about the importance of accuracy at the first-class level compared to the age-group levels, where one could get away with maybe one or even two bad balls in an over. Despite Bhatt's heroics, Rajasthan managed 394, a total that will take some getting on a track where uneven bounce is becoming a regular feature. "It is not a huge score, but one that can be defended, with the kind of bowling that we have," Chopra said. "However, unless it is a huge one, I don't think the first-innings lead will matter that much. This game has a long way to go. I think tomorrow is the most important day, and by evening we should have a much clearer picture of who is ahead." Baroda began promisingly in their first innings, with Jaykishan Kolsawala stroking his way to an unbeaten 46, but Chopra felt that was because the ball came on better due to the extra pace of the Rajasthan bowlers. "We also attacked more in the quest for wickets, and that led to some extra runs being conceded. But I don't see the scoring rate jumping up much on this track." With many deliveries rising barely above ankle length, Chopra felt that the horizontal shots needed to be avoided, but the overall approach would have to be positive. Narula said that it was possible to score runs on the wicket with a few adjustments. "The deliveries that are keeping low are mostly from short of a good length, and it is possible to go on the back foot and tackle them. It is difficult and requires application, but it is definitely possible to score, as Kolsawala showed today. Only Connor Williams in our line-up plays very steadily. All the other batsmen are aggressive in their approach. And I believe that is the way to go tomorrow." With the Baroda spinners picking up eight wickets between them, the onus will be on the Rajasthan spinners, Vivek Yadav and Madhur Khatri, to deliver as well, something they haven't been required to do this season. "I can't really say that our spinners haven't done well, the fact is that they haven't been tested as Pankaj and Deepak Chahar have done the job for us so far," Chopra said. "But tomorrow will be the big test for them." Brief scores: Rajasthan first innings 394 all out in 147.1 overs (H Kanitkar 61, R Parida 56, B Bhatt 5/103) vs Baroda first innings 73/1 in 30 overs (J Kolsawala batting 46, Yadav 1/7) at Baroda.

[cowboysfan]

Chahar gets Rayudu. Baroda will be in big trouble if they concede a lead of more than 100.

[kabira]

As I said, Baroda is screwed, MP leggie looking threatning.. Should not have bowled first, stupid decision really.

[cowboysfan]

Mumbai too bowled first as they underestimated Rajasthan .

[kabira]

Chahar gets Rayudu. Baroda will be in big trouble if they concede a lead of more than 100.

Poor decision...

[kabira]

that was dissent, should be punished..Rayudu keeps getting into trouble.

[kabira]

Great fightback by Baroda led by Pinal Shah, I hope we have a result here..pitch seems to get us result. Pinal Shah definately indian material, after all Baroda produces good keepers, More, Mongia..now Pinal Shah. His 80 odd in semi final on very tricky pitch won the game for Baroda..

[kabira]

almost a collision there, field hangs to the catch, 6 down now..

[Clarke]

70 more runs with just 2 wickets remaining :bhejafry:

[The Outsider]

^ I feel there might be an outright result. The pitch seems to be turning and might break up even more on the last two days.

[kabira]

Outright result will be good. But I feel if Rajasthan has lead, they will try to play it safe...but then it gives Baroda chance to take some wickets..So its going to exciting 2 days of cricket. Rajasthan deserves kudos..the plate division team taking on big boys, first mumbai, then Tamilnadu and now Baroda...they have been playing like a team..brilliant fielding...the catch by Kanitkar was very good, Chopra's catch was brilliant as well. Chahar has been steady...the ball he got Pinal was superb...seamed in late..he just needs to add few yards...he can move the ball both ways.

[Sir john]

:rr: on top

[Clarke]

^ I feel there might be an outright result. The pitch seems to be turning and might break up even more on the last two days.

Well that's worse when your team's batting last.

[Sujan]

Unfortunate to see Karnataka missing in the final, But I hope this one ends up in an exiting manner just like what happened last year in Mysore.

[rkt.india]

Outright result will be good. But I feel if Rajasthan has lead, they will try to play it safe...but then it gives Baroda chance to take some wickets..So its going to exciting 2 days of cricket. Rajasthan deserves kudos..the plate division team taking on big boys, first mumbai, then Tamilnadu and now Baroda...they have been playing like a team..brilliant fielding...the catch by Kanitkar was very good, Chopra's catch was brilliant as well. Chahar has been steady...the ball he got Pinal was superb...seamed in late..he just needs to add few yards...he can move the ball both ways.

he can be India's Steyn if he can bowl up to 135 because when Steyn tries to swing the bowl with the new ball he only bowls at around 135...Styen mainly bowls fast with the old bowl when bowl does not swing much and he tries to hustle the batsmen with short pitch stuff but he is mainly dangerous with his prodigous outswingers and Chahar has all a good bowling action, outswinger and inswinger.

[Clarke]

47 more

[nospam]

Rajasthan lead by 33 runs. Baroda all out for 361 runs.

[Chandan]

FINAL, DAY THREE Baroda vs Rajasthan Baroda fighting for first innings honours as Pinal Shah and Vivek Yadav star on the hard fought day Rajasthan and the home team have fought a hard campaign for three days in the Ranji Trophy final at the Moti Bagh Palace ground and when the stumps were drawn on Thursday there were no clear signs yet of which team would get the upper hand in the first innings. The possibilities of the contest building up on the fourth and fifth days are enormous. Baroda captain Pinal Shah's 77 (7x4, 2x6) was an admirable effort that prevented the first-time title seeker from taking a stronger position. As things stand, Baroda is 70 runs behind Rajasthan's 394, with the ninth-wicket pair putting up a splendid rearguard action. With 180 overs yet to be sent down to determine the winner, the onus is on Baroda to wrest the slight advantage Rajasthan enjoys and force a fourth innings result. As they walked off the field after putting on a crucial ninth-wicket stand of 36, the unbeaten duo of Murtuja Vahora and Sankalp Vohra were greeted with loud cheers from what seemed more like a family-picnic crowd — made up mostly of the Baroda players' parents.The collective attention of the partisan home team supporters, however, quickly shifted towards first-innings hero with the ball and No.11 Bharghav Bhatt as he ran onto the Moti Baug ground for some batting practice at the end of the day. With Baroda finishing the third day on 324/8, still 70 runs short of overhauling Rajasthan’s first innings total, not only Bhatt but even they seemed to acknowledge the important role that the 20-year-old will play with the bat going into the fourth day. Coach Mukesh Narula, however, had other ideas. Bhatt had only just about knocked back half-a-dozen or so balls thrown at him by one of the reserve players, when Narula shouted out to him, instructing the youngster to take off his pads and join fellow left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh for a short bowling spell on the practice wickets. With just two days to go and Rajasthan holding most of the aces in the contest, it is now up to Baroda to make a match of it and thwart the visitors. Potential for future The young players, who have been in the thick of action, have offered glimpses of their potential. Resuming at his overnight 46, left-hander Jaikishan Kolsawala showed a terrific resolve to occupy the crease for more than an hour and a flurry of shots took him past his half century. He and Kedar Devdhar showed concentration and found out that forward play and soft hands were a safe way to deal with off-spinner Madhur Khatri and leg-spinner Vivek Yadav. Rajasthan began with a maiden over from Khatri but seamer Pankaj Singh was punished for erring in line. Yadav, introduced at 94 for one, sent down a tantalising line, turned the ball just enough and pushed the batsmen on their backfoot. He was rewarded with the wickets of Koslawala and Devdhar. Khatri choked the supply of runs by sending down 16 overs for 18 runs. Ambati Rayudu, who struck a lovely off drive and a cover drive for fours, was the third batsman in the pre-lunch session to fall on ‘backplay' and the man who dismissed him was seamer Deepak Chahar. K. Hariharan ruled him leg before when Chahar's delivery squared him up and struck his back leg above the flap of the pad. It was a marginal decision and Rayudu was not quite willing to accept it. Rayudu had been the beneficiary of a marginal decision a couple of overs ago, when Yadav hit the non-striker's stumps from mid-on with the batsman struggling to make his ground. One replay showed his bat was just on the crease, while one from another angle showed Rayudu had just made his ground. The third umpire had then ruled in favour of Rayudu, but his eventual dismissal meant captain Pinal Shah was left alone to guide the remaining batsmen. Crucial stand Skipper Pinal Shah and left-hander Aditya Waghmode, playing only his second innings in first class cricket, retrieved the situation in the post lunch session by adding 68 runs in 15 overs. Employing the sweep shot, cuts and pulls, Waghmode dominated the stand. The pair had raised 90 runs when Waghmode (52, 138b, 7x4) was held smartly at cover by Hrishikesh Kanitkar off Yadav. Thereafter Pankaj, bowling his best spell in the match with the second new ball, sent back Swapnil Singh and Chahar removed the last specialist batsman in Shah. Yadav has picked up four wickets and Chahar three. A lot has to be played in this match and Baroda's chances would largely depend on how its spinners Bhatt, Swapnil and Waghmode exploit the wicket. It was Yadav, however, who finished with most wickets on the day—figures of 4/73 in 34 overs. While the 26-year-old doesn’t quite turn the ball prodigiously or too often for that matter, he makes up for it with immaculate accuracy and he proved quite a handful for the Baroda batsmen. Baroda too boast of decent variety in their bowling attack, led by their two left-arm spinners. And going into the last stages of what has been a commendable campaign for the young team, Narula and their enthusiastic legion of fans will be hoping that Bhatt & Co end up picking a lesson or two from Rajasthan’s performance and provide them with much more than just dogged resistance to cheer about. Brief scores: Baroda 1st innings 324/ 8 (P Shah 77, J Kolsawala 64, A Waghmode 52; V Yadav 4/73, D Chahar 3/72) vs Rajasthan 1st innings 394