scorecardresearch
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024
Advertisement
Premium

Ranji Trophy: Assam tee off into big league

Arup Das’s all-round efforts helps north-eastern side trounce Punjab; seals Ranji semis spot for first time.

ranji trophy, ranji trophy 2016, ranji trophy match, ranji trophy scores, assam ranji, punjab vs assam, assam vs punjab, ranji trophy news, ranji cricket, cricket news, cricket Arup Das (third from left) returned with match figures of 11/124. PTI

Ahead of the Ranji season last year, as the Assam team assembled at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati for practice, coach Sanath Kumar told his team: “Play hard, fight…and always believe in yourself.” On the face of it, it looked like a routine pep talk that any coach would readily dish out to his wards. But Kumar, having spent considerable time with bulk of the players, believed his team were no pushovers.

On Saturday, Kumar’s team did something unprecedented. For the first time, they reached the Ranji semifinals, by defeating Punjab in Valsad. Much like Leicester in the EPL this season, Assam has been the talk of the town in this edition of the Ranji Trophy. A team bereft of superstars, their two fast bowlers: Arup Das and Krishna Das were the chief architects in their journey. As the season progressed, Kumar’s team went from strength to strength, defeating teams such as Rajasthan and Delhi. If that was not enough, they even managed to hold their own against Ranji Trophy champions Karnataka – taking a crucial first innings lead. As the team progressed to the knock-outs, most observers expected them to fall apart without giving a fight.

They were keen to show their giant-slaying acts in the season’s first half was no fluke. In the quarters, they were facing Punjab, which had the likes of Gurkeerat Mann, and Barinder Sran, both India players. But this team was not ready to buckle down against the big boys. They were ready for a fight.

Advertisement

After being put into bat on a green Valsad wicket, Assam were struggling at 8-221. Sran and Bansal were breathing fire. Assam’s Syed Mohammed, who was approaching what looked like a well deserved century, looked to be running out of partners. Thankfully, for Mohammed and Assam, they found help from Arup Das. Arup, on his part, would have loved to make first use of the green top here. However, he needed to forge a stand with Mohammed to make a match of it. In the words of his coach, he needed to “fight it out”.

The duo put on 76 runs for the 10th wicket. Patience was the cornerstone of Arup’s knock. No wild slog, no aggression, just simple commonsense cricket. In the scheme of things, this worked. He was eventually dismissed for 21. But his knock meant that Assam went past the 300-run mark in the first innings. Not only that, it helped his team-mate Syed Mohammed go past a century.

Festive offer

Buoyed by the late order resistance, Assam bowlers: the famed Das duo, hit the straps immediately. Bowling precise line and lengths, they rattled Punjab’s middle order with decisive strikes. Both Arup and Krishna Das shared the spoils picking up three wickets apiece. Punjab would eventually fold for 137, to hand Assam a decisive 187-run lead.

“Our bowling has been our strength this season. After getting 320 plus in the first innings, I just asked my bowlers to keep it simple. There was enough help in the track. All that was required was patience and bowling the correct line and lengths.

Advertisement

Thankfully, for us both Arup and Krishna did just that,” Kumar says. With a 187-run cushion, Assam were chasing history. Never before have they managed to reach the semifinals of Ranji Trophy. They had reached the quarter-finals last season. But against a champion side like Karnataka, they conceded a first innings lead, to eventually hand over the match. This time though, they were in the ascendancy. “We began to think of the semifinals after we got them out cheaply in the first innings,” Arup concedes.

But Punjab came back fighting in the second innings, with Sran and Kaul ripping through Assam’s line-up and reducing them to 8-53. Assam were ahead by 240, but Sanath Kumar realised it was not enough against a side like Punjab.

The worrying trend for Kumar was that like in the first innings, there was absolutely no resistance from any of Assam’s top batters. The “fight”, which Kumar had harped on at the start of the season, seemed to be non-existent.

Coming into the bat was Arup Das. Fresh from his exploits with bat and ball in the first innings, he decided to have a go at the Punjab bowlers. With Dhiraj Goswami for company, Arup slogged and hoicked. In the process, he eked out 31 runs in just 18 balls to get Assam past the 100-run mark, and set Punjab a target of 288 for a place in the semifinals.

Advertisement

“I just decided to play my shots in the second innings. We were down in the dumps, and the only way to approach the innings was my hinting out. Luckily for me, my plan worked,” says Arup. He was not done for the game. Arup then comes back to rattles Punjab batsmen with his swing. Ably supported by Krishna Das, and Dhiraj Goswami, Arup bowled wholeheartedly, finishing with figures of 8-83 in 21.2 overs, and 11 wickets for the match.

“I just managed to hit the right line and length on this track. There was strong wind movement, which also aided my bowling. I particularly cherish the wickets of Mandeep Singh and Gurkeerat Mann,” he says after his Man-of-the-Match performance.Kumar reckons the century by Syed Mohammed in the first innings, and Arup Das’s all-round performances in both innings, tilted the match in their favour. He also singled out Krishna Das’s whole hearted bowling efforts. “Like Arup, he too bowled well, but did not have a lot of luck. For us, both our fast bowlers have been performed admirabily. If Krishna Das does not get you, Arup surely will,” he adds.

Krishna Das may have got only three wickets in the match, but he is currently the highest wicket-taker among fast bowlers this Ranji season, finishing with 47 scalps from 9 games. Kumar and his team knows their task is by no means over.

Having entered the semifinals of Ranji Trophy, they would now be keen to go for a win. “That would be great, isn’t it?” says Arup. “After having reached so far, we would like to make it count this time around,” he adds. Sanath, however, can breathe easy, as he knows he has found another fighter in his team.

Advertisement

Brief Scores: Assam 323 & 101 all out beat Punjab 137 and 236 all out.

Other scores

* At Mumbai: Madhya Pradesh 348 & 560/9 decl (HS Bhatia 139, R Patidar 137) vs Bengal 121 & 113/3 (Sayan Mandal 39);

* At Vazianagaram: Vidarbha 151 & 139 all out (J Unadkat 4/35) lost to Saurashtra 375;

* At Mysore: Mumbai 416 & 245 all out (S Iyer 81; S Quadri 5/62) beat Jharkhand 172 & 94 all out (J Bista 5/16, I Abdulla 5/35).

First uploaded on: 07-02-2016 at 01:36 IST
Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
close