Batsmen likely to dominate Ranji Trophy quarterfinals
If the pre-quarterfinal matches are any indication, the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals should again be marked by tall scores
Partab Ramchand
21-Mar-2001
If the pre-quarterfinal matches are any indication, the Ranji Trophy
quarterfinals should again be marked by tall scores. Batsmen have
already dominated the first two day's play in the one match that
commenced on Tuesday between hosts Mumbai and Punjab. And the match-up
of the contestants for the three remaining quarterfinals also do not
portend well for bowlers. For the batsmen of the six sides involved -
Karnataka, Railways, Tamil Nadu, Baroda, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa -
have displayed splendid form not only in the pre-quarterfinals but
also at the league stage.
Karnataka meet Railways at New Delhi. Karnataka turned a nine run
deficit on the first innings against Assam to victory by seven
wickets. The batsmen displayed good form with Arun Kumar, Barrington
Rowland and wicketkeeper VST Naidu among the runs. But more heartening
was the fact that Dodda Ganesh, Sunil Joshi and Anand Yalvigi took
wickets at economical cost. But six time champions Karnataka should
find Railways tougher opponents than Assam. The Railways batsmen put
up an awesome showing in the previous game against Maharashtra at
Pune. They ran up totals of 431 and 656 for five. Veteran Yere Goud
covered himself with glory by scoring an unbeaten 221. Skipper Abhay
Sharma shone with 59 and 188 and also among the runs were Tejinder Pal
Singh, Shreyas Khanolkar, Amit Pagnis, Sanjay Bangar and Kulamani
Parida. Another encouraging factor for Railways was the vital role
played by Bangar and Harvinder Singh in restricting the Maharashtra
batsmen. It would be a surprise if the five day match does not feature
a few `batathons'.
Going by the events of the pre-quarterfinal concerning the two teams,
there is little doubt that the Tamil Nadu-Baroda match is also going
to be marked by tall scores. Baroda notched up totals of 467 and 355
while registering a 222-run victory over Bengal. Baroda are again
playing hosts in the quarterfinal and the visitors will find the going
tough against the mighty Baroda batting line up which includes Connor
Williams, Tushar Arothe, Ajit Bhoite, Satyajit Parab and skipper Jacob
Martin. But then for Tamil Nadu, the heartening factor is the form
shown by their own batsmen who ran up totals of 592 and 515 for eight
in getting the better of Delhi. Hemanth Kumar got a hundred, Sarath
got a double century and last man Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan created
history by becoming the first batsman in the Ranji Trophy to get a
century at No 11.
Another match in which batsmen are expected to dominate is the
remaining quarterfinal between Orissa and Madhya Pradesh at Gwalior.
Admittedly Orissa had weak opponents in Jammu & Kashmir but they won
by 420 runs. The batting of Rashmi Parida (220) and Pravanjan Mullick
(191) and their 358-run fourth wicket partnership was the most
heartening feature from Orissa's viewpoint and skipper Sanjay Raul
also came up with an unbeaten century. Off spinner Sanjay Satpathy
took seven wickets in the match and may have to do a lot of bowling in
the face of an imposing MP batting line up which includes Jai P Yadav,
skipper Chandrakant Pandit, Devender Bundela, Abbas Ali and HS Sodhi.
MP certainly has an edge in the bowling with Rajesh Chauhan and
Narendra Hirwani around. The two former Test spinners along with Yadav
did their job commendably as MP got the better of Hyderabad in the
pre-quarterfinal.