Five major upsets in Ranji Trophy since 2012-13

If the format of India’s premier domestic competition, Ranji Trophy, was constantly tinkered with to make it more fan-viable and giving every team an equal opportunity, the changes in 2012-13 season were the ones which made the greatest impact. Till 2011-12 season, the format was divided into Elite and Plate group which used to segregate teams on the basis of their performances, which meant poor teams played with the poor ones and good teams clashed with good ones.The only good thing in that format was that it allowed few teams from Plate group to be elevated into Elite Group and play matches with better teams. The changes in 2012-13 season opened up new avenues for all the state teams as they were divided into three groups and the format made simpler and comprehensive.This new format has resulted in few major upsets in last three seasons too and here, the author has compiled a list of upsets in Ranji Trophy beginning from 2012-13 till the ongoing season:

#5 Services beating Uttar Pradesh (2012-13)

The match saw a tough character of their Captain and the side showed how collective team efforts can upset one of the best sides in the tournament

It was the fourth Quarter-final of the season where Services and Uttar Pradesh were locking horns against each other at Holkar Stadium, Indore. If Services had reached the last eight with the help of collective team efforts, this match displayed the resolve and toughness of an army men in them. The match had no crowds in the stands though UP consisted of players’ like Chawla and Kaif, and they looked stronger on paper.

After being asked to bat, UP batsmen gave away their wickets’ in quick succession as Shadab Nazar of Services stitched a five-wicket haul to restrict UP to a paltry sum of 134 runs. Rajat Paliwal’s century and tiny contributions from the batsmen helped Services posting a total of 263 runs, hence, leading UP by 129 runs. Ankit Rajpoot took five wickets in the first innings.

In UP’s second innings, their experienced batsmen again failed to take the advantage of good batting conditions as they were rattled by a seven-wicket haul from fast bowler Suraj Yadav. Uttar Pradesh were bowled out for 241 runs as Tanmay Shrivastava and Arish Alam scored half-centuries. Chasing a target of 113 runs, dark clouds hovered over Services’ prospects when they were left wandering at 54 for 5 by Ankit Rajpoot who claimed all five wickets. But it was Soumik Chatterjee who batted despite his injured leg to carve a crucial sixth-wicket partnership with Paliwal to advance to the semi-finals.

#4 Odisha beating Punjab (2014-15)

Basant Mohanty took ten wickets in the match.

If Punjab had the home advantage in this game, their star-studded side got the beating against Odisha when they were thrashed by one of the minnows in domestic cricket by six wickets. At PCA Stadium, Mohali, Odisha won the toss and took a wise decision to bowl first on a wicket having a tinge of grass and moisture. Having a robust batting line-up, Punjab batsmen had no answers to Odisha’s Basant Mohanty and Deepak Behera who exploited the condition to bowl the home side out for 167 runs. Had it not been for the last wicket stand of 94 runs between Manpreet Gony and Sandeep Sharma, things would have been worse for them.

If Punjab’s batting failed, their bowling kept them alive in the game as Sidharth Kaul’s five-for helped Punjab in wrapping Odisha up for 183 runs, thus trailing by only 16 runs. If Punjab’s first innings batting performance was not enough for their downfall, their second innings folded like a pack of cards on mere 141 runs as they lost wicket consistently. Indian batsmen Yuvraj Singh scored a cool 56 off 113 balls which was not enough. First innings’ torch bearer Basant Mohanty continued his form and took six wickets in seconds innings to complete a ten wicket haul in the match.

Odisha chased down the target easily with the help of half-century from Govinda Poddar and contributions from other batsmen. The visiting side surpassed the target with four wickets to spare to collect six points from the win.

#3 Assam beating Delhi (2015-16)

Gautam Gambhir felt dejected after losing his wicket in the second innings against Assam

In a low-scoring affair at Guwahati, home side Assam knocked down the table-toppers’ Delhi by 5 wickets to register an emphatic victory. The star-studded Delhi side fell down on the opening day of the game at 149 runs against a fierce bowling of Krishna Das who completed his 100 wicket mark and uprooted 4 Delhi batsmen. At one time, Delhi were lingering on 4/8 before they were saved by Milind Kumar, Punit Bisht and Manan Sharma to take them to a respectable total.

Assam could not take advantage of the opportunity and were all in the hut at 157 runs, conceding a lead of 8 runs in their kitty. Off-spinner Manan Sharma was among the bowlers to take four wickets, well-supported by pacemen Pradeep Sangwan’s three-wicket haul.

Delhi’s second innings collapse was a result of losing wickets sporadically as they could manage only 172 runs against a combined bowling effort of Krishna Das, Syed Mohammad, Amit Verma and Gokul Sharma. Needing 165 runs to win the game, Assam chased down the target with five wickets in hand as former Karnataka player KB Arun Karthik scored an unbeaten century to take six points in his side’s bucket.

#2 Odisha beating Karnataka (2012-13)

Biplab Samantray played a crucial knock of 86 runs in the second innings.

If both sides were to be looked on paper, Karnataka already had the edge as they boasted of players’ like Manish Pandey, Vinay Kumar, Robin Uthappa and Stuart Binny. On a cool November morning at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, home side Karnataka won the toss and chose to field, a decision which was proved right as touring Odisha were bowled out for 202 runs with Medium Pacer Lokesh Akshay being the chief tormentor with his 4-wicket haul.

Karnataka could not manage a big score in their first innings and conceded a lead of 11 runs, thanks to small contributions from all the batsmen. There was not a single half-century in their innings as Robin Uthappa’s 43 off 99 balls being the highest score. Deepak Behera took 3 wickets while other bowlers’ shared remaining wickets among them. In their second innings, Odisha batsmen looked answerless against the swing of Vinay Kumar who took 7 wickets to fold the Odisha Innings at 255 runs, thanks to a crucial knock of 86 runs by Biplab Samantray.

Chasing 245 runs would not have been tough for a batting line-up like Karnataka but they lost wickets on regular intervals before being packed at 179 runs. Karnataka lost its last five wickets within an interval of 19 runs and faced a shameful defeat on their home ground, while Odisha scripted a spectacular bowling performance to snatch the match away from the home side.

#1 J&K beating Mumbai (2014-15):

J&K defeated Mumbai on their own territory to script a major upset in the history of the Tournament.

The champions of 2012-13 season started their campaign against minnows J&K at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. It was a time when the state of J&K was trying to recover from heavy jolt of floods and their cricket team practiced on alien locations to get themselves prepared for the occasion. Mumbai, after winning the toss and choosing to bat, could not manage to post a big score as they were bundled out for a mere 236 runs on their home soil, the highest scorer being Captain Surya Kumar Yadav with his blistering 57 off 55 balls

In reply, J&K’s young prodigy Shubham Khajuria played an innings of his career as he scored 107 runs against the likes of Dhawal Kulkarni and Shardul Thakur to give his team a first-innings lead of a meagre 18 runs. Mumbai’s powerful batting line-up collapsed once again in the second innings as they were all-out for 254 runs with Captain Surya Kumar Yadav holding one end with his knock of 115 runs. J&K’s pacemen Ram Dayal scalped five wickets in the second innings, and was well-supported by four wickets from Umar Nazir.

J&K had to chase 237 runs to create history and they did that in style to upset Mumbai at their home soil. First innings’ centurion Shubham Khajuria once again anchored the chase as he scored a patient 78 off 140 balls and stitched up crucial partnerships’ to take J&K home by four wickets. The match goes down in the archives as one of the major upsets in the history of the tournament as 40 times champions Mumbai were decimated by a less-recognized J&K.