Jharkhand Ranji Trophy 2012-13: Game 1

What a start to the season! Jharkhand beat Jammu & Kashmir in the season opener by an innings & 31 runs. Not only did they win, they also got the bonus point and have the best quotient (2.179) amongst the Group C teams. Which means they are right on top of the table after the 1st round of games with 7 points. Alongside are Assam (also with 7) and there is a chance to get clear pole position when these 2 clash in the 2nd round of games beginning November 9th.

Match Summary:J&K (195/10 &151/10) lost to Jharkhand (377/10) by an innings & 31 runs. Venue Jammu

Saurabh Tiwary was the only player with international exposure in the game. It was a good all round bowling performance in the 1st innings by the Jharkhand team with Nadeem and SS Rao picking 3 wickets while Sunny Gupta (of the infamous IPL knockout game) took 2. A combined batting performance took Jharkhand to a decent (though not imposing) score. Nemat (75), Tiwary (72) & Gautam (80) got 50s while there were a couple of others in the 20s & 30s. However this score was more than enough as Nadeem ran through the J&K line-up in the 2nd innings picking 6 wickets while Jaskaran took 2.

Hopefully Varun Aaaron will be fit for the games which lie ahead. Though I wonder why Dhoni wasn’t playing while almost all Indian players played in the opening Ranji games. In fact some turned up to play for their states just a day after the India A-England match.

Its still early days in the season and tougher tests lie ahead but as they say, “Well begun is half Done”