Ranji Trophy 2016/17: Road to semifinals

The semifinalists for the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season have been decided and here’s an insight into what to expect from these teams as they vie for the top honours of India’s premier domestic tournament.

Gujarat

Gujarat reached the knockout stage of the season via strong batting performances all through the season. 555/4 in reply to Baroda’s 544 in their first match of the season was just the beginning. 437 in their second innings against Railways after low scoring first innings for both the teams. 300+ scores in both the innings against MP, 437 against Mumbai to get a vital first innings lead and 624 against Punjab, Gujarat have scored big throughout.

Priyank Panchal has been a revelation this year. Amassing 1120 runs from 13 innings with an average of 101, he is the leading run-getter this season. The 26-year-old has found his partner in crime in Samit Gohel at the top of the order.

Gohel now has the record of the highest individual score while carrying the bat through the innings after his knock of 359* against Odisha in the semis. Hardik Patel won the match on his own with an 11-wicket haul against Uttar Pradesh.

Jasprit Bumrah, the man of the match in the quarterfinals and Rush Kalaria form a potent new ball pair and they have delivered consistently. With the experienced Parthiv Patel at the helm, with the job of keeping his bunch of talented young players mentally able to cope up with the pressure, Gujarat is certainly a batting powerhouse to reckon with.

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Jharkhand

First-time entrants to the last four stage of the competition, Jharkhand is a perfect blend of youngsters and experienced players. The team from the eastern part of India has played an aggressive brand of cricket.

Their victories against Maharashtra and Rajasthan came after some hard fight in which the team’s young lads stood up and showed their mettle. They dominated and crushed Assam, Saurashtra, and Odisha on their way to finishing as table toppers.

Shahbaz Nadeem is the leading wicket-taker this season with 50 wickets from 9 matches. The spinner has found able support from the fast bowler Ashish Kumar. The batting comprises of young guns like the India under-19 stalwart Ishan Kishan and Virat Singh along with seasoned campaigners Saurabh Tiwary and Ishank Jaggi.

Will Jharkhand get first time lucky? They have played with an intent to win through the season and yet being undefeated the whole tournament.

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Mumbai

The defending champions. The most successful team in the competition’s history with the second best team being nowhere close to be found. Mumbai has always been a force which seems unstoppable but can be unpredictable at times.

They almost made up a mess of 97 run target in their first match and then almost lost a match after bundling out Bengal for 99 on the first day of the match. But in between, there have been lots of match-saving and sometimes match-winning lower order fightbacks.

Siddhesh Lad, Abhishek Nayar, and Shardul Thakur have been instrumental in guiding Mumbai to a position of strength. Mumbai has always managed to find winning ways somehow, be it the players who went on to become the legends of the game or young talents.

Under the inspiring leadership of Aditya Tare, the team has many match-winners who can turn the tide of the match in Mumbai’s favour on their own. Dhawal Kulkarni, Shreyas Iyer, and Suryakumar Yadav are some of the names in their ranks feared dearly by the oppositions in the domestic circuit. Will Mumbai add the 42^nd title to their glorious cricketing history?

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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu had a disastrous start to the competition. Dismissed for 99 and 121 on the first day of their first and second matches of the tournament did not instil much hope for their team fans. But the tide was quickly turned after inspiring performances by the experienced Dinesh Karthik and Abhinav Mukund both scoring counterattacking centuries in their match against Railways.

From then on, TN played like an inspired unit with only a win in the sight. The inspiration rubbed the most onto Kaushik Gandhi and the scores of 157, 164, 202 are a testimony to that. Aswin Christ and K Vignesh have been the bowling stalwarts for the team.

The bowlers decided to win matches for Tamil Nadu on their own with consistent performances of picking up 3-4 wickets each innings. Aswin Christ decided the fate of their quarterfinal against arch-rivals Karnataka on the first morning itself with a champion six-wicket haul.

Demolishing a very strong opposition inside two days in the quarters, Tamil Nadu has rolled into the semis on a high. They have come a long way from a dismal start to the campaign to being one of the favourites to lift the trophy.

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Fixtures

Gujarat v/s Jharkhand at VCA Stadium, Nagpur

Mumbai v/s Tamil Nadu at SCA Stadium, Rajkot

Dates

1 January to 5 January 2017