Mumbai:
Keeping feet on the ground can also be a team’s main strength in helping them become champions. Ask Ranji Trophy winners Vidarbha.
“We don’t have big names, we are a very humble team. We are very simple team in our thought process, not very flamboyant; players who want to win the domestic tournaments. I have seen a lot of players in the country now who just want to play in IPL and they are happy with that,” said Faiz Fazal, a stalwart of Vidarbha cricket who led the side for many seasons before retirement last season.
This desire to be taken seriously in domestic cricket has helped Vidarbha become a force. Since their first Ranji title in 2017-18 under Faiz, it’s been a stunning transformation for Vidarbha. On Sunday, they beat Kerala to win their third title from four finals in seven years.
The most impressive aspect has been how solid Vidarbha looked. There were no scrappy wins; the showing was solid all the way to the title.
Opening batter Faiz has been part of Vidarbha’s turnaround. He was part of the team last season when they lost the final to Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium. For the former skipper, the change in the players’ attitude was evident in the final.
“The (consistency is due to the) hunger to win games, be on top of the charts, as team and individuals. Earlier we were just participating; no one was happy when we lost the final last year; that’s how the mentality has changed.”
The main force behind the rise has been former India pacer Prashant Vaidya, who has been given a free hand to run cricket by the association office-bearers after he was named Cricket Administration and Development Commitee chairman. “The good sign is that it is not just the Ranji Trophy which we have won, we have won 11 titles in the last seven years, age-groups included. In all age-groups we are doing well and main is Ranji Trophy. This definitely, as a cricketer who has played for the state to then be able to contribute this way, is very satisfying and heartening for me,” says Vaidya, who lists bringing in Chandrakant Pandit as coach — he helped them win the first two Ranji titles – and taking cricket to the districts as important factors in the success.
“It was about getting one success. When I was playing, I always thought we had a very talented team but hadn’t tasted success so we were not able to figure out how to achieve that. Once that was done, self-belief came in. Of course, getting in good coaches helped; we had Chandu (Pandit) in the first two seasons (they won back-to-back titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19). He had great contribution in building self-belief in the players.
“Then, we focussed a lot on district cricket. When I was playing there was hardly any representation from district cricket (10 districts apart from Nagpur), so it was very important to reach out, have good competitions in the districts. That helped a lot in expanding the player pool. Now half the team is from the districts. For any team you need the supply chain, and that is in place,” says Vaidya.
The team has got better, more confident. The youngsters coming in have helped. Used to success in the age-group tournaments, they have carried that mentality to the senior level. “The U-19, U-23 sides were doing well, winning. They came into the higher grade with that kind of success behind them, so it was a chain reaction.”
Youngsters Harsh Dubey (69 wickets), Yash Rathore (960 runs) and Danish Malewar (783 run) put in fine performances this season.
VCA appointed their successful junior team coach Usman Ghani to the Ranji side. He also took Vidarbha to the final last year.
“I know their psyche because I have been working with them since the U-14 days. After six years in U-19, I came to the Ranji Trophy, so they know me and I know their game, it is easy for me and them, the fear of failure is not there anymore,” says Ghani.
VCA has also shown the knack of picking the right professional players. Earlier Wasim Jaffer produced some his best for them, now it is Karun Nair, who has had a great run, scoring 863 runs in nine matches (avg 53.93, 4×100, 2×50).