Time to go back to the drawing board: Vidarbha need to rethink on opening slot

NAGPUR: The Delhi defeat doesn't call for knee-jerk reactions. Still, a bit of introspection and rethink of plan won't be uncalled for.


Under coach Chandrakant Pandit, Vidarbha achieved unprecedented success in last two seasons. They won back-to-back Ranji and Irani titles. The feat was possible because youngsters were rewarded for their consistent performances. The 15-member team was selected not on the basis of big names or past exploits, but on present performances.

The list of players who benefitted from this approach of the team management is long. Akshay Wadkar, Aditya Thakare, Mohit Kale, Atharva Taide and Yash Thakur were picked up owing to their good show in either local leagues or BCCI age group tournaments. The way they have performed in the Ranji Trophy proved the management's decision to blood them was right.

Back to the present, Vidarbha's Ranji title defense is in choppy waters. The defeat against Delhi, after an unbeaten run of 29 long-format matches, has made the road to knock-outs more uphill. Vidarbha now need two outright wins in their remaining three matches to remain in the hunt for the quarterfinal berth.

The biggest concern for Vidarbha is Sanjay Ramaswamy. The opener hasn't been in the best of form lately. Sanjay played a key role in Vidarbha's first Ranji Trophy triumph. The opener had piled up 775 runs from 14 innings. He was the third in the list of the highest run scorers.

After the tremendous season, runs dried up for Sanjay. Last season Sanjay played eight matches. In 12 innings he managed 279 runs at an average of 23.25 with his highest score being 141. In the remaining 11 innings Sanjay scored just 138 runs.

Sanjay's struggles continued this year too. He has scored just 116 runs from five innings at an average of 23.20. Big scores have eluded Sanjay with just one half century coming from his blade so far.

Now, Vidarbha think-tank need to employ the successful horses for the courses policy. The young guns are putting exceptional performances in the Col CK Nayudu Under-23 Trophy. Both Aniruddha Choudhari and Siddesh Wath have been in great form this season.

Choudhari, an opener, has scored 517 runs from five matches at an average of 64.63 so far in the season. He has shown good conversion rate too scoring three hundreds and 1 half centuries. Choudhari had hit the purple patch last season too, finishing with 727 runs from 10 matches.

Wath, an opener turned middle order bat, has piled up 623 runs in seven innings. He has also posted a double century against Maharashtra in Vidarbha Under-23s last match. VCA sources revealed that of the two, Choudhari is likely to be drafted in Vidarbha's Ranji Trophy squad for the Gujarat match to be played at Surat from Monday.

In the past, coach Pandit had showed the courage of blooding youngsters in crucial matches. It remains to be seen if he includes Choudhari in the playing XI on Monday.