Upbeat Vidarbha

NAGPUR, OCT 29: Railways, who begin their Ranji Trophy season tomorrow here, may not have an easy sailing against resurgent Vidarbha. Und...

NAGPUR, OCT 29: Railways, who begin their Ranji Trophy season tomorrow here, may not have an easy sailing against resurgent Vidarbha. Undoubtedly, the hosts’ morale is high as they have managed to snatch five points from the formidable Madhya Pradesh.

However, Railways coach Vinod Sharma doesn’t think that his team is inferior to the rivals. “By all means, we are superior to them. Our bowling is one of the best and so is batting.”

And, Sharma has reasons too. Test-discard medium pacer Harvinder Singh, Jakir Hussain and Sanjay Bangar will bolster Railways’ bowling. India `A’ player Kartik Murli and Kulmani Parida are their strike spinners. The newcomers — East Zone batsman Chandramohan Jha, Guad, Bangar, Rawat, Sharma and wicketkeeper Sudhir Wankhede, a Nagpurian, will boost their batting.

Story continues below this ad

Vidarbha too have a formidable spin attack. Offie Pritam Gandhe, left-arm spinner Sunil Chikhale and Amol Jichkar can do wonders. Medium pacers Virendra Bodllu and Abhijit Piprode have abilities to disturb any batting line-up. However, Vidarbha may need to improve their battinng. In the last match, only two batsmen — skipper Manish Dosi and opener Paresh Sutane could score freely. Others even failed to cross a 25-run mark. It was so pathetic.

Skipper Dosi has shown signs of a brilliant leader and thinker as well. What he needs most at present is a substantial contribution from every man under his command.

Coach and chairman of selectors, Ravi Sundermurthy has been sounding very optimistic about the remaining season these days. He has given another opportunity to some non-performers like batsman Yogesh Ghare and wicketkeeper Kartik Iyer, to prove their worth.

Iyer has been dropped from the team for tomorrow’s one-dayer. He is in the team for four-dayer. Under-19 opener and ‘keeper Amit Deshpande comes in place of Iyer. Under-19 skipper Sameer Khare is another addition.

The playing elevens will be declared tomorrow morning.

Teams

Story continues below this ad

Railways: Prahlad Singh Rawat (capt), Yere Goud (vice-captain), Sanjay Bangar, Chandramohan Jha, Abhay Sharma, Sudhir Wankhede (both wk), Devendra Singh, Jakir Hussain, Kartil Murli, Kulmani Parida, Harvinder Singh, Manu Kumar, WD Balaji Rao, Harjeet Bawja (w-k), Santosh Saxena

Vidarbha: Manish Dosi (capt), Ulhas Gandhe (vice-captain), Paresh Sutane, Yogesh Ghare, Vivek Naidu, Parimal Hedaoo, Pritam Gandhe, Dilip Parteki, Abhijit Piprode, Sameer Khare, Rupesh Shahane, Amol Jichkar, Sunil Chikhale, Amit Deshpande, Virendra Bodllu.

Among dead in Vijay rally stampede, young mother, couple set to marry

Cities4 hr ago

A rally by actor-politician Vijay in Velusamypuram ended tragically with 40 deaths in a stampede. Non-political workers gathered to see the superstar, but exhaustion, heat, and poor planning caused chaos. People collapsed, ambulances couldn't reach, and police presence was inadequate. Vijay's team ignored instructions, and the narrow roads and insufficient crowd control added to the tragedy.

View all shorts

Live Blog

PHOTOS