Joginder all the way!
| Date :13-Oct-2020 |
By Anupam Soni :
Former India all-rounder claimed career-best figures in Haryana’s 41-run win over Vidarbha
HARYANA all-rounder Joginder Sharma, who played four ODIs and as many Twenty20 Internationals for India and made a name for himself by bowling India to victory in the inaugural edition of the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, recorded his best First-Class bowling figures against Vidarbha in 2004. Joginder’s figures of 8-24 and 6-92, coupled with first innings top score of 30 and another 28 in the second innings earned Haryana a 41-run win over Vidarbha in their Ranji Trophy match played at VCA Civil Lines ground in December. In those days, the Civil Lines track wore a greenish look as curator Kishor Pradhan loved to leave some grass on the surface.
Vidarbha promptly invited Haryana to exploit the conditions after the visiting captain, also a former India player, Ajay Ratra called it wrong during flipping of the coin. Vidarbha pacers Sandeep Singh, Baburao Yadav and Alind Naidu got good purchase from the turf. All of them picked two wickets apiece and the visitors were on the mat at 75-6. Debutant southpaw Deepak Joon (29) and Joginder (30) added 54 important runs for the seventh wicket to take the team to 129. Vidarbha captain Pritam Gandhe removed both the batsmen and later added one more as the team was bowled out for 154 runs in 65.5 overs close to tea. Vidarbha’s joy of bundling the opponents was short-lived. In the coming 14 overs, half of the side was back in the hut with the scoreboard showing a mere 18 runs. Joginder and another debutant Sachin Rana were in control of the cherry as expert jugglers.
Life was hell for the batsmen. Rana drew first blood on last ball of fifth over claiming Faiz Fazal for five. By that time, the other opener Amit Deshpande was yet to open his account. Two overs and six runs later, Rana forced Naidu to edge one behind for Ratra. In the eleventh over of the innings, Joginder’s double strike rocked Vidarbha. He removed Harshal Shitoot for ten-ball one and on the next ball had Ulhas Gandhe lbw for nought. Joginder-Ratra combination saw the back of Ranjit Paradkar and the hosts were looking down the barrel. Deshpande (24*) and Nitin Gawande (5*) hung on for about eight testing and teasing overs. Vidarbha were 42-5 in 22 overs at the end of Day One that had consumed 15 batsmen. Joginder had Vidarbha tail for breakfast next morning as he ran through it.
He took all the last five batsmen recording his best-ever First-Class figures in an innings. Vidarbha cut a sorry figure getting bulldozed for just 57 in 34.2 overs. “For that four-five seasons, the relaid pitch at Civil Lines was very responsive to fast bowlers. As far as I remember all the matches played in that time, including the India-Australia Test, had an outright winner. “Joginder had the ability to swing the ball both ways but his stock ball was the outswinger. He had good pace and with the pitch assisting, the ball would zip past after pitching. “Our bowlers also did well in restricting them in first innings but Joginder was unplayable that day,” recalled Vidarbha opener-wicketkeeper Amit Deshpande, who was the lone batsman to score in double digits (28) in Vidarbha first innings.
“Had we got a partnership going and had we taken the first innings lead, we would have won that game. It was a very good opportunity that we could not cash on,” Deshpande lamented. Vidarbha seamer Singh gave yet another early breakthrough accounting for Haryana opener Chetan Sharma for second time in the match. But duo of Bagheswar Bist (38) and Sunny Singh (34) applied themselves well to add 73 runs for the second wicket. Offie Pritam sent back both at the same score of 87.
He had Singh caught by Faiz and then his measured throw to Deshpande saw Bist run out. Four runs later, the skipper struck again getting rid of Joon. Shafiq Khan and Ratra contributed an identical 32 in the middle order and later all-rounders Joginder (28) and Rana (34) frustrated Vidarbha with their cameos. By the time Yadav picked three quick wickets to signal end of Haryana innings, the team had coasted to 230. That left Vidarbha needing 328 for win. Time and overs were no issues, the determination of home batters was.
And they started on a very positive note. Faiz (81) and Deshpande (35) displayed grit and composure getting 69 runs in 36 overs denying Haryana any chance. Finally, Joginder breached the defence of Deshpande for first of his six wickets. Even when Naidu (10) and Paradkar (24) got out to India player leg-spinner Amit Mishra and Rana respectively, the hosts’ chase looked on the way. At end of third day’s play, Vidarbha were 160-3 with Faiz on 77 and night-watchman Chandrashekhar Atram on 2. They needed just 168 runs from 90 possible overs with seven wickets in hand. But once again in the match, Joginder took five wickets in first session of the day. After early departure of Atram and Faiz in that order, Ulhas (21), Shitoot (53) and Yadav (33) tried their best but the efforts fell short. Rana, with three scalps, complemented Joginder well. “With the moisture gone, batting was somewhat easy in later part of the game. We had a very good start. Faiz batted very well and we had a very good opening partnership. In these types of chases we need at least two-three top-order batsmen to contribute substantially. If I would have got some 60-70, there were chances that we could have won the game,” Deshpande concluded.
