Vidarbha’s brain-fade moment
| Date :07-Jul-2020 |
Yogesh Ghare (also inset), who scored six First-Class hundreds, came good with the willow on a square turner in both innings.
By Anupam Soni :
Fielders’ absence of mind gave Rajasthan a thrilling last-ball win
HOW many runs can one expect to be scored when the bowler hits pads of a newcomer tailender? None or one would be a logical answer. But the glorious game of uncertainties defies logic. A moment of madness from the fielders resulting in a couple of overthrows allowed the batsmen run three to complete a thrilling win on last ball of the match. It was about 6 pm and it was getting dark. In the month of November when the Sun sets a bit early, VCA Civil Lines ground, with lights on in the pavilion, was still witnessing a game of cricket in progress. Rajasthan needed three runs from the last ball for a win in their Ranji Trophy Central Zone league match against hosts Vidarbha in 1998.
Ulhas Gandhe
Vidarbha’s premier off-spinner Pritam Gandhe was to deliver that ball to newcomer Kuldeep Singh. Vidarbha’s professional India player and skipper Lalchand Rajput had set a good defensive field. Pritam was on the money as he hit the batsman’s pad...players on the ground and partisan spectators in the gallery cried in unison for an lbw verdict that did not come their way. Meanwhile, the batsmen, Singh and non-striker Rahul Kanwat, who had completed his century on the previous ball, had no option but to run as the ball rolled towards short third man area. Vidarbha wicketkeeper Sadashiv Iyer got hold of the ball. Instead of holding on to the cherry and securing a one-run win for the team, he chose to get the batsmen out. And that too by not removing the bails with ball in hands but by throwing it towards the stumps. The ball missed the target and rolled towards the on-side.
Making some ground Ulhas Gandhe collected the ball and threw it under-arm towards Amol Jichkar who could not collect it and as the ball travelled towards the boundary, the batsmen completed those required three runs. Victory turned into a defeat in that brain-fade moment for Vidarbha. Ulhas termed the entire sequence as “unfortunate”. “Sada (Iyer) picked the ball from short thirdman area and even as all of us shouted ‘feko mat, feko mat’, he threw in his attempt to run out the batsman, who could well have been out had the ball hit the stumps. But it missed and coming from deep mid-wicket, I collected the ball near the 30-yard mark.
I was about to run towards the non-striker’s end but Amol Jichkar called for the ball ‘de de de’, I was 10-15 yards away from him and threw the ball under-arm towards him but at the same moment Amol looked at the batsmen and missed the ball that went through him towards mid-on boundary. Actually, it was our game but we lost it. The first overthrow and then the second...it was really very unfortunate. But credit to Rahul Kanwat who played a very good innings,” recalled the all-rounder who is presently a BCCI umpire. Top order batsman Yogesh Ghare, who ended his career with six First-Class tons, had a good match with the willow. “We should have won but lost due to the overthrows.
We declared our innings as an outright win would have put us into the knock-outs but ultimately it backfired,” lamented Ghare. At the outset, Rajput won the toss and decided to bat. After Rajasthan pacer Shamsher Singh sent back Vidarbha opener Paresh Sutane, Number four Ghare (58; 121b, 9x4) and one-down Parimal Hedaoo (34; 66b, 5x4) stabilised the innings. The hosts were going along nicely at 128-3 but as the spinners took over, they lost wickets in a heap. Losing six wickets for 30, they were soon 158-9. Pritam (21; 36b, 2x4) and left-arm seamer Dilip Prateki (11; 42b, 1x4) added 31 runs for last wicket and the side folded at 189 in 71 overs. Rajasthan’s part-time offie Rahul Kanwat (3-26) returned with the best figures while India off-spinner Ashish Kapoor scalped two.
A well warmed-up Prateki (4-31) took three wickets in his first spell including two in one over while Pritam (3-58) castled dangerman and Rajasthan skipper Gagan Khoda as the team wrested Day One honours reducing the opponents to 38-4. Unseasonal rains lashed the city and after four inspections by umpires, second day’s play was called off at lunch. On a truncated third day, only all-rounder PK Krishnakumar (58*; 184b, 5x4, 1x6) offered some resistance as Vidarbha skittled out the visitors for 133 in 73.5 overs gaining a 56-run first innings lead. But Rajasthan bowlers brought the team back in contention by sending half the Vidarbha side (66-5) back to pavilion in the last session of play.
Vidarbha opener Sadashiv Iyer (53; 89b, 2x4, 2x6) and Ghare (46*; 69b, 4x4, 1x6) scored some quick runs on the final morning as the team declared and set a target of 247 runs to be scored in 53 overs. Rajasthan opener Vilas Joshi (64), Kanwat (100*) and Khoda (30) mixed caution and aggression keeping themselves in the hunt. On fourth ball of last over, Pritam had Devendra Pal Singh (22; 12b, 3x6), who had brought down the equation with three big sixes, run out. Kanwat (100*; 125b, 6x4, 1x6) completed his ton on penultimate ball of the match leaving it for number ten to get those three runs from the last ball. And then that brain-fade happened.
The Hitavada Scoreboard
VIDARBHA 1ST INNINGS: P Sutane lbw b Shamsher Singh 10, S Iyer c Wasid b Kapoor 9, P Hedaoo st Jhalani b Kapoor 34, Y Ghare run out (Kanwat) 58, L Rajput lbw b Singh 13, U Ghani c Jhalani b Kanwat 4, U Gandhe c Dewara b Singh 1, M Dosi c&b Kanwat 3, P Gandhe lbw b Singh 21, A Jichkar b Kanwat 2, D Prateki Not Out 11. Extras: (b 9, lb 9,w 1, nb 4) 23. TOTAL: (All out, 71 overs) 189. FoW: 1-23, 2-41, 3-88, 4-128, 5-149, 6-149, 7-153, 8-155, 9-158. Bowling: Shamsher Singh 11-3-28-1, Krishnakumar 5-1-19-0, Kapoor 25-7-59-2, Singh 20-10-34-3, Khoda 1-0-5-0, Kanwat 9-0-26-3. RAJASTHAN 1ST INNINGS: A Kapoor b Prateki 2, G Khoda b P Gandhe 12, R Kanwat c Ghani b Prateki 0, V Joshi b Prateki 0, P Krishnakumar Not Out 58, M Wasid b Prateki 11, K Dewara lbw b Jichkar 14, K Singh b Rajput 8, D Singh c Ghare b Hedaoo 0, R Jhalani c Jichkar b P Gandhe 6, S Singh c Iyer b P Gandhe 12. Extras: (b 2, lb 8) 10. TOTAL: (All out, 73.5 overs) 133. FoW: 1-10, 2-14, 3-14, 4-18, 5-43, 6-74, 7-88, 8-89, 9-106. Bowling: Prateki 20-8-31-4, P Gandhe 28.5-7-58-3, Jichkar 8-4-12-1, Hedaoo 12-3-20-1, Rajput 4-3-2-1, Ghani 1-1-0-0. VIDARBHA 2ND INNINGS: P Sutane b S Singh 1, S Iyer c&b Kanwat 53, U Gandhe c Krishnakumar b Singh 22, P Gandhe lbw b Kapoor 7, P Hedaoo c Wasid b Kapoor 0, M Dosi b Singh 0, U Ghani c Jhalani b Kapoor 30, Y Ghare Not Out 46, L Rajput Not Out 18. Extras: (b 10, lb 1, nb 1, w 1) 13. TOTAL: (7 wkts decl, 48 overs) 190. FoW: 1-1, 2-50, 3-64, 4-64, 5-65, 6-105, 7-161. Bowling: Krishnakumar 5-0-31-0, Shamsher Singh 3-1-11-1, Singh 15-1-50-2, Kapoor 18-1-59-3, Kanwat 7-0-28-1. RAJASTHAN 2ND INNINGS (Target 247 runs): V Joshi run out (U Gandhe/P Gandhe) 64, R Jhalani lbw b P Gandhe 2, R Kanwat Not Out 100, M Wasid st Iyer b Prateki 1, G Khoda c Sutane b Hedaoo 30, K Dewara b Hedaoo 0, P Krishnakumar c Dosi b Hedaoo 4, A Kapoor c Dosi b Hedaoo 1, D Singh run out (P Gandhe) 22, K Singh Not Out 3. Extras: (b 8, lb 11, nb 1) 20. TOTAL: (8 wickets, 53 overs) 247. FoW: 1-18, 2-123, 3-133, 4-192, 5-193, 6-209, 7-214, 8-243. Bowling: Prateki 11-0-54-1, P Gandhe 20-1-81-1, Jichkar 12-1-44-0, Rajput 2-0-17-0, Hedaoo 8-1-32-4. n