Vidarbha collapse in Amravati, yet again
| Date :25-Aug-2020 |
By Anupam Soni :
LIGHTNING does strike at the same place twice. Having lost their first-ever Ranji Trophy match in Amravati in 1976, hosts Vidarbha were dealt with the same fate once again, four years later (December 1980) in the same city. Though venues on both the occasions were different, the results were almost the same...Rajasthan winning those games comfortably. In first match played in Amravati at Territorial Army Parade Ground (Reforms Club Ground) both the teams failed to cross even the two-hundred run mark in the four innings and Vidarbha lost by five wickets.
Four years on, Vidarbha collapsed once again to lose by seven wickets. The second First-Class match in Amravati was held at Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal Ground. Vidarbha skipper Ashok Bhagwat won the toss and decided to make first use of the new matting. Openers Jayantilal Rathod and stumper Pradeep Aney took guards. Aney was soon back in the hut when scoreboard read just 12. Vidarbha’s young all-rounder Satish Takle walked in to join Rathod. The two tackled the Rajasthan attack comprising S Joshi, Vivek Singh, Sanju Mudkavi, Gajraj Singh and S Vyas with ease adding 111 runs for the second wicket. While Rathod made 53, Takle slammed 69.
Takle, who went on to play 30 First-Class matches in his almost a decade-long First-Class career, made his top score in this match coming at number three. He scored 952 FC runs that included five half centuries. The medium pacer, who also picked 56 wickets, passed away in June 2018. Rathod, who represented Vidarbha for about seven seasons, hit one hundred (106) and two fifties in 22 FC games. The hundred came against MP at Nehru Stadium in Indore in December 1977 in his debut season.
He and Vijay Telang (78) shared a good opening stand on opening day of that drawn game. Bhagwat (52), who piled 1127 runs form 42 matches for Vidarbha, scored one of his six half centuries in First-Class cricket in Amravati. Three Vidarbha batters could not open account and the hosts were all out for 221 in 86 overs. Rajasthan bowler S Vyas returned with six wickets for 52 runs from his 20 overs.
“Actually, I scored my maiden hundred first in my debut season and then those two fifties followed. Satish, who was a very good all-rounder batted well and we had a very good partnership in the first innings,” recalled opener Rathod, who later went on to become the chief selector for senior Vidarbha squads. “Satish and Ladya (Bhaskar Joshi) were very good all-rounders in our team apart from skipper Ashok Bhagwat. In fact, Ladya was the first player from district place to make a mark at Ranji level,” added Rathod. According to Rathod, cricket was not easy then, more so for the openers. “Where there were turf wickets, it was okay but playing on a new matting wicket was never easy.
With pitches on smaller centres not very good, the bounce used to be very uneven and chances of injury were very high. The matches too were low scoring affairs. One can still check the scores of those matches. The average scores was not more than 225-250 runs per innings. “After conducting First-Class matches for many years (on matting on small centres), BCCI realised it was dangerous to play on the mat when India opener Sunil Gavaskar injured his thumb in a Ranji game prior to an important international assignment. Later playing on matting was done away with,” Rathod informed.
Bhaskar Joshi gave Vidarbha an early breakthrough having Tandon lbw for three but with good batting by S Mobar (84) and some useful contributions from Mudkavi (40) and Vivek Singh (43), the visitors reached 297 before the innings folded. Rajasthan had gained a healthy 76 runs first innings lead. For Vidarbha, Joshi picked four wickets while fellow seamers — Vikas Gawate (2-15), Vikas Shesh (2-27) and Bhagwat (1-85) accounted for rest of the wickets. Vidarbha had a poor start to their second innings. Aney got out without troubling the scorers. Rathod (24) got a start but Vidarbha kept on losing batsmen at very short intervals and at one time, an innings defeat loomed large.
The seventh wicket was out at the score of 68 when the hosts were still nine runs away from making the visitors bat again. But Joshi slammed a quick 28 to ensure Rajasthan bat again. Rajasthan’s Joshi snared four wickets and Mudkavi three to trigger a collapse. Vidarbha were shot out for a meagre 119 runs. Rajasthan needed 44 runs in the last session of the final day which they achieved easily losing three wickets. D Mathur remained unbeaten on 22. Shesh picked two wickets while Gawate one. Vidarbha never played a First-Class match in Amravati after that match.
Gattani floors Vidarbha KAILASH Ramniwas Gattani single-handedly handed Vidarbha a defeat in the maiden First-Class match played in Amravati. The right-arm pacer, who is considered to be among few unlucky pacers who missed the India bus, took seven wickets in each innings as Rajasthan recorded a comfortable five-wicket win over Vidarbha. The right-arm medium-fast bowler who played for Rajasthan from 1962-63 to 1982-83 picked 396 wickets from 109 matches at an average of 19.91. It is said that his wickets column would have been much richer had the Rajasthan slip fielders not dropped many edges that he induced. Gattani (7-42 and 7-33) wreaked havoc with the new ball as Vidarbha posted 178 and 113 in two innings. Vidarbha bowlers too, led by Bhagwat (5-89) bowled well in the first innings. His new ball partner Anil Deshpande chipped in with a couple of wickets while Vijay Telang recorded his best FC figures scalping three for 18. In fact, the hosts took a slender three-run first innings lead but their collapse in the second innings spelt doom.
Match: Vidarbha vs Rajasthan Ranji Trophy Central Zone League match played at Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal Ground, Amravati in December 1980 (3-day match on matting wicket). Result: Vidarbha lost by seven wickets.
Highlights n Vidarbha all-rounder Satish Takle, who had played 30 First-Class matches spanning 1980-81 — 1989-90 seasons. His First-Class top-score of 69 came in this match coming at number three. The medium pacer picked 56 wickets and scored 952 runs that included five half centuries. He passed away in June 2018.
Opener Jayantilal Rathod represented Vidarbha from 1977-78 to 1983-84. He hit one hundred (106) and two fifties in 22 FC games. The hundred came against MP at Nehru Stadium in Indore in December 1977 in his debut season. He and Vijay Telang (78) shared a good opening stand on opening day of that drawn game.
The Hitavada Scoreboard VIDARBHA 1ST INNINGS: J Rathod c Benjamin b G Singh 53, P Aney c Benjamin b V Singh 7, S Takle c Tandon b Vyas 69, S Hedaoo c Benjamin b Vyas 0, S Joshi b Vyas 18, A Bhagwat run out 52, M Kaware b Vyas 0, V Gawate c G Singh b Vyas 0, B Joshi c Mathur b Vyas 4, V Shesh c Mudkavi b V Singh 5, H Wasu Not Out 1.
Extras: 12. TOTAL: (All out, 86 overs) 221. FoW: 1-12, 2-123, 3-131, 4-145, 5-166, 6-166, 7-166, 8-172, 9-220. Bowling: Joshi 9-6-9-0, V Singh 14-1-40-2, Mobar 2-0-12-0, Mudkavi 26-5-66-0, G Singh 14-5-25-1, Vyas 20-6-52-6, Arya 1-0-5-0.
RAJASTHAN 1ST INNINGS: Tandon lbw b B Joshi 3, D Mathur run out 28, S Mudkavi c Hedaoo b Bhagwat 40, T Chatterjee lbw b B Joshi 1, S Mobar c Aney b Gawate 84, P Arya lbw b B Joshi 27, S Benjamin c Bhagwat b B Joshi 15, S Joshi b Shesh 29, V Singh c S Joshi b Gawate 43, S Vyas Not Out 4, G Singh lbw b Shesh 9.
Extras: 14. TOTAL: (All out, 86 overs) 297. FoW: 1-11, 2-79, 3-84, 4-84, 5-122, 6-140, 7-187, 8-281, 9-284. Bowling: Bhagwat 26-6-85-1, B Joshi 30-6-92-4, Takle 3-0-13-0, Wasu 10-1-22-0, Gawate 7-1-15-2, Shesh 8-0-27-2, Kaware 2-0-29-0. VIDARBHA 2ND
INNINGS: J Rathod c Chatterjee b Mudkavi 24, P Aney c Joshi b V Singh 0, S Takle c Benjamin b Mobar 12, S Hedaoo c Mobar b Joshi 0, S Joshi lbw b Joshi 11, A Bhagwat b Mudkavi 12, M Kaware c Tandon b Mudkavi 1, V Gawate c V Singh b Vyas 13, B Joshi b Joshi 28, V Shesh b Joshi 3, H Wasu Not Out 9. Extras: 6. TOTAL: (All out, 41.1 overs) 119. FoW: 1-1, 2-25, 3-36, 4-50, 5-51, 6-56, 7-68, 8-94, 9-108.
Bowling: Joshi 16.1-4-48-4, V Singh 3-0-6-1, Mobar 6-1-16-1, Mudkavi 11-5-21-3, Vyas 4-0-21-1, Tandon 1-0-1-0.
RAJASTHAN 2ND INNINGS (Target 44 runs): Tandon c Aney b Shesh 11, D Mathur Not Out 22, S Mudkavi c Wasu b Shesh 4, T Chatterjee b Gawate 2, S Mobar Not Out 0. Extras: 7. TOTAL: (3 wickets, 13.2 overs) 46. FoW: 1-27, 2-37, 3-42. Bowling: Shesh 6.2-0-28-2, B Joshi 3-0-5-0, Gawate 4-1-6-1.