A resolute Madhya Pradesh is faced with the daunting task of taming Vidarbha in their home ground, which the hosts have turned into an impregnable citadel this season. File
| Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Riding on the high of taking down heavyweight Karnataka in the quarterfinals, Vidarbha will look to deny Madhya Pradesh its second final in three years when they face off in the first Ranji Trophy semifinal at the VCA Stadium (Civil Lines) here from Saturday.

Aditya Sarwate and Harsh Dubey triggered a Karnataka batting meltdown on the final day, and led Vidarbha into the final-four after five years. MP, meanwhile, scraped a narrow four-run victory against Andhra to continue its bid for a second title under Chandrakant Pandit.

The colossal First-Class coach, Pandit, pitted against his former side Vidarbha, which he led to back-to-back titles in 2017/18 and 2018/19, serves an enticing sub-plot to the contest.

Himanshu Mantri and Yash Dubey have set the tone at the top for MP. The duo has notched up 500 runs each this season and contributed three hundred-plus opening-wicket partnerships. But its collapse from 123 for no loss to 159 for seven in the first innings against Andhra was symptomatic of its middle-order frailties, which have been masked by all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer.

Venkatesh has managed to salvage his side from precarious situations with aplomb, scoring 528 runs at a strike rate of 82.28. The southpaw will have a favourable match-up against the left-arm off-spin of Sarwate, Vidarbha’s leading wicket-taker this season with 37 scalps, and will again be tasked with holding things together for MP.

For Vidarbha, Atharva Taide’s coming-of-age century against Karnataka assured that the 23-year-old can fill in the big shoes of Faiz Fazal. But its imports, Dhruv Shorey and Karun Nair, will shoulder the major share of the side’s batting hopes.

Vidarbha could have benefitted from Jitesh Sharma’s firepower in the lower-middle order, but the wicketkeeper-batter has featured just once in eight games so far. In his stead, captain Akshay Wadkar’s six half-centuries have been valuable.

Kumar Kartikeya’s 32 wickets proved crucial when MP clinched the crown in 2022. The left-arm off-spinner has managed 38 this season already and is MP’s leading wicket-taker. With help from pacers Avesh Khan and Kulwant Khejroliya, MP could pose a threat to the home team’s batting.

Teams (from):

Vidarbha: Atharva Taide, Dhruv Shorey, Yash Rathod, Karun Nair, Akshay Wadkar (wk/captain), Mohit Kale, Aditya Sarwate, Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Faiz Fazal, Akshay Wakhare, Sanjay Raghunath, Rajneesh Gurbani, Lalit M Yadav, Siddhesh Wath, Jitesh Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Shubham Dubey.

Madhya Pradesh: Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri (wk), Harsh Gawli, Shubham S Sharma (captain), Venkatesh Iyer, Sumit Kushwah, Saransh Jain, Anubhav Agarwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Avesh Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Amarjeet Singh, Aditya Shrivastava, Mihir Hirwani, Rishabh Chouhan, Aryan Pandey.

Match starts at 9.30 AM.

Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy team will be aiming to continue their winning form against the 41-time champions Mumbai in the semifinal on March 2, 2024
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Ranji Trophy is coming to its business end. While non-participation of star players in the premier First Class competition may have hit the headlines, the presence of multiple stars has taken the interest in a tantalising semifinal between old foes Mumbai and Tamil Nadu a notch higher.

Boost for TN

Tamil Nadu — having seamlessly hit top gear after a slow start to the season — has received a boost with the addition of B. Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar for the marquee clash. While Sai Sudharsan joined the squad on Thursday night after rehabilitation for his back at the NCA in Bengaluru, Washington arrived in the morning after being released from India’s Test squad.

The duo trained extensively at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground on Friday morning. At the other end of the ground, Mumbai also had a long practice session. More than the duo, Shreyas Iyer will be under the scanner over the next five days.

After having made himself unavailable for last week’s quarterfinal against Baroda and now omitted from the BCCI’s central contracts list, Shreyas will be keen on making a statement on the big occasion.

The aggressive batter had a long batting stint in the nets on Thursday, but took it easy on Friday in an optional session.

Shreyas will play for Mumbai in place of Suryansh Shedge in a direct swap. It will be interesting to see if Mumbai brings in wicketkeeper Prasad Pawar for opener Bhupen Lalwani. Hardik Tamore proved his mettle with the willow in the quarterfinal, but was ordinary behind the stumps, so Mumbai may be tempted to bolster its depth.

Besides Sai Sudharsan and Washington coming in for R. Vimal Khumar and Mohammed Ali, Tamil Nadu will also be tempted to field pacer Kuldeep Sen in place of M. Mohammed.

The surface at the Bandra-Kurla Complex facility sported a green look and unless the grass is removed, captain R. Sai Kishore — the highest wicket-taker of the season — will know that Kuldeep Sen’s pace may make a difference as much as his own skilful left-arm spin.

Squads:

Mumbai: Ajinkya Rahane (c), Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Bhupen Lalwani, Amogh Bhatkal, Musheer Khan, Prasad Pawar (wk), Hardik Tamore (wk), Shardul Thakur, Shams Mulani, Tanush Kotian, Aditya Dhumal, Tushar Deshpande, Mohit Avasthi, Royston Dias, Dhawal Kulkarni.

Tamil Nadu: R Sai Kishore (c), Pradosh Ranjan Paul (vc), Baba Indrajith, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Suresh Lokeshwar (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, Vimal Khumar, Balasubramaniam Sachin, Washington Sundar, Sandeep Warrier, Trilok Nag, T Natarajan, Mohammed Mohammed, S Ajith Ram.

Match starts 9:30am IST.