da fezbet： Of the five zonal leagues in the Ranji Trophy, the scramble for qualifyingplaces is probably toughest in the Central Zone
Sankhya Krishnan27-Jan-2001Of the five zonal leagues in the Ranji Trophy, the scramble for qualifyingplaces is probably toughest in the Central Zone. Vidarbha are the onlygenuine pushovers; the other four, Rajasthan, Railways, Madhya Pradesh andUttar Pradesh play out a game of musical chairs each season. For the secondsuccessive year, Rajasthan topped the zonal table to lift the Mewar Trophyand Railways finished runners-up. The only change was in the thirdqualifier, Madhya Pradesh replacing northern neighbours Uttar Pradesh. Butit was not until the last hour of the last round of matches on January 21that MP finally shook off UP’s spirited challenge in an intense duel at theGreen Park.UP went into that final game with 11 points, against MP’s 14, needing towin outright to salvage a knockout berth at their opponents’ expense.Having conceded a first innings lead of 140, the prospects looked bleak,but a priceless 153 by Rizwan Shamshad helped set a target of 236 in 75overs. Ashish Zaidi and Shalabh Sriwastava sliced through the top order toleave MP sputtering at 98/6 in the 49th over. Four wickets to get in 25overs and UP were through to the pre-quarters. But their designs werefrustrated by MP’s 39-year-old skipper, Chandrakant Pandit. Batting at No8, the former Indian player fashioned a defiant unbeaten 47. For UP,Sriwastava and Zaidi formed a potent new ball pair right through theseason, snaring 39 wickets between them but the batsmen did not lendadequate support. The most disappointing of the lot was Mohd. Kaif who wasin the Indian squad as recently as the second Test against Zimbabwe atNagpur. Kaif averaged 32.75 without a hundred in three matches.The standout individual performance of the season was MP medium pacer JaiPrakash Yadav’s 15/111 in the course of an innings and 176 run trouncing ofVidarbha. Yadav took only seven wickets in three other games, but it wasstill enough for him to top the wickets tally with 22 at 18.31. The26-year-old also opens the batting for his team, although he had a ratherordinary season in that role, with only a solitary fifty in six innings. Inthe same MP-Vidarbha encounter, there was another tour de force, by MPtailenders Amkit Srivastava and Kapil Seth who added 249 for the ninthwicket, obliterating a 61-yearold national record. Indeed the partnershiponly ended when the 20- year-old wicketkeeper Srivastava was forced toretire hurt on a personal tally of 204. It was the only double century inthe Central Zone league.Vidarbha lost their first three matches by an innings but wangled a draw intheir final game against table toppers Rajasthan, due in no small measureto Amit Deshpande. The 19-year-old opening bat who doubles as wicketkeeperstruck a century in each innings and finished top of the run aggregate with456 runs at 91.20. There was one other batsman who also scored two hundredsin a match, Amay Khurasiya. Coming off a dismal run last season, the MPlefthander’s fortunes are presently in the midst of a sharp upswing, eversince he struck 105 and 118 not out in the opener against Railways.Runners-up two seasons ago, MP have landed a home engagement in thepre-quarters beginning March 8, against last year’s runners-up Hyderabad.Rajasthan’s march to the top was founded on good teamwork; their bestbowler, Sanjeev Sharma had only 12 wickets, and their best batsman skipperGagan Khoda was sixth in the run aggregate. Surging to the top of the tableafter their first game, when they outwitted UP by six wickets, Rajasthannever let slip the lead. However the luck of the draw has landed them apre-quarter final clash with North Zome champions Punjab at Mohali, adaunting prospect.Yere Goud, Amit Pagnis and Raja Ali were the pillars of a formidableRailways batting line-up that raised scores of 525 and 456 in their firsttwo games. The 24-year-old Ali topped the zonal batting averages with twohundreds in three games at 99.33. Ranji veteran Goud’s 378 runs put himsecond only to Deshpande on aggregate. Pagnis, who played seven times forMumbai last season without establishing himself, ran up three fifties and ahundred on maiden appearance, against Madhya Pradesh, in six innings. Spinwas the main component of the Railways attack even in the frequent absenceof Murali Kartik on international duty. Left arm spinner Tejinder Pal Singh(14) and off spinner Kulamani Parida (12) were the leading wicket takers.Railways run into Maharashtra at Pune in the next round.