Ranji Trophy 2015/16: 5 outstanding performers of the tournament

As we head closer to the David versus Goliath clash between Saurashtra and Mumbai for the Ranji Trophy title, we take a look at five players who chipped in with brilliant performances throughout the course of the tournament and helped brighten their respective team’s fortunes. This list is, of course, subjective and takes into account the impact a player has had on his side’s campaign.

#1 Shreyas Iyer (Mumbai)

Iyer scored 3 centuries and seven half-centuries in the tournament

Speaking to a major cricket website sometime in November last year, Shreyas Iyer had stated that he was really determined to prove to people that he could bat. And boy has he batted this season.

One will in fact run out of adjectives to describe the kind of impact that this twenty-something has had in ensuring that Mumbai remain strong contenders to win their forty-first Ranji title.

With 1204 runs this season, Iyer is a shade short of what will be an all-time record of the most runs made in a Ranji Trophy season. While the numbers Iyer has been able to notch up are eyeball grabbing, what stands out though, is the authority and control he has shown in run-making. Three centuries and seven half-centuries at a strike rate of over ninety underlines his dominance of the opposition bowlers.

In only his second first-class season, Iyer has shown a kind of maturity that one seldom comes across in India’s domestic setup. Perhaps his finest knock this season was when he orchestrated an intelligent run chase of 295 runs off 64 overs against Railways in Mumbai, by scoring a brisk 91.

Iyer’s A-game however, will be needed for the finals, if Mumbai are to ward off some stiff competition from a steely Saurashtran outfit.

#2 Paras Dogra (Himachal Pradesh)

Dogra had an astonishing average of 78.11 in Ranji Trophy

The pillar of Himachal Pradesh’s batting, what is exemplary in Paras Dogra’s game is his ability to bat long. And this year’s Ranji Trophy has been no different.

Dogra has managed to rake up more than 700 runs at an astonishing average of nearly eighty. The highlight though has been in the big centuries he has dished out, making merry against the bowlers of teams like Tripura, Goa and Services.

For people who have followed the domestic circuit for the last 5-6 years, Dogra is no outsider. He holds the rare distinction of scoring at least one double hundred in each Ranji season, starting 2011. This season too, he smashed a record double (227 of 280 balls) against Services.

It’s unfortunate that Dogra’s heroics couldn’t take his team over the line, as Himachal Pradesh narrowly missed qualifying for the quarter-finals by a single point. However, knowing the ‘Big D’ of the state’s cricket fraternity, he will not fail to amaze in subsequent years as well.

#3 Krishna Das (Assam)

Krishna picked up 50 wickets in the tournament

Assam’s Krishna Das, along with his childhood friend, Arup Das, have tormented batsmen from all across the country this season with their incisive and effective pace bowling. Krishna picked up as many as 50 wickets, and along with Arun Karthik, was pivotal in getting Assam a semi-final berth.

In a country that often prioritizes performances of the traditional centres of cricketing might, making the headlines is not an easy task and Krishna did exactly that. He ran through opposition line-ups on conditions that often favored his style of bowling. That notwithstanding, his ability to use the conditions in his favor was a stand out factor and helped Assam beat famed teams like Punjab.

Although he was overlooked in the Indian Premier League auctions, continued performances such as this season’s will make it impossible for people to ignore him for a longer period of time.

#4 Shahbaz Nadeem (Jharkhand)

Nadeem picked 51 wickets in the Ranji Trophy this season

Shahbaz Nadeem can rightly consider himself unlucky if he fails to make it to the Indian team in the near future. With 74 wickets across different formats in the domestic circuit, Nadeem has been one of the major reasons why Jharkhand has been able to find its feet this year. And there’s little a cricketer can be expected to do, apart from picking up as many wickets.

The bulk of Nadeem’s scalps (51 wickets) have come in the Ranji Trophy, where he is all slated to end the season as the highest wicket-taker in the competition, despite playing just nine games. It was his career best figures of 7/64 against Kerala in October that caught everyone’s attention – and since then, there’s been no looking back.

The best part about Nadeem this season has been in the manner in which he has been able to multitask for his captain – be the miserly run-controlling option at times and still manage take wickets when needed.

While an entry into the Indian Test team seems far-fetched right now with Ravichandran Ashwin at his peak, Nadeem’s exploits can surely catapult him to the reserve spinner’s category ahead of the senior colleague, Harbhajan Singh.

#5 Jalaj Saxena (Madhya Pradesh)

Jalaj was probably the best all-rounder in the Ranji trophy

Spinning track or not, picking up 16 wickets in a single game is no mean task. Jalaj Saxena managed to do that against the Railways at Gwalior, as the season progressed, he kept adding more wickets to his tally – by the end, he had 49 wickets, two short of the season’s highest wicket-taker.

That’s not where it ended. He also scored nearly 600 runs coming in to bat at the top of the order for Madhya Pradesh. By the time his side bowed out of the competition in the semi-finals, Saxena had perhaps provided the most value for his team.

With the bat in hand, Saxena’s best came against Punjab where a hard fought 70 in the first innings and a resolute 95 in the second, ensured that Madhya Pradesh got three points in an extremely close encounter. Against Mumbai at Indore, Saxena scored a fluent 79, but still ended up on the losing side. It was with his handy off-spin that he created a greater impact – especially on pitches where the ball gripped and turned.

While some will say that Saxena’s successes came against the relatively weaker teams, he can be happy about the fact that his all-round showing was instrumental in ensuring that Madhya Pradesh lapped up the points during the tournament’s league stages.