Ranji Trophy 12-13: Jharkhand reach quarterfinals

Match Summary: Services (185 & 152) lost to Jharkhand (120 & 219/5) by 5 wickets

Points: Jharkhand 6, Services 0

This was the match. Jharkhand had to win against the league toppers to have a chance to reach the knockouts. And they won it with some minor hiccups. With other results also going their way, Jharkhand took the second place in Group C and booked their knockout’s spot.

In the first innings, they knocked out Services early with Ajay Yadav picking up 5 wickets. In reply, Jharkhand started strongly but the brittle batting order collapsed again and handed a big lead to Services. At this juncture, with Saurabh Tiwary also injured, a win became increasingly unlikely. But they recovered well to knock out Services for 152, though they had them in even deeper trouble at one stage. Once again Yadav was the pick of the bowlers picking up 6 wickets. A 4th innings target of 218 was big, given the match context. But the openers Akash Verma & Rameez Nemat knocked off most of the target in a 150+ opening stand. A few quick wickets fell but Jaggi & Tiwary saw them through.

It has been a topsy-turvy season, beginning and ending with wins and some indifferent performances in-between. The batting has been especially brittle with only Saurabh Tiwary and, to a certain extent, Akash Verma consistently amongst the runs. Bowling has been the more reliable department with Nadeem, Sunny Gupta, SS Rao and newcomer Ajay Yadav all chipping in.It was the perfect new year gift for the Jharkhand cricket fan. Given that Dhoni & Aaron were missing throughout the season makes the achievement even more commendable.Now for the qaurterfinals against Punjab to be played at home in Jamshedpur beginning January 6th. Wishing the team all the very best.

Season StatsLead run-scorer: Saurabh Tiwary – 601 runs @50.08Most Wickets – Shahbaz Nadeem – 40 @22.45