 "Ranji Trophy semi-finals: Madhya Pradesh face tough task against Vidarbha; Mumbai favourites vs Tamil Nadu")
The Ranji Trophy 2023-24 semi-finals will get underway from Saturday (2 March) and all eyes will be on 41-time champions Mumbai, who will look to add a 42nd to their trophy cabinet. Mumbai face Tamil Nadu in one of the semi-finals in Mumbai, whereas Vidarbha host Madhya Pradesh in the other semi-final at Nagpur’s VCA Stadium.
Vidarbha vs Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh will have their task cut out against a Vidarbha side who have dominated at home in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. Vidarbha have won three out of the four matches they have played at the Nagpur VCA Stadium this season, with their only defeat coming to Saurashtra. Even their margin of victories have also been big so far, with their biggest victory being a 308-run victory over Jharkhand in their Group A match.
Ranji Trophy semi-finals: Teams, schedule, players to watch out for and all you need to know
Vidarbha’s batters have produced a collective performance this season so far. Karun Nair (515 runs) is their top run-scorer having slammed two hundred and one fifty, whereas Dhruv Shorey (496), Atharva Taide (488) and captain Akshay Wadkar (452) have also been impressive.
While the VCA Stadium has produced a batting-friendly pitch, Vidarbha’s bowlers have also had their moments. Fast bowler Aditya Thakare and spinner Aditya Sarwate have scalped a combined tally of 68 wickets for Vidarbha, and have also performed under pressure. Take Sarwate’s four-wicket haul against Karnataka for example. Karnataka were 103/1 at one stage but Sarwate produced a brilliant spell to finish with figures of 4/78 to bowl Karnataka out for 243.
As far as Madhya Pradesh is concerned, they have had a mixed outing in the group stage. They have secured just three outright wins and suffered three losses as well.
Impact Shorts
View AllMP struggled against Andhra in the quarterfinals too, before Anubhav Agarwal helped them eke out a four-run win. Venkatesh Iyer has been their biggest positive in batting with 528 runs whereas spinners have proved monumental, with Kumar Katikeya (38 wickets), Saransh Jain (27) and Kulwant Khejroliya (26).
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.
Mumbai vs Tamil Nadu
All eyes will be on Shreyas Iyer when Mumbai take on Tamil Nadu in the other semi-final at Mumbai’s Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy ground. Iyer was recently dropped from the India Test side for the second half of the England series, and had missed the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal due to a back spasm. Iyer, who was recently discarded from the BCCI contracts list, will even look for a positive outing in the semi-final against TN.
For Tamil Nadu, R Sai Kishore (47 wickets) and Ajot Ram (41) have formed a formidable spin duo and that means Iyer will have his task cut out in the last-four clash.
Ajinkya Rahane’s form is a cause for concern for Mumbai. Rahane has scored just one fifty to his name all season, against Chandigarh. In the quarterfinal clash against Baroda, Rahane was dismissed for scores of 3 and 0, so it’s clearly a sign that the out of favour India batter is in need for some runs.
Young Musheer Khan stole the show with an unbeaten double century in Mumbai’s quarterfinal, and his presence certainly adds balance to Mumbai’s batting. For Tamil Nadu, N Jagadeeshan’s form is a matter for worry. He has nit scored a half-century in seven innings, despite having amassed scores of 245 not out and 321 earlier in the tournament. Baba Indrajith (686) has however showcased consistency with scores of 80, 187, 98 and 48.
Tamil Nadu will also have an all-rounder in Washington Sundar, who has been released from India’s Test squad against England.
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.
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