Annual Report of MPCA | 2017-18 Page 1 out Odisha for 147 in the First Innings to Set the Base for a Seven Wicket Victory in the Subsequent Stage of the Match
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Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association Annual Report for the year 2017-18 Playing host to our first ever T20 International, staging yet another successful ODI, and being the home venue for four IPL matches of season 2018 marked yet another successful and busy season for us. Also, it was a season with our teams continuing to perform well at almost all levels. Homage : We begin by paying homage to those who are no more with us. a. Dr. M K Bhargava left us on 6th March 2018. He was associated with MPCA since 1981 and during this period of almost 4 decades, he conscientiously handled the responsibilities in various capacities right from the Jt. Secretary, then the Hon. Secretary, followed by Chairman, and Vice President. He was an extremely thorough and meticulous person whose guidance was much valued by all of us. He played a pivotal role in raising the association to its present state. We acknowledge his immense contribution to our cricket and will miss his presence in our midst. b. Shri M.K.Shukla, a player of the Holkar era also left for the heavenly abode during the year under report. c. We also lost another Ranji player in form of Shri Vinod Narang. d. Shri Mahendra Singh Kalukheda, MPCA member and President of Ujjain Divisional Cricket Association, passed away in September 2017. I now present a report on the activities and achievements of our association during the last season. Our players continued to do well at the National level. Most of our teams made it to the knock out stage of respective tournaments. Devendra Bundela, who served MP cricket for the last twenty odd years, announced his retirement from cricket after the conclusion of season 2017-18. MPCA acknowledges his colossal and honest contribution to Madhya Pradesh cricket as a player and captain who led the team with great skill and acted as a mentor for the young players joining our team. Ranji Trophy : Our senior cricketers played well to qualify for the knock out from a tough group consisting of Tamil Nadu, Baroda, Andhra and Mumbai, before losing to Delhi in the quarter finals – the eventual runner up of the tournament. Our campaign started with a resounding eight wicket victory over Baroda. We recovered from 69 for 4 to post a huge score of 552 for 8 with major contributions coming from Shubham Sharma (196) Ankit Sharma (104) and Devendra Bundela (99). The bowlers than performed well to dismiss Baroda twice and won the match. Naman Ojha’s superb knock of 180 helped our team post 409 against Mumbai in the second match. However, Mumbai managed to surpass the score. Our first away match was against Tripura which was a 'must win game' in context of the group scenario. Twin spin attack - Mihir Hirwani (6 for 71) and Ankit Sharma (7 for 116) finished off the match on the third day, getting the full points with a bonus. The next match against Andhra resulted in a surprise loss for us. After conceding a lead of 55, we folded up for just 119 in the second innings to lose by eight wickets. In our next match against Tamil Nadu, Ankit Dane (63) and Ankit Sharma (77) helped us recover from 67 for 5 to post a decent 264. Tamil Nadu also recovered from 76 for 6 to grab the first innings points. With this, we needed an outright victory against Odisha in our last match for a chance to qualify for the knock out. The bowlers bundled Annual Report of MPCA | 2017-18 Page 1 out Odisha for 147 in the first innings to set the base for a seven wicket victory in the subsequent stage of the match. Sakure (4-42) in the first innings and Hirwani (5-97) in the second innings bowled well. The five-day quarter final against Delhi was played at the neutral venue - Vijaywada. Our team scored 338, with major contribution coming from the consistent Harpreet Singh Bhatia. Delhi was able to snatch a first innings lead of 67 and chased down the second inning target of 217 with ease. Harpreet Singh Bhatia with 629 runs was once again the top run getter for the state. Shubham Sharma (440 runs) and Rajat Patidar (425 runs) also chipped in. Leg spinner Mihir Hirwani (31 wickets) topped the chart for bowlers, ably supported by the experienced Ishwar Pandey (23 wickets). Ankit Sharma (19 wickets and 376 runs.) played the all rounder’s role to perfection. Vijay Hazare Trophy: We were placed in Group ‘C’ along with Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Team Rajasthan, Andhra and Goa. We started with a 74 run loss to Mumbai which was followed by another defeat against Andhra. We recovered well to defeat Gujarat by 4 wickets, Tamil Nadu and Goa by 8 wickets each but the last match against Team Rajasthan went their way. Rajat Patidar came up with an astounding innings of 158 off just 111 balls against Tamil Nadu which was followed by 124 off 85 balls against Goa. He finished with 369 runs in the league. Anshul Tripathi (8 wickets) was the top wicket taker. Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: We had a mix season with victories against Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Railways. We lost to Team Rajasthan and a close game to Vidarbha, falling short by just 7 runs inspite of Sohraab Dhaliwal and Anshul Tripathi involved in a 71 run 5th wicket partnership steering our team close to the target. Rajat Patidar (132 runs) and Sohraab Dhaliwal (106) were the top run getters but not much support was forthcoming from the other batsmen. C K Nayudu Trophy : The U-23 team was in plate group. Our team performed handsomely and has qualified for the elite group for the next season. The season started with a first innings loss to Hyderabad. Against Orissa in the next game we achieved the first innings honours. The team got in to the top gear defeating Jharkhand by 9 Wickets but conceded a first innings lead to Uttar Pradesh. We wrapped up the league with first innings points against Chattisgarh. The plate semi final against Team Rajasthan gave us a first opportunity to book a place in the elite group for the next season. In a closely fought match of fluctuating fortunes, we took a lead of 32 runs but had to chase 237 to win the match. After being in a precarious situation with 57 for 7, skipper Venkatesh Iyer and Ajay Rohera took the score to 203 before the last three wickets fell for mere 7 runs. We had to then play against Saurashtra for the third place. A hard fought first innings tussle ended with MP getting the lead of 15 runs. Avesh Khan was at his devastating best taking seven wickets for 66. MP closed off the match scoring 534 for 7 in the second innings. Aryaman Birla was the best batsman for us and also became the highest scorer of the tournament. He scored 795 runs with four hundreds and also chipped in with 10 wickets for us. Salman Khan (527 runs) and Venkatesh Iyer (496 runs) also scored heavily with the bat. Ajay Rohera (438 runs) scored important runs when they were required the most. Ashwin Das took 17 wickets while Avesh Khan, in his two games for the team, took 13. U-23 One Day League: The tournament was added to the BCCI calendar this year. The Central Zone league was keenly fought and MP scrapped through to qualify for the knock out. We defeated Team Rajasthan by 5 wickets, lost to Uttar Pradesh by 4 wickets, beat Vidarbha by 14 runs and Chattisgarh by 24 runs before succumbing to Railways by 3 wickets. The knock out stage was played in Kanpur. We chased down 322 runs made by Gujarat quite easily but in the next game lost to Punjab by two wickets with just two balls to go. Wicket Keeper batsman Ajay Rohera followed up his magic performance of the multi-day tournament and scored 444 runs in seven Annual Report of MPCA | 2017-18 Page 2 matches with two centuries. Salman Khan scored 308 runs. Avesh Khan emerged as the best bowler with ten wickets. Rahul Batham, making a comeback from injury, took eight wickets as did Apurv Purohit. Cooch Behar Trophy: The Under -19 lads came up with stupendous performance to finish as runners up in the tournament. It was a splendid display by the colts in all the matches. Starting the Group ‘B’ campaign with an innings win against Assam, the team then defeated Gujarat by 10 wickets. We conceded the first innings lead to Mumbai and Karnataka before coming back to winning ways decimating Andhra and Railways by an innings victory. In the quarter final match against Bengal, Dev Barnale scored a majestic double hundred to set up the stage for a victory. Yash Dubey and Rishabh Chouhan scored brilliant hundreds to help the team to chase down UP’s score of 395 in the semi final. The final match was against Vidarbha at Nagpur. Winning the toss, our boys could not score big enough in the first innings and Vidarbha got a huge first innings lead of 325. Yash Dubey was the star of the show for us. He scored 902 runs with 4 hundreds and 4 fifties. Skipper Rishabh Chouhan carried the lower middle order brilliantly scoring 707 runs including 3 hundreds. Leg spinner Rajrishi Shrivastava took 30 wickets while Mohd. Saad Baggad and Shivam Dwivedi supported him with 21 wickets apiece. Vinoo Mankad Trophy: The Central Zone league was hosted by our association at Gwalior.