Not the perfect one, but the smile is finally back on the players' face

The Ranji Trophy is back!

Not in the most ideal way, of course. It is a shortened version or probably an event just a bit more significant than any state association-sponsored pre-season Invitational tournament. Sandwiched between the IPL Mega auction and a 10-team IPL, this season of Ranji Trophy, back after a one-year hiatus, doesn’t really add much value to the ecosystem unless you qualify for the Super League. 

But such has been the impact of the pandemic and the incompetence of the top-brass sitting in the BCCI board room that anything that is offered is just a bonus. Hence, as the tournament kick-started across 19 venues in the country, a lot of players faces’ lit up after it went missing since the onset of the pandemic in March 2022. 

“The smell of the leather, walking to the ground in full whites, means so much to us as cricketers, Ranji Trophy is the bread and butter of many domestic cricketers in India and we truly missed it. Today, we were all excited and lived the moments to the fullest,” Gokul Sharma, former Assam captain, told Cricket.com.

Assam took on Maharashtra in Lahli but were on the receiving end of some Pavan Shah scathing, as the Western Indian outfit ended up with 278/5. Barring Mukhtar Hussain, none really could pull the plug, but for Gokul, they are very motivated to secure the bragging rights on Day 2. “Things didn’t really go our way today but as a senior player, I understand how motivated our boys are. After enduring tough two years, we are not letting go of this opportunity,” Sharma added.

For Odisha, it is another familiar tale of batters nullifying the bowling impact. After Basant Mohanty, one of the most known and impactful pacers on the domestic circuit in the last decade or so, was the pick of the bowlers while Abhishek Raut, who once used to turn up for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, picked up a couple of wickets. But Goa bowling unit, led by Lakshay Garg, dismissed three Odisha batters for a mere 23. There were a lot of roller-coasters, a lot of emotions in both the camps in Ahmedabad but their smiles stood out. The players were really happy.

This season of Ranji Trophy might not provide the same kind of drama the domestic cricket aficionados have grown up following, but this season is more about hope than anything else. While Yash Dhull, fresh from the highs of India’s U19 World Cup win in Antigua, made the Tamil Nadu bowlers toil hard for their money at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, in the course of a century on debut, an experienced pro in Ajinkya Rahane pulled Mumbai out of the woods against Saurashtra. Standing on two contrasting edges of fortune and age, Rahane and Dhull represented hope for the future.

It was purely coincidence that Rahane, during his 250-ball 108-run stay, had a prodigiously talented Sarfaraz Khan to accompany him at the other end. For all the stories of Sarfaraz’s indiscipline, his second-wind as a first-class cricketer is a story worth celebrating. He started from where he had left in the 2019-20 season with a fluent 121 off 219 balls today and is unbeaten in the middle. At a time, when India are struggling to produce enough world-class middle-order batters, Sarfaraz has thrown his hat into the ring and how!

For now, we have just three games upfront before the Super League stage is planned for June. There would be the impact of Monsoon season and no one is quite sure how things would pan out. But for now, the players are happy that they have got their prized possession back - to stake claim whatsoever.