Throughout the season, Harsh Dubey, this promising 21-year-old cricketer has seen action for both Vidarbha’s Under-23 and Ranji Trophy squads.
Vidarbha’s young left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey had entered the Ranji Trophy Final with a specific goal in mind. The day before the match, he was given a key batsman to bowl out, and he was thrilled to execute the plan perfectly.
Out of his three crucial wickets that rattled Mumbai, young Dubey cherished dismissing their captain, Ajinkya Rahane, the most.
Harsh Dubey said, “I enjoyed Rahane’s wicket the most. Before the match, I had made up my mind to dismiss him. I always do it. Before every match, pick a player whom I want to dismiss,”
“It’s my best wicket in Ranji Trophy till now. After bowling the stump line, I was giving him balls to drive. I thought that there were chances of the ball going in the air if Rahane drives it as the ball was getting stuck on the wicket. The plan succeeded.”
Rahane’s attempt to break the Obstruction resulted in an apish drive that was secured by Dhruv Shorey stretching to his left at mid-off.
Despite juggling between Vidarbha’s Under-23 and Ranji Trophy squads throughout the season, the young Dube (21) remained unfazed by the pressure of the Ranji Trophy final. He attributed his calmness to the experience of winning previous inter-state age-group championships.
“There was no pressure of the final. We have won the U-16, U-19 and U-23 finals in the past, so, there was no such pressure of the final,” Dubey said.
“I was treating it as a normal game and not thinking of it as a big game. I am taking it as just another Ranji contest against Mumbai.”
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI founded the championship in 1934 Since then it has been organized across various grounds and stadiums in India.
The idea of a national level, first class championship tournament was proposed by BCCI’s founder A.S. De Mello. The competition was launched following BCCI’s meeting at Shimla in July 1934, with the first fixtures taking place in 1934–35.
Initially the tournament was named as ‘The cricket championship of India’, it later was renamed. The trophy was donated by Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala in memory of Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, Jam Sahib of Nawanagar who had died the previous year.
The first match of the competition was held on 4 November 1934 between Madras and Mysore at the Chepauk ground in Madras (Now Chennai). Mumbai (Bombay) has won the tournament the most times with 41 wins including 15 back-to-back wins from 1958–59 to 1972–73.
Click here to Read more related article on our website.
