In impressive form with the bat in his debut series, rookie spinner Jayant Yadav on Sunday credited his Ranji Trophy team for helping him develop as an all-round cricketer.

The Haryana off-spinner has been impressive with both bat and ball during the ongoing five-match Test series against England.

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He batted with control and authority on Sunday — completing a century and figuring in an eighth-wicket stand of 241 runs alongside India skipper Virat Kohli — to help the hosts amass a massive total of 631 runs in their first innings and take control of the fourth Test at the Wankhede Stadium.

“I was always a handy batsman, since I started playing junior cricket. As I came up the ranks I always wanted to build this side of my game. I think my Ranji Trophy team really helped me to do it,” Yadav told reporters after the end of the day’s play.

“Even though I was batting down the order, I had a responsibility that helped me grow as an all-round player.”

The 26-year-old scored 104 runs with 15 boundaries before being stumped off England spinner Adil Rashid’s bowling while attempting another big shot.

He credited Kohli for helping him reach his maiden Test century by constantly giving him advice during the innings.

“We talked about what was happening in the match between overs. Is he trying to do something different or is he going to stick to the same strategy he employed in the last over? We occasionally had a bit of a laugh as well,” Yadav said.

“He just told me to keep going, not focus on the runs and keep playing ball to ball.”

Declining to comment on the ongoing debate about the differences in quality between the Indian and England spinners, the Haryana player admitted that he was not thinking about his century when he and Kohli walked out to bat in the morning.

“When I came out to bat in the morning, I was just vying for the half-century. I was 20 runs short. I just went with the flow. Things just kept happening,” he said.

IANS

The BCCI on Sunday rescheduled the two smog-hit Ranji Trophy cricket matches to a yet undeclared date recognising the “extraordinary circumstances” prevailing in the national capital.

The thick smog that has shrouded the city for the past week affected two Ranji trophy cricket matches for the second consecutive day on Sunday.

The Gujarat vs Bengal and Hyderabad vs Tripura matches at two separate venues in the national capital were abandoned for the day without a ball being bowled.

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Placed on top of the table with 15 points each, Gujarat and Bengal chose to call off the second day play of the Group A match at the Ferozeshah Kotla grounds due to poor visibility.

In the same manner, the Group C encounter between Hyderabad and Tripura at the Karnail Singh Stadium was also a non-starter due to the thick smog.

“The Technical Committee of the BCCI recognised the extraordinary circumstances prevailing in New Delhi and decided to reschedule the Paytm Ranji Trophy 2016-17 fifth round matches between Hyderabad-Tripura and Gujarat-Bengal after the first two days of play were lost due to smog conditions in New Delhi,” Ajay Shirke, Board of Control for Cricket in India Honorary Secretary, said on Sunday in a statement.

“The Hyderabad-Tripura match was to be played at the Karnail Singh Stadium while the Ferozeshah Kotla ground was scheduled to host the Gujarat-Bengal match from November 5, 2016 onwards.”

The revised venues and dates for the two matches will be announced later and these will be played after the league phase of Ranji trophy, the statement added.

IANS

Having watched cricket all my life, I find no reasons to follow the game religiously the way I used to. Too much cricket, watched enough for an entire lifetime already; no longer part of a news set-up so no need to follow the game; players of today’s generation are not like a Rahul Dravid or a Sachin Tendulkar.

But along comes a player every now and then, who makes you want him to do well, makes you switch off the TV set once he gets out, makes you spend hours watching the game you thought you had fallen out with.

Kannaur Lokesh Rahul’s batting and the way he carries himself makes you do just that. The technique and time he has while playing against the fast bowlers, the innovation he has added to his batting while playing the shorter format of the game, his ground fielding and wicket keeping ability has all added to his charisma. His Test average of only 25.69 may not do justice to Rahul’s immense batting talent, but he showed enough class and poise while scoring his first Test hundred in just the second Test match of his life.

He returns from Zimbabwe as India’s best batsman with scores of 100, 33, 63, 0, 47, 22 in the ODIs and T20s. And in all likelihood could retain his Team India place in the limited overs game.

Centuries for KL Rahul in both Test and ODI

Most deserving youngster to make the grade

You also take heart from the fact that his selection to the Test squad was not because of any fluke performance in the IPL, though he did have a decent IPL season playing for Pune Sunrisers in 2014. His selection was mainly due to some outstanding batting in the domestic circuit.

In the 2013-14 Ranji Trophy, the Karnataka batsman topped the batting charts for his side by scoring more than 1000 runs and was also declared the Man of the Match in the final. Rahul played a big part in winning the Ranji Trophy title that season for Karnataka. He didn’t stop there. In the Duleep Trophy final the same year playing for South Zone against the Central Zone, Rahul scored centuries in both the innings – 185 off 233 in the first and 130 off 152 in the second. No selection committee could have ignored such sheer numbers so he got to make his Test debut at the age of 22.

Domestic performances getting rewarded will go a long way in motivating aspiring cricketers and giving life to the neglected Ranji Trophy.

After coming back from the Australian tour, Rahul went onto score a historic triple century (337), the first Karnataka batsman to achieve the feat in Ranji Trophy. His feat was later replicated by teammate Karun Nair, who scored 328 against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy final next year.

The Making of KL Rahul

Rahul has gone for a complete makeover. And I’m not talking about his long hair and beard look. Not so long back he was dismissed as a Test specialist only but success in the IPL this year and now a century on ODI debut against Zimbabwe (the first Indian to do so) has added a new dimension to India’s batting.

His IPL success and love for tattoos (he now sports seven tattoos) have added to his fan following. And tweets like these are making new fans join the ranks each day – 
@rahulkl“My body is my journal ,and My tattoos are my story “

Not only cricket, Rahul is a sports fan

Rahul played other sports while growing up and he has kept the interest going as you can clearly see from his tweeted pictures.

KL Rahul playing tennis & football

No doubt he has all the credentials to be a crowd puller off the field, like his Test and IPL captain Virat Kohli. And now with a century on his one-day international debut – there’s no stopping this young man from Karnataka. No doubt he will have to show consistency, curb his strokes at beginning of an innings. But with age on his side and the ability to adapt to all three formats, it will be well worth watching Rahul’s cricketing journey.

By Rajesh Sahu

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