Reincarnating Raipur
Two cricketers from Chhattisgarh, for the first time, have made it to the list of top ten run-getters after the group stage of the BCCI Men’s U-25 State A Trophy, considered as B team of Ranji Trophy, with left-hand batsman Ayush Pandey from the state attaining the number one rank in India and his teammate Sanjeet Desai securing the ninth place. 18- year-old Musheer Khan, brother of Sarfaraz Khan, from Mumbai, finished second after the group stage as he scored 464 runs.
With this outstanding achievement, 19-year-old Ayush has become a strong contender for India’s U-25 emerging team touring abroad in the coming days. As many as 37 teams played the group matches in five different groups which concluded on December 1 and Chhattisgarh was in the Elite Group B alongside Mumbai, Odisha, and Rajasthan. There are only two elite groups-Group A and Group B in the tournament.
Events
Ayush, who had piled up 609 runs in seven matches averaging 101.50 and at a strike rate of 86.38 including 74 fours and four sixes, has been rewarded by the Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh (CSCS), the governing body of Chhattisgarh cricket, by inducting him in the state’s Ranji team. Ayush hit three centuries, including 125 unbeaten against Odisha, and three fifties in the group stage. He said that his coach Raja Banerjee helped him keep his motivation high throughout the tournament.
Similarly, 24-year-old right-hand batter Sanjeet Desai, who has the credit of representing Chhattisgarh in Ranji Trophy matches and several other BCCI tournaments including BCCI Men’s Trophy to his name, scored 373 runs from seven innings averaging 62. He hit one hundred and two half-centuries.
In the last year, Sanjeet was the highest run-getter from Chhattisgarh in the U-25 tournament with an average of 75 and the best score of 106 unbeaten against Baroda.
Raja Banerjee, the former head coach of the team during the tournament, that for the first time in the history of Chhattisgarh cricket two players have found a place in the list of top ten run-getters after the completion of the group stage and that too one of them-Ayush Pandey-securing the first rank. Ayush deserves the position as he has a hunger for the runs. Similarly, Sanjeet is also a promising player. “We won four matches out of seven in the group stage as we defeated Rajasthan, Odisha, Manipur, and Sikkim, but lost to Mumbai, Vidarbha, and Jammu & Kashmir. It was a narrow defeat for Chhattisgarh against Jammu and Kashmir. All our boys performed well,” he said.
Source: Internet
