Monday, 12 March 2012

The Rajasthan Team is Here.



Originally Posted on 

~THURSDAY, 12 JANUARY 2012

The Rajasthan Team is Here.


“First Day: 18 Wickets fell. Rajasthan All Out For 89 Due to the Brilliant spell of 8-34 by Harshal Patel. Haryana End the day at 82-8.
Second Day: 14 Wickets Fell. Haryana were bundled up for 97, Raviraj Singh Showing Brilliance by getting 7 wickets for 45 Runs. Haryana gets a 8 run lead. Rajasthan scored 192 in the second innings due to resilience shown by Vineet Saxena[58 Runs] and Robin Bist[44 Runs]. Target for Haryana was of 185, Haryana end Day at 15-2.
Third Day: Game could have turned anywhere, If Haryana Had showed some strength they had all the chances of going into the finals, But Rajasthan were the better team and their patience and hardwork helped them win the Match by 64 runs.”
Rajasthan Vs Haryana in Progress at Lahli.
Picture ©Cricinfo

This was the scenario of the Ranji Trophy Semifinal match between Rajasthan and Haryana being played out at Lahli, Haryana. As We know from first hand account of one of the senior most batsman of Rajashtan Team, Aakash Chopra[@Cricketaakash], The wicket Wasn’t one of the best to bat on, Still Rajasthan managed to put up a fighting total and enter into the finals of the Ranji Trophy for the second consecutive year.

Last Year, When Rajasthan started their campaign, No one had any expectations from a team who was in the plate league, didn’t have any ‘Currently Playing’ Indian team players in it. Yet, The Team had a fairy tale story, and Went on to win the Ranji Trophy. I won’t talk about that because a lot has been already talked about it and even a Book, “Out Of The Blue” Written by The Rajasthan Batsman, Aakash Chopra, Has been published and has been widely acclaimed by critics as well as readers. You can Buy the Book from Cricbuy.com 

This year, When Rajasthan began their journey for defending the championship, a lot was expected from them. But After conceding innings lead in 5 consecutive matches, most of the expectations were written off. Though The Team didn’t lose those matches, neither did it win them, so it was stuck on 5 points in 5 matches and their prospects of moving into the knockout stage were bare minimum. But Luck Favoured Rajasthan and they won the last two matches of the league stages in a massive way with bonus points and moved to the quarterfinals. In Quarters they were met myHyderabad, and Won that match on the basis of first innings lead and moved to the semis.
Though this year, Rajasthan didn’t show the brilliance like last season yet it had some exceptional performers Who had always been there.
Robin Bist Plays for The Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League

The Ranji Trophy’s top Scorer at this moment when this post is being written is Robin Bist with 885 runs in 9 matches. Robin Bist, has always been there in the domestic circuit from the mere age of 12 with entering in the Delhi Under-14 team and then advancing to the under-17, Under-19 and Ranji Trophy team. His success story is not much known, Because in India, there are cricket lovers and cricket followers. Cricket lovers are those who know only who The Indian team is playing and what are the results. Yet there are some many many Cricket followers who also follow the domestic circuit and know Who are the players who are Banging on the national selectors doors to notice them. Robin bist has always been one of those guys. In The ZCA, He was only counted next to Virat Kohli, But wasn’t given a chance in the India U-19 team despite being one of the top scorers. When Robin Had to Move from theDelhi team to The Rajasthan due to some circumstances, It was felt that the futures scope is confined because when you play for delhi, You get noticed for the Indian Team more easily. But Robin bist showed strength of character and continued playing. He was always there in the run scorers with fifties and beautiful innings but this season he decided to kick up the notch, and has scored 4 hundreds and 2 fifties with a staggering average of 105.12 . Robin Bist, Who has studied from Bhartiya vidya bhavan’s Mehta Vidyalaya in Delhi Comes from a cricketing family himself with his father and Brother also Being brilliant cricketers. In the Indian Premier League, He Represents the Delhi Daredevils. Aged Just 24 years old, Robin Bist has the age on his side. Its just around time when the National Selectors get up and start noticing and Rewarding players who have been there constantly on the Domestic Circuit. 

Robin Bist At Kazoomba 2010 By True Cheshtha Foundation
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.180113882031542.38758.180034035372860&type=3

Another one of the exceptional performers for the Rajasthan team has been Pankaj Singh, He is one of the leading wicket takers in the Ranji Trophy with 32 wickets to his name. Pankaj Singh, Pankaj Singh Has Represented the Indian team and Has been there on nearly every major team a player can in the domestic league.




Performances of Aakash Chopra, Hrisheksh Kanitkar, Vineet saxena, Raviraj Singh And Dishant Yagnik have also been exceptional. 

Rajasthan Appeal. 
Picture ©Cricinfo

While Rajasthan Went on to win the Ranji Trophy last year, If all the Top players perform in this finals too, The same result can be expected. Two Consecutive Ranji Trophy Finals is no Joke and Its about time that The Major Teams of the Ranji Trophy Like Mumbai, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh Etc Get up and start getting Worried. Because Rajasthan Team has Shown That it wasn’t a fluke the last time around, and This time too, It certainly isn’t. They Are finally here and they Are here to stay and give all the other teams a run for their money.
The Rajasthan Cricket Team is here. And with a Bang. 

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