Top 5 wicket keeping performances in Ranji Trophy 2015-16

Top 5 wicket keeping performances in Ranji Trophy 2015-16: ‘Wicket-keeping’ is a specialist job and plays a key role in the victory or defeat of a team. These ‘padded’ men, donning the gloves have a key role to play in plugging the run-leaks by way of extras and also in the dismissals of batsmen. These specialists also contribute significantly with the bat on many occasions.

Let us take a look into five such significant performers from ‘behind the stumps’ at the end of round seven in the league stage of the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season.

1. Pinal Shah – 29 dismissals:

Playing for Baroda, Pinal Rohitbhai Shah, in 7 games (12 innings) has affected 29 dismissals, comprising of 25 catches and 4 stumpings, averaging 2.416 dismissals per innings. His best performance, behind the stumps, was witnessed in the seventh round match against Punjab played between 15^th and 17^th November 2015, at Moti Bagh Stadium, Vadodara.

Winning the toss, the visitors chose to field. Baroda finished their first innings at 475 runs, with the openers, Kedar Devdhar, scoring 186 runs (356m, 249b, 28 fours, 1 six) – his fourth first-class century in his 60^th innings – and Aditya Waghmode putting up 96 runs (256m, 184b, 14 fours, 1 six), narrowly missing what would have been his fourth first-class century in his 66^th innings.

Punjab replied with 212 runs in their first innings, falling short by a whopping 263 runs. The effort of the Baroda bowlers, Irfan Pathan (20-4-61-3), Munaf Patel (20-5-54-3) and Hardik Pandya (19-3-50-3) was ably supported by the wicketkeeper Pinal Shah, who took three catches and was responsible for the dismissals of Mandeep Singh (0), Yuvraj Singh (43) and the wicketkeeper Gitansh Khera (11).

Trying to wipe out the deficit, Punjab succeeded in scoring only 147 runs in their second innings with just Siddharth Kaul making a meaningful unbeaten 40 runs. Again the effort of Irfan Pathan (6.4-2-19-3), Munaf Patel (9-6-19-3) and Yusuf Pathan (6-1-31-2) was ably supported by their ‘man behind the stumps’ in picking up three catches and effecting one stumping, taking his tally to 6 catches and 1 stumping in the match.

Baroda went on to win the match by an innings and 116 runs. Apart from this Pinal has 22 other dismissals, made up of 19 catches and 3 stumpings. He has also contributed 156 runs with the bat.

2. Dinesh Karthik – 27 dismissals:

Krishna Kumar Dinesh Karthik, playing for Tamil Nadu, featured in 6 games (10 innings) including the ongoing game against Uttar Pradesh at the Green Park, Kanpur, at the time of filing this report, has affected 27 dismissals, comprising of 24 catches and 3 stumpings, averaging 2.700 dismissals per innings.

His best performance has been in the third round game against Mumbai, played between 15^th and 18^th October, 2015, at Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai. Mumbai, winning the toss, put Tamil Nadu into bat. Backed by a brilliant contribution of 167 runs (387m, 262b, 19 fours, 1 six) made by Dinesh Karthik, his 24^th first-class century in his 206^th innings, and a well made 62 (168m 124b, 9 fours, 1 six) by the opener, Baba Aparajith Tamil Nadu notched up 434 runs in their first innings.

Mumbai replied with 294 runs on the board, backed by a well made 150 runs (273m, 184b, 16 fours, 7 sixes) by Siddesh Lad, his second first-class century in his 12th innings. The Tamil Nadu bowlers, M Mohammad (25-9-86-5) and Rahil Shah (25-5-78-3) were ably supported by their wicket-keeper, Dinesh Karthik, who took three catches, dismissing opener, Akhil Herwadkar (11), Suryakumar Yadav (4) and wicket-keeper-skipper, Aditya Tare (0). Karthik also had one stumping dismissal, accounting for Shardul Thakur (23).

Taking a lead of 140 runs, Tamil Nadu crashed to just 95 runs in their second knock, giving a target of 236 for Mumbai, to chase for a win. Backed by a brilliant batting effort by the young ‘batting sensation’, Shreyas Santish Iyer, who notched up 83 runs (130m, 71b, 9 fours, 2 sixes) and a well made 58 (124m 80b, 8 fours, 1 six) by Suryakumar Yadav, the hosts reached the target and won the match by a solitary wicket.

However, Dinesh Karthik was involved in the dismissals of the opener, Shrideep Mangela (0), wicketkeeper-skipper, Aditya Tare (8) and Dhawal Kulkarni (0), by taking three catches. With this Karthik had taken 6 catches and affected 1 stumping in the match. Apart from this Karthik also has taken 18 catches and affected 2 stumpings. Wielding the bat, he has contributed 314 runs including a century (167 runs).

3. Mahesh Rawat – 23 dismissals:

Representing Railways and featuring in 7 games (10 innings) including the one underway against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, as at the time of filing this report, Mahesh Rawat has been involved in 23 dismissals, made up of 21 catches and 2 stumpings averaging 2.300 dismissals per innings.

Rawat’s best performance of holding on to 6 catches game in the third-round game against Uttar Pradesh played at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Ghaziabad, between 15^th and 18^th October 2015. Winning the toss, Uttar Pradesh, put Railways in, to bat.

At the back of a maiden first-class century by the opener, Ashish Singh (101, 308m, 188b, 11 fours, 2 sixes) in his third innings, a well made 74 runs (141m, 102b, 10 fours) by Faiz Ahmed and a half-century (50, 122m, 79b, 5 fours, 1 six) by Arindam Ghosh, Railways put up 375 runs in their first innings.

UP replied with 264 runs, with the openers, Tanmay Srivastav (93, 419m, 267b, 7 fours) and Almas Shaukat (76, 251m, 188b, 10 fours, 2 sixes) putting up a 145-run first-wicket partnership. Railway bowlers, Ranjit Mali (28.5-6-88-5) and Anureet Singh (40-13-67-3) were ably assisted by Rawat, who helped in the dismissal of Kuldeep Yadav (0).

With a first innings lead of 111 runs, Railways added another 229 runs in their second knock, backed by 80 runs (202m, 123b, 12 fours) scored by Faiz Ahmed and 60 runs (139m, 100b, 7 fours, 1 six) by the first innings centurion, Ashish Singh. They put up a target of 340 runs for UP to chase.

UP failed miserably and succumbed to only 58 runs and lost the match by 282 runs. The devastating bowling performances of Anureet Singh (14-8-15-5) and Krishnakant Upadhyay (20-11-32-4) were duly supported by the wicket-keeper, Mahesh Rawat, who held, as many as, 5 catches, to dismiss Tanmay Srivastava (0), Himangshu Asnora (19), Almas Shaukat (0), Piyush Chawla (2) and Praveen Kumar (8). Rawat had accounted for six dismissals (all caught) in the match.

Apart from this Rawat also has held 15 catches and affected 2 stumpings. He has also contributed 203 runs with the bat including a score of 78 runs against Tamil Nadu.

4. Aditya Tare – 23 dismissals:

The captain of the Mumbai team has played 6 matches (11 innings) including the game against Railways underway at Wankhede Stadium, at the time of filing this report, Aditya Prakash Tare, has accounted for 23 dismissals, comprising of 22 catches and a solitary stumping.

His best performance came in the second round game in Group B, played against Punjab, between 8^th and 11^th October 2015, at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Winning the toss, the hosts put in the visitors to bat.

A mediocre batting performance saw Punjab put up only 154 runs in their first innings. Mumbai bowlers, Shardul Thakur (14-2-47-4) and Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr) (16-6-31-4) who literally ripped through the Punjab batting lineup was duly supported by Aditya Tare, who picked up four catches, accounting for the dismissals of opener, Manan Vohra (34), Yuvraj Singh (13), Sarabjit Ladda (6) and Varun Khanna (0).

In reply, Mumbai put up a massive score of 569/8 decl with Shreyas Iyer notching up his maiden first-class double century, 200 runs (292m, 176b, 25 fours, 5 sixes), and the wicket-keeper-skipper, Aditya Tare scoring unbeaten 137* runs (300m, 172b, 16 fours).

Fighting to wipe out the huge deficit of 415 runs, Punjab ended up scoring 403 runs in their second innings, falling short of the target by 12 runs. Significant contributions with the bat were made by Jiwanjot Singh (91, 262m, 159b, 12 fours), Mandeep Singh (116, 347m, 20b, 13 fours) and the wicket-keeper, Gitansh Khera (86, 171m, 117b, 9 fours, 3 sixes).

Akhil Herwadkar’s stupendous bowling effort (22.2-5-62-6) was ably supported by Tare, who picked up the catch of Manan Vohra (6). He held on to five catches in the match that Mumbai won by 12 runs. In addition to this Tare has also held 17 catches and affected a solitary stumping. Tare, with the bat, has contributed 202 runs including 137* runs against Punjab.

5. Chidambaram Gautam – 22 dismissals:

Karnataka wicket-keeper, Chidambaram Gautam, featuring in 6 matches (10 innings) has 22 dismissals to his credit, made up of 21 catches and a solitary stumping. Gautam’s best performance was witnessed in the third round game between Karnataka and Vidarbha, played between 15^th and 18^th October 2015, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Winning the toss, Vidharbha opted to field.

Karnataka put up 350 runs in their first innings, helped by Uthappa’s contribution of 59 runs (202m, 134b, 10 fours), Manish Pandey’s 104 runs (211m, 163b, 13 fours, 1 six) and Karun Nair’s 58 runs (145m, 87b, 7 fours, 2 sixes). In response, Vidharbha notched up 310 runs with good contributions from the opener, Wasim Jaffer (68, 206m, 120b, 10 fours), Ganesh Satish (81, 308m, 228b, 8 fours, 1 six) and the skipper, Subramaniam Badrinath (92, 315m, 216b, 12 fours).

Karnataka bowlers, Srinath Arvind (23.4-11-46-4) and Jagadeesha Suchith (21-7-51-4) were helped by the wicket-keeper, Gautam, holding on to five catches. Aided by Ravikumar Samarth’s 121* runs (295m, 251b, 12 fours) and Karun Nair’s 101* runs (208m 16b, 15 fours), Karnataka extended their lead and put up 331 runs on the board on the second knock.

With Vidharbha’s unfinished second innings score of 17 runs for no loss, the match ended in a draw. Apart from this, Gautam also held on to 16 more catches and affected one stumping. Gautam has also scored 197 runs with the bat.