Maharashtra strive to go one better

Maharashtra

By Alagappan Muthu

Where they finished last season
Finalists, but lost to Karnataka. Were undefeated in Group C with four wins from eight matches.

Big Picture
A conscious effort to blood in youngsters over previous seasons has borne fruit in 2014-15 as Maharashtra look a settled side. They are led by 23-year old Rohit Motwani, their engine room is in the care of 21-year old Ankit Bawne, who averages 55.25 from 42 matches anda World Cup probable in Kedar Jadhav, they have a former under-19 national captain in Vijay Zol and their lead spinner Akshay Darekar has India A experience.

With Maharashtra returning to Group B though, their core will face a "test of character," according to Motwani. They also have a perception to address. Surendra Bhave played a key role in Maharashtra's first appearance in a Ranji final in 21 years, but he has moved on to coach Haryana and the team must prove they have learned from him. Australian David Andrews, who took the under-19 team to the final of the Cooch Behar Trophy in 2011-12 and again in 2012-13 when they won, will be in charge of the senior side.

Motwani said they will miss Bhave, added Andrews knows "Maharashtra cricket in and out," and finished with "coach's input does help, but I think it will be better for the side to play and come out of difficult situations on their own and they are capable [of it]."

Player to watch
Samad Fallah missed two of Maharashtra's matches last season, but ended up their joint top wicket-taker. A quirky action and loud grunts tend to single him out, but he will hope another striking factor will be the amount of wickets he takes. With Maharashtra scheduled to play five home matches on a placid Pune pitch, he and fellow seamers Anupam Sanklecha, Domnic Joseph and Shrikant Mundhe might have to work overtime.

Teamspeak
"We want to keep very small goals for us to achieve rather than keep too many things in our mind and having that pressure that we've been in the finals last year and we have to win the final this time."
Maharashtra captain Rohit Motwani

Fourth in Group B

Saurashtra missed out on a place in the knockouts last season in a three-team race for third place despite registering a strong win in their final league game, and they are looking to make amends in 2014-15. However, they won't have the services of Cheteshwar Pujara, who is in Australia, for a good part of the season, or of Jaydev Undadkat, who was their leading wicket-taker last year.

Unadkat has been ruled out for at least four weeks due to a recurrence of the back-stress injury he had picked up during India A's tour to Australia. However, the seam-bowling has been boosted by the return of Siddharth Trivedi after serving a one-year suspension, and the addition of Sudeep Tyagi, the former Uttar Pradesh seamer.

Arpit Vasavada, captain Jaydev Shah, Sagar Jogiyani and Sheldon Jackson make up a strong batting core. They were among runs last season and Saurashtra coach Shitanshu Kotak expected to deliver again in the absence of Pujara.

Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, the left-arm spinner, picked up 20 wickets in the five matches he played last season, a decent return for someone in his second year of first-class cricket. What was probably more impressive was the number of overs he bowled - 176.4, the second-most in his team. On an unresponsive pitch in Rajkot, the ability to bowl long spells is one trait that is going to benefit both Jadeja and his team.

"Delhi have Sehwag, Gambhir, a good pace attack, but I don't see them as a challenge. Punjab is a very good all-round team I think, but they will be coming to Rajkot. All teams are good. The only challenge is to finish in top three this time," Shitanshu Kotak, the Saurashtra coach

Railways

By Rachna Shetty

Where they finished last season
At the top of Group B with three wins and five draws. They lost in the quarter-finals to Bengal.

Big picture
Change is the dominant theme for Railways this season. They've moved up from Group B to Group A, alongside Karnataka, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Baroda, Madhya Pradesh, J&K and Bengal. They will, for the first time in more than a decade, begin a Ranji Trophy season without Murali Kartik after the left-arm spinner retired from all forms of cricket earlier in the year. Kartik's successor as Railways' slow-bowling leader, legspinner Karn Sharma, is in Australia with the India Test squad. The side has a new captain, Mahesh Rawat, a new coach in former India seamer Harvinder Singh and plenty of other changes.

Arnab Nandi, who played just five first-class games for Bengal since his debut in 2010, has moved to Railways, along with Maharashtra batsman Rohan Bhosale. In the absence of Shivakant Shukla and Amit Paunikar, the batting will once again rest largely on Rawat and Arindam Ghosh, who were the top run-getters for Railways last season. Anureet Singh, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Ranjitkumar Mali and Amit Mishra make up the pace attack, while the spin department rests with left-arm spinners Ashish Yadav and Avinash Yadav, who played his last first-class game in 2012.

Player to watch
Seamer Anureet Singh had a breakthrough season in 2013-14, finishing second on the Ranji Trophy wicket charts with 44 at an average of 17.56. One of the key characteristics of his performance last season was an ability to bowl long spells and Railways will require that again from him.