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A round-up of the matches played in Group B of the Ranji Trophy on December 7, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Dec-2014Group B
ScorecardFile photo: Gautam Gambhir struck 14 fours and two sixes during his 123 not out•BCCIThree days after being omitted from India’s 30-man squad for the 2015 World Cup, Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir muscled a 38th first-class hundred to lead the team to 260 for 6 on the first day of their Ranji clash against Saurashtra at the Roshanara Club Ground. Delhi, having been inserted, began well, as Gambhir and Unmukt Chand added 53 for the opening wicket. Sudeep Tyagi made the breakthrough, dismissing Chand for 28 and later having Varun Sood caught behind for 14. It brought Gambhir and Virender Sehwag together at the crease, but the pair’s partnership lasted less than five overs, as Sehwag, who was also left out of the World Cup probables, was unable to shake off his poor run in domestic cricket and was run out for nine. The hosts were precariously placed at 145 for 4, but Gambhir and Rajat Bhatia (47) led a recovery by adding 88 for the fifth wicket. Bhatia and Puneet Bisht both fell towards the end of the day, but Gambhir remained unbeaten on 123, with 14 fours and two sixes.
ScorecardFifties from Natraj Behera and Biplab Samantray led Odisha to a promising 223 for 5 at stumps on day one against Maharashtra in Pune. Odisha, opting to bat, began steadily, as Natraj shared 40-plus stands for the first two wickets with Girjia Rout and Niranjan Behera. Natraj eventually fell for 66, having hit 12 fours, as Shrikant Mundhe (2 for 61) and Domnic Joseph (2 for 29) helped Maharashtra fight back with quick blows. Odisha were struggling at 145 for 5, but Samantray and Halhadar Das put up an unbroken stand of 78 to lead the team past the 200-run mark. Samantray muscled four fours and two sixes to make his way to 64 not out.
ScorecardHaryana offspinner Jayant Yadav collected a career-best 6 for 85 to wreck Punjab’s top and middle order, and helped bowl the team out for 273 in Patiala. Punjab, batting first, were well-placed at 233 for 4, as their top-order batsmen all pitched in with handy scores. Yuvraj Singh top-scored with 59 and added 84 for the fifth wicket with Gurkeerat Singh (43), but Gurkeerat’s dismissal in the 67th over triggered a slide that saw Punjab lose their last six wickets for just 40 runs. Apart from Jayant’s six-for, Amit Mishra chipped in with 3 for 72. Haryana lost their opener Avi Barot early in their reply, and ended the day with 19 for 1, trailing by 254 runs.
ScorecardGujarat’s top three batsmen all raised fifties, helping the team to 258 for 4 against Rajasthan in Jaipur. Gujarat, after being inserted, started brightly, as the openers Samit Gohel and Priyank Panchal put up a 108-run partnership. Gohel fell for 52, but Panchal and Bhargav Merai carried on, adding 53 for the second wicket. Manjeet Singh picked up two quick wickets, including that of Panchal for 68, but another important partnership – 50 for the fourth wicket between Merai and Venugopal Rao – guided Gujarat to a competitive score at stumps. Merai remained unbeaten on 63, with five fours.

Michael Lumb powered his way to a hundred after Nottinghamshire were inserted by Andrew Gale on a shortened day

Paul Edwards at North Marine Road05-Jun-2013
ScorecardMichael Lumb accelerated through the afternoon and evening after seeing off the new ball•Getty ImagesQuite frequently during the English summer there descends upon a Championship crowd a near silence that betokens complete content. Such an atmosphere could be discerned at Scarborough at around 3pm on the first afternoon of this match.Having waited all morning for slight drizzle to abate and for the ground to be dried, the supporters of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and otherwise watched closely as Andrew Gale’s attack strove to justify his decision to bowl first. The toss, however, had been made under grey skies and with rain threatening; by the time Alex Hales and Ed Cowan opened their side’s innings the weather had faired up nicely and we had bright sunshine by mid-afternoon. At close of play, Chris Read’s men had secured the advantage and Michael Lumb had made his first century against his former team since his departure at the end of the 2006 season.Indeed, this was a day for Lumb to savour. Coming to the wicket in the first over, he added 101 for the second wicket in 40 overs with the arguably even more painstaking Cowan. And when Cowan had been caught at slip off Steve Patterson, Lumb dominated his partnership with James Taylor, Nottinghamshire’s No. 4 contributing only 12 of the 76 runs the pair added before bad light sliced another nine overs off the day’s allocation.The only moment when the home side captured an initiative came when Hales flashed irresponsibly at Ryan Sidebottom’s fifth ball of the innings and was caught behind for a duck. This continued what has been a very bleak couple of months for the Nottinghamshire opener, who has made only 137 runs in 11 Championship innings and a mere 29 in his last eight. The temptation to blast his way out of such form – as he attempted – must be very great. It is, however, a policy wreathed in risk and further disappointment.After Hales’s dismissal, Cowan and Lumb batted with unremitting care, 11 runs being scored in the first seven overs and 36 in the first 19. But the gradual shift to the more attacking style of batsmanship adopted by Lumb in the last hour or so of the day was built upon the intensity of the very hard cricket played in the afternoon session.The run rate rarely edged above two runs an over as Cowan and Lumb sought to see off the new ball and quell the Yorkshire bowlers at their freshest. More expansive shots – Lumb’s straight drive off Sidebottom, Cowan’s crisp cut off Moin Ashraf – were rare events indeed. It was this battle which the Scarborough spectators plainly relished. There was regular applause but nothing too gushing. And there was certainly no chanting: Yorkshire supporters may indeed be something of an army and the odd one might even be the merest trifle eccentric but they really have no interest in proclaiming this fact repetitively to the world in general.Gale’s placed his reliance almost totally upon his seamers; Adil Rashid bowled one over in the first 59 and only five in the 71 that comprised the day’s play. The four-strong Yorkshire pace attack did not let their captain down but the sparing use of the legspinner only adds weight to the view that he is now perceived as a batting allrounder.Such a judgement was being freely expressed by the partisans at North Marine Road, many of whom will have seen Rashid’s trio of hundreds in the last three games. Such debates are an essential element of life for county cricket’s followers, many of whom delight in their trips to outgrounds on the coast. “Scarborough at Festival time is first-class cricket on holiday,” wrote the great JM Kilburn. This may not be the festival but the point still holds.For it is the littoral truth that county cricket does like to be beside the seaside. Grounds such as Weston-super-Mare, Eastbourne and Lytham may no longer be visited and Hastings is no more but others – Swansea, Southport, Colwyn Bay – still host games fairly regularly, while Hove is a treasured venue of many neutrals.Then there is Scarborough, which is hosting its 414th first-class match Indubitably established as Yorkshire’s second home, the ground is a member of a curious aristocracy of outgrounds, a group which includes Liverpool and Cheltenham, whose place in the five-month poem of the English season is secure. And on the first day of this game Lumb added a few finely-turned stanzas of his own to that ever-changing verse.

Essex clawed their way out of another batting crisis against Leicestershire on the second day at Grace Road, just a week after they were bowled out for 20 by Lancashire.

22-Jun-2013
ScorecardMatthew Hoggard was playing his first game since April•Getty ImagesEssex clawed their way out of another batting crisis against Leicestershire onthe second day at Grace Road, just a weekafter they were bowled out for 20 by Lancashire.Essex plunged to 28 for 4, with veteran seamer Matthew Hoggard claiming allfour at a cost of just 12 runs in his first appearance since April. But Mark Pettini, recalled to the side after last week’s embarrassment, hit hisfirst Championship half-century of the season to lead the recovery, and Essexclosed on 196 for 6 in reply to Leicestershire’s 302.Earlier, on a rain interrupted day, Graham Napier claimed Leicestershire’s lastthree wickets to finish with career best Championship figures of 7 for 90 in30.4 overs.Leicestershire added another 34 runs to their overnight 268 for 7 withMichael Thornely completing his half century off 102 balls with five fours and asix, before being pinned lbw by Napier for 53. Ollie Freckingham and Alex Wyatt were also Napier victims, but a boundary byHoggard earned Leicestershire a third batting bonus point.Then Hoggard got to work with the ball after hislengthy absence from the side because of a hip injury. In between the showers,that sent the players off the field on four occasions, Hoggard had Tom Westleycaught behind, trapped Nick Browne lbw next ball, found the edge of JaikMickleburgh’s bat to induce a catch at gully and bowled Owais Shah with anabsolute beauty that hit the off stump.It was an inspired 12-over spell from Hoggard, but once he came off Essex beganto fight their way back. Pettini and Ryan ten Doeschate shared a vital sixthwicket stand of 85 in 25 overs as the home attack became ragged.The Essex pair put on 48 in one eight over spell, but the partnership wasbroken when ten Doeschate was caught at slip trying to cut a lifting deliveryfrom Wyatt. He had made 40 off 69 balls with six fours.Pettini reached his 50 off 133 balls with six fours, and James Foster showedhis intent with a six off Naik as he joined Pettini in another substantialpartnership of 78. But shortly before the close, Wyatt had Pettini lbw for 72off 175 balls and, at stumps, Foster was unbeaten on 45 with Essex trailing by106 runs.

Kevin Pietersen and Michael Carberry have joined Michael Lumb as former England cricketers who are convinced that the success of the Big Bash League must be heeded in England

David Hopps26-Jan-2015Kevin Pietersen and Michael Carberry have joined the call from England players involved in the Big Bash to extol the virtues of a revamped Twenty20 tournament in England.Carberry’s half century helped Perth Scorchers see off Melbourne Stars in Sunday’s semifinal and leave Pietersen heading home to England only hours after rubbishing the current county system in England for producing ”muppets” existing on low salaries and lacking the skills to succeed.Excited by the large crowds and free-to-air coverage of the Big Bash, Carberry also argued for change – adding his support for a condensed high-profile tournament not only to that of Pietersen but also that of Michael Lumb earlier in the tournament.”Australia have just got it right,” Carberry said. “The franchise system is something that the players back home have been crying out for for years. It works. You get the best of the best playing against each other in a short competition and with that you attract the best from overseas as well.”All that added to the melting pot – the kit, the atmosphere and the way the games are sold to the kids makes for a great product. The players back home would definitely buy into a franchise system because our competition could do with a little revamp.”Now the English guys are playing in these competitions and getting the experience of what it’s like to play in front of big crowds. It’s something that definitely has to be looked at.”Not only is England’s T20 exclusive to Sky TV but even if it became contractually possible to show T20 free-to-air in England there are few signs of interest with indications that covering the tournament would not be a certain commercial success.How to protect the most extensive professional circuit in the world – 18 counties and about 350 professional cricketers – while also winning a new generation of fans with a successful Twenty20 tournament is the perennial problem now facing the prospective ECB chairman Colin Graves and new chief executive Tom Harrison.Pietersen expanded on his views in the Telegraph where he is now a highly-paid columnist.”The present Twenty20 structure of playing once a week on a Friday over a three-month period is just not working,” he wrote. “It puts off the best overseas players from joining our league, as it is too spread out. It is hard for Twenty20 specialists to stay in form.”Playing the majority of fixtures on Friday nights perhaps does not encourage children and families quite as much as guys on a night out.”So what is my solution? A short tournament of a maximum of 10 teams played in the school holidays. A smaller, condensed tournament will improve the competitive element, keeping more teams interested for longer and driving up the standard.”England has so many advantages on its side. It is on a great time zone, there is no other major cricket being played in the world in July, overseas players love coming to our country and the long summer evenings are perfect for Twenty20.”

The Titans have signed up batsman Herschelle Gibbs to boost their chances ahead of the qualifier against Warriors of the Ram Slam T20 Challenge

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Mar-2013The Titans have signed up batsman Herschelle Gibbs to boost their chances ahead of the qualifier against Warriors of the Ram Slam T20 Challenge. He will replace the New Zealand batsman Scott Styris, who is no longer available with the side.Gibbs, 39, last played in the Big Bash League, Australia’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, scoring 156 runs in nine matches at 23.25. Since last playing international cricket for South Africa in May 2010, he has been a global Twenty20 specialist, having played in various leagues around the world, including the Friends Life t20, the Champions League T20 and the Bangladesh Premier League. He played for Cape Cobras in last year’s edition of the South African T20 championship.”We have a big game coming up and I am positive [Gibbs’] experience will come in handy,” Titans coach Matthew Maynard said.The Titans will play Warriors on April 3 in the qualifier, with the winner taking on Lions in the final four days later.Gibbs will join the side at their training session at Centurion on Saturday morning.

Mitchell Johnson has described how India’s cricketers played into his hands by revving him up at the start of his first innings at the Gabba, an innings of 88 that effectively wrested control of the match from India

Brydon Coverdale23-Dec-20143:04

MacGill: Johnson was more engaged thanks to India

Mitchell Johnson has described how India’s cricketers played into his hands by revving him up at the start of his first innings at the Gabba, an innings of 88 that effectively wrested control of the match from India. Johnson was on the receiving end of some chirping when he came to the crease, particularly from Rohit Sharma, but was soon on top after some early boundaries.Johnson had not scored in his previous three Test innings and he walked out with Australia six down and still 161 behind; by the time he departed, his partnership with Steven Smith had almost put Australia in front. Johnson’s batting form also appeared to help him with the ball in India’s second innings, when he collected three wickets during a fiery spell early on the third morning.”The Indian team got me going a bit and I was able to strike a few good ones and get a good partnership with Smithy,” Johnson said. “It got us back in the game and it was able to flow on with my bowling.”I said a few words early and then just let it go after that and just started smiling at Rohit Sharma. He seemed to come in a fair bit, and had a fair bit to say. I don’t think he had the greatest game and I think maybe he was just a bit frustrated.”Johnson arrived at the crease having gone wicketless in India’s first innings and having just had a disappointing net session before the start of the day’s play. But once he got into the rhythm of quick scoring he rattled along to a 37-ball half-century that included eight boundaries, and was not even aware of reaching his fifty until Smith alerted him to it.Mitchell Johnson: “It’s all part of the game but I think it took them off their game.”•Getty Images”It took my mind off the game which was a good thing because I wasn’t focused on the scoreboard,” Johnson said. “I was able to go out there and play my shots. I wanted to play with good intent, I had a bit of a throw down and it wasn’t quite the session I wanted before the start of play.”Then to go out there and cop it from a few of their boys, it just played into our hands,” he said. “I was able to play my game and not worry about anything. I actually didn’t know I had scored 50, I said to Smithy, ‘is that my 50?’ and he said ‘yeah mate’. It was quite embarrassing. It’s all part of the game but I think it took them off their game. They went a bit too far maybe.”At times in past years, Johnson has lacked confidence in his own bowling and might have been susceptible to the occasional word from his opponents. However, he said the same had not applied to his batting; even back in his lowest times on the field, chatter from the fielders has tended to fire him up with the bat.”I’ve always liked a little bit of verbal on the field,” Johnson said. “I think when I’m batting I like to get it because it gets me going. Batting wise I don’t think it would’ve affected me. I’ve always enjoyed that side of it.”It’s probably just been more the bowling side where the confidence has been a bit low at times and I’ve probably let that stuff affect me. But batting wise I’ve always enjoyed that contest. I want them to come hard and take them off their game.”

A round-up of matches from the first day of the Zimbabwe domestic Twenty20 competition

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2012Mountaineers pulled off a tight win over Matabeleland Tuskers at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, beating them by five runs and seal victory off the penultimate ball of the game. After being put in to bat, Hamilton Masakadza led the way, smashing 84 in 66 balls, hitting five fours and three sixes. Mountaineers lost an early wicket but Masakadza and Tino Mawoyo (54) added 107 for the second wicket. Masakadza remained unbeaten and stretched the score to 167.The Tuskers put up a good fight and were well placed at 103 for 2 in the 15th over. Craig Ervine top-scored with 71 at No.3, adding 50 with Charles Coventry for the second wicket and 53 Brian Chari for the third. Together with Keegan Meth, Ervine helped take the score to 149 for 3 in 18 overs. But, 19 needed to win off the last two, a collapse ensued. Shingirai Masakadza picked up three wickets in the 19th over, dismissing both Meth and Ervine, and the rest of the batting crumbled soon. Seven wickets were lost for 13 runs in 11 balls, and Tuskers folded for 162.Mashonaland Eagles beat Southern Rocks comfortably at the Harare Sports Club. After choosing to field, the Eagles bowlers bowled economically and restricted Rocks to 120 for 8. Ben Slater made 39 in 34 balls and Alester Maregwede chipped in with 30 off 25. But barring the pair, there was no significant contribution from the rest. The Eagles response began well, with the openers Cephas Zhuwao (49) and Chamu Chibhabha (46*) adding 89 for the first wicket. They scored quickly, too, in 12.1 overs, and those who followed just had to consolidate. Chibhabha stayed through to the finish, helping his team win with four overs to spare.

Ross Taylor said that New Zealand failed to capitalise on the chances they had and should have been able to draw the first Test in North Sound

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Jul-2012Losing two quick wickets in the first session was the turning point in New Zealand’s bid to save the first Test, captain Ross Taylor has said. New Zealand began the fifth day needing the middle order to use as much time as possible to eke out a draw but Kemar Roach’s quick wickets – Ross Taylor in the 11th over and, two overs later, Kane Williamson for a duck – undermined those plans.”We had a chance to realistically draw the match. But losing two wickets – myself, Kane [Williamson] and [later] Dan’s [Vettori] wickets – was key. Everyone got a start in most of the games, here we just lost our way and lost momentum,” Taylor said. “Hopefully the top order can continue scoring runs, and us middle order can score some runs and help them out.”New Zealand started well in both the innings but ceded the advantage as the later batsmen failed to capitalise. In the first innings, New Zealand scored 351 after being two wickets down for 223 and in the second, they collapsed to 272 from 194 for 2. Taylor also pointed out to the failure of the set batsmen to convert their half-centuries into big hundreds. Guptill was out for 97 in the first innings and McCullum for 84 in the second.”This hasn’t been the problem in the last couple of years, this has been a problem with New Zealand cricket for the last 10-15 years now. Players haven’t gone on to score hundreds. To be competitive in Test cricket for long periods of time, you need to score hundreds and you need to be hard on yourself when you don’t. 80s and 90s are good for your stats, but the team needs hundreds.”A lot of that was because of pressure from West Indies spinner Sunil Narine, who picked up a wicket every time New Zealand looked settled and pose the same sort of threat as did Chris Gayle with the bat. Narine, named man-of-the-match, picked up eight wickets while Gayle hit 214 runs after being dropped early in the first innings once.”They are a side that relies heavily on Narine and Gayle to do well for them. Gayle batted very well and gave us an opportunity but we didn’t take it. Narine, if he is not taking wickets, doesn’t go for lot of runs. I was pleased with the team in the way we played him. There were a few soft dismissals in the fist innings against him but other than that we played him really well.”An unlikely batsman to put up a fight against Narine and Roach on the fifth morning was debutant Neil Wagner, who played 103 balls for his 13. However, he had a tough match with the ball, managing one wicket off 38 overs.”He [Wagner] bowled well in periods. He might be a nightwatchman for the rest of his career. He did a good job there. He has had a successful run with Otago and now he knows what his cricket is all about and I am sure it will be better for us also.”Taylor is hopeful of an improved performance when the teams meet for the second Test, New Zealand’s last match on this tour, at Sabina Park from August 2. New Zealand have so far managed a solitary win on the tour – in the third ODI at Basseterre.”We have got one more game to go, and improve in a couple of areas. I don’t think we are very far away,” Taylor said.

Ross Taylor rated his hundred at Seddon Park, his third in three consecutive Tests, as the best of that series after he combated the threat of Sunil Narine for five-and-a-half hours

Andrew McGlashan in Hamilton21-Dec-2013Ross Taylor rated his hundred at Seddon Park, his third in three consecutive Tests, as the best of that series after he combated the threat of Sunil Narine for five-and-a-half hours to ensure New Zealand remained within touching distance of West Indies’ competitive first-innings total. A couple of hours later it was shaping as a match-winning innings after a dramatic final session.Taylor’s run-fest over the last few weeks has given him 493 runs in the series, second only to Andrew Jones (513 against Sri Lanka in 1990-91) among New Zealand batsmen in a three-match series and he has one potential innings remaining to overtake him. He is also only the second New Zealand batsman to make hundreds in three consecutive Tests after Mark Burgess, whose centuries were spread over a period from 1969 to 1972 against three teams.Among the other significant numbers, he has the second highest number of runs in a calendar year for New Zealand – just seven behind John R Reid’s 871 in 1965 – and is now equal third in their century-makers list with 11 alongside Nathan Astle.Taylor was delighted not to let down a special audience in attendance in Hamilton – his wife and two-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, were watching, having missed his opening-day ton in Wellington.”When I came today I did think about it. A lot of people had mentioned it,” Taylor said. “Jesse [Ryder] told me to get three in a row and Martin Guptill did. That was a nice reminder. My wife wasn’t at Dunedin or Wellington and she was very angry when she got to Wellington that she wasn’t able to see it. It was nice to get a hundred for her, because Mackenzie and Victoria haven’t seen me score a hundred anywhere for a long time.”Today was definitely the hardest one. It’s hard to go past the 200 but today was the most challenging of the three with the Narine factor. And it’d be a lie to say I haven’t been a little bit tired going in. It was nice to still trust the gameplan and still go out and bat.”That gameplan has involved shelving one of the shots that was often seen against the spinners: the slog sweep over midwicket. “As I said after the 200, Test cricket is sometimes not about the shots you play but the shots you put away and that’s definitely been a mindset of mine. Here I am saying that but I’m probably going to try and slog-sweep tomorrow if I get a bat.”Having his daughter in the crowd also helped Taylor during lunch. He’d needed to battle during the morning session as Narine continued to tease from Northern End and he only added 33 in the session. After the break, enjoying the extra hardness of the second new ball which West Indies had delayed taking, he went to his hundred with a sweet cover drive off Tino Best, then opened up against Darren Sammy in an over that cost 20 including two straight sixes – his first of the series. “I don’t know where it came from,” he said. “I was getting a little bit tired before lunch and it was nice to come in and the best thing was probably seeing Mackenzie on the side and having a bit of a laugh.”Peter Fulton had the Almanack out and I was answering the questions and it was nice to just get away from it. Sometimes when you bat for that long you can get a little bit ingrained in it. It was nice to have a little distraction from concentrating out in the middle.”New Zealand will hope that Taylor has to continue to find ways of switching off during long innings.

Rajasthan and Haryana both stumbled their way through the group stages, and the semi-final between them promises to be a close fight. But fog may spoil the party

Sharda Ugra in Lahli 09-Jan-2012Will it, won’t it? Like a marauding medieval army sweeping over the vast plains of Haryana, the mere premonition of a winter fog has settled over those involved in the Ranji Trophy semi-final starting on Tuesday in Lahli, outside Rohtak.It is home team Haryana’s first Ranji Trophy semi-final in two decades. It is Rajashtan’s first as defending Ranji champions. To have that happen only because it has snowed in the distant Himalayas is of course meteorologically logical. Yet its consequences on cricket can be dire. Should the side batting second not complete 30 overs in their first innings due to bad weather, Haryana will go through on net run-rate.The match venue, Lalhi’s Ch Bansi Lal Cricket Stadium is a fog-magnet, set amid scenic open fields of sugarcane and mustard. Five years ago, when word went around that Virender Sehwag was coming to bat here, 2000 materialised from the neighbouring villages to watch Viru.As the teams practised at the Bansi Lal stadium on Monday, the sun shone after two days of grey misery, and anxiety dissipated. Were the semi-final scheduled to start today, match referee Pranab Roy reckoned that even a 9:30am start would have been possible.It is not as if the weather is part of Haryana’s home advantage. In last year’s quarter-final, in Lahli, they scored 379 for 6 declared in their first innings. Only 195 overs could be bowled in the entire match, and Tamil Nadu, who were 285 for 6 at the end of the game, went through to the semi-finals. They had qualified because they scored their runs at 3.60 an over during the game, against Haryana’s rate of 3.26. The same rule will apply in this year’s semi-final, should at least 30 overs be completed in the team batting second’s first innings. With fog lurking, who wants to win a toss and decide what to do?”The fog is a weather condition you can’t really control,” HCA secretary Anirudh Chaudhry said. “Saying we should not play here is like saying let’s not play in Chennai because it rains there. We are not worried about it.”Neither Rajasthan nor Haryana would want their campaign to end this way. The teams have tumbled their way through the league phase but landed on their feet, each finishing third in their group and somehow squeezing into the knockouts. They have played their best cricket when it mattered most, with minds free of clutter and fog-free game-plans.The semi-final will be a contest between two sets of unheralded triers and, barring a handful of better-known ‘professionals’, largely faceless fighters. If Rajasthan have been a revelation over the past two seasons, then Haryana’s omnipresence at the business end of the Ranji Trophy has surprised many. Amit Mishra, the Haryana captain, said getting to the latter stages of the tournament consistently would help his team earn recognition.”A lot of people don’t know that we have qualified for the knockouts three times in a row now,” Mishra said. “We need such matches to get our team’s profile higher.” By winning the Ranji Trophy last season, after starting the season in the Plate division, Rajasthan showed teams like Haryana how to upset the more-fancied teams. They would not want to be at the receiving end of their own lesson.Mishra, though, stuck to the facts. “I don’t want to get into discussions about underdogs and favourites. They are defending champions and this is our home ground.”Locals say the Lahli pitch is a swing and seam bowler’s delight; in both matches played here this season, however, first-innings scores crossed 300. Haryana coach Ashwini Kumar termed Lahli a “medium-pacer’s track”. Rajasthan captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar said he thought there would be runs in the pitch. “The surface will do a bit at the start but should things should pan out well later for the batsmen,” he said.The biggest blessing for the bowlers, Kumar says, is how clean the air is. “It is completely pollution-free. So bowlers who have the stamina to send down seven-over spells in normal conditions can run in and bowl 10 overs here. The air is so clean.”It has remained so over the course of the last five years, since Lahli’s first Ranji match, in 2006-07. However, a lot else has changed in Lahli, and Rohtak, and certainly in Haryana cricket. Aakash Chopra, the former India opener, played for Delhi in the 2006-07 season, and was involved in the match in Lahli that ended in three days and relegated the home team to the Plate division.He returned this year to find the journey from Rohtak to the stadium quicker, and on a smoother road. The ground has grown into a larger facility, and Chopra is happy to be away from the hotel where players had to pay Rs 10 for a bucket of hot water – free for India players – in the bad old days. Chopra now represents Rajasthan and he will face a new generation of Haryana bowlers in Lahli.Some weather reports promise clear skies over Lahli for the next three days. The Indian meteorological department predicts fog on Tuesday. The other semi-final, Mumbai v Tamil Nadu, may have a star cast, but Haryana v Rajasthan has the makings of a real thriller.