With just a point in three matches, Bihar haven’t had it easy in this edition of Ranji Trophy so far. They have lost twice and earned their only point after their tie against Bengal was abandoned without a ball being bowled because of rain and are currently placed last in the eight-team Group C.
However, they will be hoping to put up a challenge when they take on Madhya Pradesh, placed seventh on the table with just two points, in the fourth round at Moin-ul-Haq Stadium in Patna from Wednesday.
And their biggest hope will be Sakibul Gani, who scored a brilliant century in the second innings in their last game against Karnataka.
In 19 first-class matches, Gani has scored 1681 runs at a healthy average of 54.22 and he will be looking to continue his good show against MP, too.
Another player to watch out for will be opener Sharman Nigrodh, who made a patient and watchful 60 in the first innings to make sure Bihar reached a formidable total.
13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who scored a superb century for India A against Australia A in Sept this year, will also be hoping to make his mark against MP after he scored just 4 and 6 against Karnataka.
Among the bowlers, Himangshu Singh will look to keep up the good work after taking nine wickets in two matches. With his legbreak, he not only picked up four wickets against Haryana but also troubled the Karnataka batters and got rid of players like Mayank Agarwal and Manish Pandey among others.
However, the visitors won’t be in any mood to make it easy for the hosts. Their batters have performed consistently with Shubham Sharma leading from the front scoring 296 runs in three matches at an average of 98.66. His best so far has been an unbeaten 143 that came against powerhouse Karnataka in the first round.
Rajat Patidar has also been equally impressive amassing 309 runs from the same number of matches at an average of 61.8. His best so far is 159 that came against Haryana in the last tie.
However, unlike the batters, their bowlers have struggled. Kumar Kartikeya Singh though has found success with his slow left-arm orthodox and picked up 13 wickets in three matches. But MP will be missing the services of Avesh Khan in Bihar since he will in South Africa for India’s T20 series starting Nov 8.
It’s hard to say how MP will cope with his absence but it will surely give hosts Bihar a much-needed morale boost.
