When unfancied Vidarbha beat a more experienced Delhi in the recent Ranji Trophy national cricket finals, it rekindled the famous David versus Goliath battle once again in everybody's minds. In fact, the Ranji Trophy, the country's premier national cricket championship has been happily experiencing the classic underdog story two years in a row. Last year, same time, it was unfancied Gujarat, who won the title for the first time.
This is good news for Indian cricket. When unfancied teams beat stronger sides, it throws up new, unknown players and future stars. More importantly, these teams become role models.
Vidarbha's success is no flash in the pan. It is a culmination of serious hard work and systematic planning. In a well-researched article published in the Indian Express, Sriram Veera lists out the many aspects which contributed to Vidarbha's success.
For starters, the Vidarbha cricket association (VCA) started a residential cricket academy in Nagpur in 2009, primarily to tap grass-root, rural talent. As the talent base increased, so did the options. Many young new players emerged, resulting in Vidarbha winning the national under-16 cricket tournament in January 2017.
The VCA also appointed the experienced former India cricketer Chandrakant Pandit as chief coach and former India paceman Subroto Banerjee as the bowling coach.
Banerjee, who has been associated with the VCA cricket academy since its inception has been responsible for honing the skills of Vidarbha's bowlers. These include young medium pacer, Rajneesh Gurbani (24), who took a phenomenal 39 Ranji trophy wickets in six, Ranji trophy games this year to spearhead the Vidarbha bowling attack.
Likewise, Pandit infused a high level of hard work and discipline into the side. Physical fitness drills and match practice became the mantra for the young, Vidarbha team. Dismissing time-tested methods like net practice, the former India and Mumbai wicketkeeper-batsman decided to make players play matches instead. This method obviously yielded results.
Another innovative measure that Pandit and the VCA think-tank initiated at the start of this season was to make an image of the Ranji Trophy, the icon for the Vidarbha players' whatsapp group. The idea was to make the players dream of winning the coveted trophy 24x7. This was excellent use of the visualisation technique commonly used across the world by sports coaches and players to create a mental image or intention of what they want to happen or feel in reality.
The VCA also deserves credit for engaging the services of former India Test batsman Wasim Jaffer, the man with over 17,000 first class runs to his credit in the team. Jaffer played the role of defacto batting coach introducing the younger, Vidarbha batsmen to the finer nuances of the game. When not advising his juniors, Jaffer was busy doing what he does best, scoring runs for Vidarbha. It is Jaffer's resolute knocks against strong teams like Karnataka in the semi-finals and Delhi in the finals which went a long way in ensuring that Vidarbha had the requisite runs on the board.
Similarities abound in the Gujarat cricket team's maiden Ranji trophy triumph last year. It required long-time coach Vijay Patel to spend hours and days counselling his players to believe in themselves and their game.
Gujarat batsmen like Priyank Panchal and Samit Gohel were even contemplating giving up the game, when Patel motivated them to stay on course. The result, Panchal and Gohel became big run-getters in their march to the Ranji final last year. While Panchal scored 1,300 runs at an average of 87 in the 2016-17 season, Gohel became the first opener to score an unbeaten 359 while carrying his bat. More batting came in the form of India International Parthiv Patel who scored a century when it mattered the most, in the finals against Mumbai. UP and former India pace bowler, RP Singh's presence in the side provided teeth to the bowling attack.
Of course, no underdog story can be complete without making mention of Leicester's maiden Premier League title in 2016. Here was a team facing relegation and had odds of 1-5000 stacked against them. When out-of-job Italian coach, Claudio Ranieri was hired to shepherd the side, not many people gave the team a chance. Ranieri kept it simple. He has been quoted in the Guardian as stating, "Always show me everything you've got and every now and again I will explain a little football to you." The ability of the coach to make the Leicester players believe in themselves handed them a most improbable trophy.
Lessons from these underdog stories can be used in real life. More power to the underdogs!
This is good news for Indian cricket. When unfancied teams beat stronger sides, it throws up new, unknown players and future stars. More importantly, these teams become role models.
Vidarbha's success is no flash in the pan. It is a culmination of serious hard work and systematic planning. In a well-researched article published in the Indian Express, Sriram Veera lists out the many aspects which contributed to Vidarbha's success.
For starters, the Vidarbha cricket association (VCA) started a residential cricket academy in Nagpur in 2009, primarily to tap grass-root, rural talent. As the talent base increased, so did the options. Many young new players emerged, resulting in Vidarbha winning the national under-16 cricket tournament in January 2017.
The VCA also appointed the experienced former India cricketer Chandrakant Pandit as chief coach and former India paceman Subroto Banerjee as the bowling coach.
Banerjee, who has been associated with the VCA cricket academy since its inception has been responsible for honing the skills of Vidarbha's bowlers. These include young medium pacer, Rajneesh Gurbani (24), who took a phenomenal 39 Ranji trophy wickets in six, Ranji trophy games this year to spearhead the Vidarbha bowling attack.
Likewise, Pandit infused a high level of hard work and discipline into the side. Physical fitness drills and match practice became the mantra for the young, Vidarbha team. Dismissing time-tested methods like net practice, the former India and Mumbai wicketkeeper-batsman decided to make players play matches instead. This method obviously yielded results.
Another innovative measure that Pandit and the VCA think-tank initiated at the start of this season was to make an image of the Ranji Trophy, the icon for the Vidarbha players' whatsapp group. The idea was to make the players dream of winning the coveted trophy 24x7. This was excellent use of the visualisation technique commonly used across the world by sports coaches and players to create a mental image or intention of what they want to happen or feel in reality.
The VCA also deserves credit for engaging the services of former India Test batsman Wasim Jaffer, the man with over 17,000 first class runs to his credit in the team. Jaffer played the role of defacto batting coach introducing the younger, Vidarbha batsmen to the finer nuances of the game. When not advising his juniors, Jaffer was busy doing what he does best, scoring runs for Vidarbha. It is Jaffer's resolute knocks against strong teams like Karnataka in the semi-finals and Delhi in the finals which went a long way in ensuring that Vidarbha had the requisite runs on the board.
Similarities abound in the Gujarat cricket team's maiden Ranji trophy triumph last year. It required long-time coach Vijay Patel to spend hours and days counselling his players to believe in themselves and their game.
Gujarat batsmen like Priyank Panchal and Samit Gohel were even contemplating giving up the game, when Patel motivated them to stay on course. The result, Panchal and Gohel became big run-getters in their march to the Ranji final last year. While Panchal scored 1,300 runs at an average of 87 in the 2016-17 season, Gohel became the first opener to score an unbeaten 359 while carrying his bat. More batting came in the form of India International Parthiv Patel who scored a century when it mattered the most, in the finals against Mumbai. UP and former India pace bowler, RP Singh's presence in the side provided teeth to the bowling attack.
Of course, no underdog story can be complete without making mention of Leicester's maiden Premier League title in 2016. Here was a team facing relegation and had odds of 1-5000 stacked against them. When out-of-job Italian coach, Claudio Ranieri was hired to shepherd the side, not many people gave the team a chance. Ranieri kept it simple. He has been quoted in the Guardian as stating, "Always show me everything you've got and every now and again I will explain a little football to you." The ability of the coach to make the Leicester players believe in themselves handed them a most improbable trophy.
Lessons from these underdog stories can be used in real life. More power to the underdogs!
