BENGALURU: “We are not afraid of Karnataka. We can beat them,” said Chhattisgarh batsman Amandeep Khare ahead of their Vijay Hazare semifinal slated for Wednesday. It is this fearless approach which has helped them take rapid strides in domestic cricket.
They play with freedom. Chirping incessantly and sledging occasionally, they have their smiles intact most of the time. Despite becoming a full member of the BCCI in 2016, their journey in Vijay Hazare Trophy at least has been impressive. After two wins in 2016-17, the next two seasons witnessed four wins each. This season, it has been five so far, along with a semifinal berth.
After BCCI affiliation, things have moved in the right direction. “There are so many players in Chhattisgarh, who retired early. They did not see any scope playing cricket at the time. Some started a business, some went for studies. They did that to take care of their future, but now things are better,” said former India U-19 player Khare whose unbeaten 117 helped Chhattisgarh beat Mumbai and grab mega headlines in the league phase.
Some of the players, who were part of Madhya Pradesh before 2016, came back to their home state. Of the 15 members in the current squad, five have represented Madhya Pradesh. Captain Harpreet Singh Bhatia has come back to his home state after representing Madhya Pradesh for 10 ten years.
“Obviously players want to play for their home state. I left Madhya Pradesh captaincy as well. I wanted to play for my state and whatever cricket is left in me, I want to serve Chhattisgarh,” said Bhatia, who joined last season. With a mix of former Madhya Pradesh that and outstation professionals — Veer Pratap Singh (from Bengal), Jiwanjot Singh (Punjab) and Puneet Datey (MP) — Chhattisgarh have some decent experience. With young guns like Khare, Ajay Mandal, Shakeeb Ahmed, Shubham Singh, they have formed a good core.
Chhattisgarh State Cricket Sangh is also playing its role. Besides hiring professionals, they also send the team to various parts of the country for pre-season tournaments. Their team is a regular in events in Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
“Just practising in the nets is not enough. So it is good that we play against competitive sides outside the state before the start of the season. It gives us a good chance to analyse our game. We can find out where our teams and players stand and where we can improve. It is helping us, as recent results suggest,” said coach Mukund Parmar.