CHENNAI: Former India all-rounder Ajay Sharma featured in six Ranji Trophy finals for Delhi winning two — both as a player and one as a captain — but he never lost his sleep ahead of the match or during the contest. Much water has flown under the bridge ever since Sharma played his last competitive match.
At 61, Sharma is now head coach of Jammu and Kashmir and helped them qualify for their first-ever Ranji Trophy final in 66 years. But what has never happened during his playing days happened a few days ago with Sharma not able to sleep for the past three days. "I was trying to sleep," Sharma told this daily, realising he has missed quite a few calls since morning after J&K defeated hosts Bengal by six wickets to storm into the final. The five-day final will start on February 24.
"I featured in six Ranji finals and won twice, scored centuries as well but this never happened. Call it anxiety but somewhere that was in mind that if we win this contest, history will be made. We have good players but that history thing might have made me sleepless," added the coach.
After electing to field, J&K conceded the first innings lead, even if it was only 26 runs. India discard Mohammed Shami ran through their batting line-up claiming eight wickets. They were down but not out, and that's when they made a memorable comeback in the match, bowling out the hosts for 99 in their second essay. In-form pacer Auqib Nabi, who bagged a fifer in the first innings and scored 42, returned with figures of 4/36 while left-arm pacer Sunil Kumar complimented him well claiming 4/27.
"That shows the quality of bowlers we have. Red-ball cricket always gives you a second chance. I think complacency crept in for Bengal when they took the lead. Also I have heard that they never lost in the semifinals there, so that must be in their minds. Our top-order batters might be struggling but the middle-order has been performing quite well. (Abdul) Samad is an excellent player. He missed at least four centuries this season but that's how he plays. Today also he took the game away from the opponents. Nabi has been wonderful for the past two seasons. We didn't have Umran Malik but Sunil Kumar didn't let us feel his absence. Umar Nazir is also there but we use him on red soil. Yudhvir Singh made sure he played a perfect foil to both Nabi and Sunil. Besides, both Nabi and Yudhvir are good batters and contributed handsomely when the team needed their services."
Notably, Samad, a regular in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for quite a few seasons, was dropped last season from the playing XI. Sharma said Samad is a stroke player but he has to take the responsibility which he eventually did this season. "Sometimes, you have to take steps to make a player understand his role and how important he is to the team. Samad learnt that. The way he played in the first innings made all the difference for us." J&K were reduced to 3/13 in their reply to Bengal's 328 but Samad played fearlessly scoring a 85-ball 82 adding 143 runs for the fourth wicket with captain Paras Dogra, who contributed 58 runs.
Nabi, who finished with the second-most wickets last season, continued his rich vein of form picking 55 wickets so far including impressive six-fifers. Only Mayank Mishra of Uttarakhand with 57 scalps is ahead of him. Sharma strongly feels India call-up is round the corner for Nabi. "You will soon find him in India colours. And what I believe is that he should be directly included in the India team not in the India A team. He deserves that," opined the coach.
Bengal set a target of 126 but India pacer Akash Deep along with Shami made that look difficult on Day 4 as J&K were struggling at 50/3 at one stage. They lost skipper Dogra as well with 55 still needed for the win. Samad then joined forces with spin-bowling all-rounder Vanshraj Sharma and saw the team home.
With Karnataka almost certain to be their opponents in the summit clash, Sharma said they have the self-belief to challenge eight-time winners on their home soil.
Brief scores: At Kalyani: Bengal 328 & 99 lost to J&K 302 and 126/4 in 34.4 ovs (Vansraj Sharma 43 n.o, Abdul Samad 30 n.o; Akash Deep 3/46); At Lucknow: Karnataka 736 & 299/6 in 63.5 ovs (Kruthik Krishna 52, Ravichandran Smaran 127, KL Rahul 70 n.o) vs Uttarakhand 233.
