The action will quickly shift to red ball cricket when the knockout stage of the Ranji Trophy gets underway from June 6. The group stage of the tournament was held before the Indian Premier League got underway and now top eight teams will battle it out in Bengaluru.
Bengal will be up against Jharkhand in Bengaluru while Mumbai will take on Uttarakhand in Alur. In the other two fixtures, Karnataka play Uttar Pradesh and Punjab will lock horns with Madhya Pradesh at the same venue.
Back to the domestic grind after warming the bench for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, in an exclusive conversation with Firstpost, talks about the experience with new IPL team, the Eliminator loss and the preparations for domestic season. Excerpts:
Q. How are the preparations for quarter-finals going?
A. The preparations are going pretty good for our team. It’s been a month that the boys have been practicing and they are very much prepared for the upcoming fixtures. Moreover, the guys are really charged up and want to do well in Ranji Trophy and want to lift the trophy.
Q. You had a pretty good first half in the Ranji Trophy 2022 but didn’t get any game time in IPL. Has this affected your preparation?
A. I had been performing in the Ranji season before the IPL 2022 and I want to carry forward that. Though, I didn’t get the game time in IPL but I’m ready to take the field. I was continuously practicing and preparing myself and have carried that now as well. My motivation is to win matches for my team and do well as and when I get the opportunity.
Q. What kind of discussion are coaches having with the players?
A. All the coaches are very motivated and are working very hard with all the players. They have been chatting with all the lads and making understand their individual roles.
Q. Any news about MS Dhoni being around the team for the match?
A. Not really. He won’t be around.
Q. How do you see this encounter, considering Bengal being your opponents in this match? They are an experienced side.
A. We are very unpredictable team. In the last 6-7 years, our performance has really gone upwards. We have a lot of talent in the side but the consistency is missing. Even if 3-4 players perform to their strengths on a particular day, I’m very confident that we can win against any team. We have a number of match winners in the team.
Q. The next season would start in a short span of time. How good or bad it can be for your side?
A. It’s good. The game should continue. It would actually benefit us because the form is there and as a unit, we would like to stay in that groove.
Q. Lucknow Super Giants lost the Eliminator and bowed out of IPL 2022. What was the after-match dressing room talk like?
A. Of course, all of us felt really bad. We never thought that we won’t reach the final. But this was Lucknow Super Giants’ first season and if a side ends up in top four in the debut season, that’s a big positive.
The potential that our team has, we should have played the final but nevertheless, it’s a very good start for LSG. I’m very sure that the kind of talent that the Super Giants possess, the team is going to win the IPL in next one or two years.
Q. How is KL Rahul as a captain?
A. I feel, if a captain is not restricting his players and giving them a free hand then he is a very good leader and KL Rahul functions that way. He doesn’t create pressure on any player and gives full freedom to express themselves on the field.
Q. Tell us about the KL Rahul-Gautam Gambhir combo.
A. KL Rahul and Gautam Gambhir make a very good combination. None of them creates any pressure on any player which is a very good thing. Gambhir though provides his input from outside.
Q. You were third in the points table at the end of the league stage. Do you think ending at number two would have made a difference as you would have had two chances?
A. Yeah, if we would have ended the league stage at number two, then we would have had two chances. We had same points but our NRR was lesser eventually so we ended at number three in the points table.
Q. Some of the youngsters performed really well. Whom do you think can make it big?
A. There are a lot of talented players in the side. Mohsin Khan did well. Ayush Badoni has a lot of potential. He started off really well and you can see the glimpse of talent in him. He is very confident.
Q. Are you working on your batting as well?
A. Yes, I’m working on my batting. In fact, I scored 177 in the last match I played. So, yes I’m having the net sessions.
Look, when you play at that level and can make contributions of 50-60 runs in lower down the under, that’s really helpful for the team.
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