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Nagaland call for exposure, patience after conceding 1297 runs
Every big team started somewhere, says captain Rongsen Jonathan.
There are no technical knockouts in cricket. So Jharkhand batted on for 203.4 overs for their 880 runs in the first innings. And for another 90.3 overs in the second until the rules allowed them to stop on Day 5 at 417/6 and end Nagaland’s misery in this Ranji Trophy tie. With a 591-runs first innings lead, Jharkhand made the quarter-finals, to be played after the Indian Premier League.
The pre-quarter final in Kolkata saw several discomforting statistics. The last time any team scored more runs in a single first-class innings was in 2006 when Queensland made 900/6 against Victoria in the Pura Cup. Only thrice before in Ranji Trophy history have more runs been scored in an innings. The lop-sided pre-quarter final has reignited the debate if teams from north-east—six debuted in 2018—should be playing Ranji Trophy.
“I am happy this happened to us in a match situation. (It) told us where we stand,” said Nagaland captain Rongsen Jonathan.
In the same breath, he made an impassioned appeal for the cricket community to keep the faith. “Every big team that you see today started somewhere. Cricket is a skills’ sport and we need some time. What we need the most is exposure. We had a long team meeting after the match on how to move forward. What we seek is for some associations to play a few practice matches with us before the season.”
“One can be misled by the scoreboard but I can safely say without the dropped catches, we could have had them all out for less than 350 in the first innings and our boys were capable of chasing it down. We dropped five sitters in the first innings and four more in the 2nd,” said coach Kanwaljeet Singh, the off-spinner who was a domestic heavyweight for Hyderabad in his day.
“We had come with three days’ practice into this match. Our in-from pacer Nagaho Chishi could not play after pulling a muscle. Our fielding coach, Arzoo took ill. Of course, the dropped catches happened because of big-match pressure.”
“For some of the boys, playing a match at the Eden Gardens with all that was at stake got to them. They have been taking the same catches easily in league matches. The hands and body just got stiff,” said Jonathan.
The sheer volume of runs amassed by the Saurabh Tiwari-led Jharkhand —1297 and choosing not to declare earlier in their first essay has been criticised but it did not surprise Nagaland. Jonathan said after a look at the wicket, he always knew it would be a “1st innings match”. “You can talk about them being sporting and going for an outright win. But I have seen enough cricket to know, they wouldn’t declare,” Singh laughed.
After Jharkhand made their intentions of batting Nagaland out of the game, Jonathan said he told bowlers to stop watching the scoreboard. “I told them, ‘you won’t get a better platform to learn and improve. See if you can get the better of a batter, where the margin of error is so little.’”
The captain and coach said that the idea of a combined north-east Ranji Trophy team would be a short-sighted approach. By virtue of their showing in the ongoing truncated season—three outright wins en route to pre-quarters—Nagaland will be playing in the Elite Group next year.
“I have got talent to work with. We have the quick leg-spinner Khrievisto Kense (has trialed with IPL teams), left-arm spinner Imliwati Lemtur. Jonathan was a specialist batter, has begun to bowl off-spin for two years and it’s coming off really well for him. U19 talent Raja Swarnkar is good. We need to work on our batting. But our chief selector Watinuksung has been scouting talent. You watch, in the next season Nagaland will give some of the good sides a run for their money,” said Singh.
