da cassino： Sidharth Monga traces Uttar Pradesh’s rise over the last three years, and finds that they’re still an underdog story

da bet vitoria： Sidharth Monga12-Jan-2008

Apart from their batting prowess, Mohammad Kaif and Suresh Raina offer UP plenty in the field © Cricinfo Ltd.
2005-06Four points from four matches. Bottom of the table. Three big wins, a first-inningslead, and Uttar Pradesh are Ranji champions for the first time in the history.2007-08Eight points from four matches. Bottom of the table. Three big wins and UP are onematch short of becoming the champions for the second time in three years.Not much has changed, has it? Outside UP, though, the world has changed a lot overthe last two years. Teams over the country have become more professional: almost allthe strong teams now have a proper physiotherapist, a trainer, and a video analyst.In UP, change means the retirement of three seniors – Gyanendra Pandey, Ashish Zaidiand Rizwan Shamshad – one of whom has become the coach and one the manager. They nowhave a physio who doubles up as a trainer. Otherwise life is pretty much the same;there is no video analysis, every time they arrange a camp they have to arrange aground – the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) doesn’t own one. At times players have to pool in to buy the SG Test balls. The extended team – players, coach, manager andphysio – feels the only contribution from outside has been the stinging criticismfrom former players.The loss of Shalabh Srivastava, their key left-arm opening bowler, to the IndianCricket League is a glaring example of how the system doesn’t care for its cricket.Srivastava, the third-highest wicket-taker in the 1999-2000 Under-19 World Cup inSri Lanka, which India won, was a blossoming talent when he had to undertakeexpensive knee surgery in South Africa in 2003. He was assured that he would bereimbursed but it hasn’t happened yet. In 2007 – at 26 and ostensibly in the primeof his career – he didn’t even have a job. He joined Indian Railways and was thenexpected to play for them. Playing in the Plate League didn’t excite him and hesubsequently joined the ICL.His replacement was Sudeep Tyagi, a tall lively right-arm medium-pacer who took 19wickets in his first two matches; yet Tyagi could have been warming the bench in theUnder-22 tournament had Mohammad Kaif and Pandey, the coach, not picked him forsenior tournament. That the bench is no longer studded with politicians’ relativesis seen as a major advance in UP cricket.**Given such poor infrastructure, who told UP they could win the Ranji Trophyand reach the final two years later? “If anybody other than us (the players, thecoach, manager and physio) claims credit for this success, it is bulls**t,” says oneplayer. His anger underscores the team’s greatest strength – tremendous self-beliefin the face of all the roadblocks, the poor practising facilities, the substandardgyms, zero assistance. They knew they had come back from an identical situation twoyears ago, and they reminded themselves of that. In Kaif they have a leader whoinspires; in Pandey a coach who was one of them last season and one they respect;and in Zaidi a manager who knew the art of taking wickets in Indian domestic cricketand is sharing it.Most of their youngsters have come up through the hostel system, which has been asuccessful conveyor belt for UP. Even before they reach the Ranji team, they have asense of bonding having stayed in the same hostels and learned the game with eachother. They are all ready to play, fight and go up or down together.Even before they reach the Ranji team, UP have asense of bonding having stayed in the same hostels and learned the game with eachother. They are all ready to play, fight and go up or down togetherMoreover, as Kaif says, “The players are very quick learners and hard workers.” Thehard work shows in their fielding: they are perhaps the best fielding side in theRanji Trophy, what with Suresh Raina and Kaif leading the pack.Their major success, though, has come with the ball. Tyagi has bowled with thematurity that belies someone in his first season. He will most likely end theleading wicket-taker – his 39 wickets at 19.84 are one short of the leader R VinayKumar who is out of the competition and Praveen Kumar with 28 wickets at 16.42 hasthe next best tally for a bowler alive in the tournament. Kumar, who missed thefirst two matches, has come back and duly enhanced his reputation of being one ofthe hardest workers on field among the pace bowlers in domestic cricket. He, likeZaidi, seems to know how to take wickets in domestic cricket. The two have giventhem good starts in all the three matches they have won in their late surge to thefinals. Between them they have bowled long spells (188.4 overs out of 363.1) andtaken 32 wickets in the last three matches, with Piyush Chawla and Praveen Guptaforming a good spin tag team towards the end of the season.Bhuvneshwar Kumar, a pluck from the U-19 side, has bowled steady right-arm mediumpace and shown cricketing smartness with the bat. On a pitch – in the semi-final -where others found hard to score runs, he stayed at the wicket for 105 minutes,during which time the team scored 88 runs.A weak inexperienced batting line-up, especially with Raina fizzling out after aflying start, has been led and held together by Kaif. His 80 in the extremelylow-scoring semi-final against Saurashtra was the difference between the two sides.The batting, apart from the two, has not looked special: they are still strugglingfor a pair of decent openers as was the case two years ago. As many as six havetried their hand at the dreaded job and just when Tanmay Srivastava and RohitPrakash Srivastava seemed like forging a longish partnership, Tanmay had to go toplay for India U-19. The young batsmen in the middle play too many shots, don’thave the patience to build a long innings, and one wonders if video analysiswouldn’t help.UP are a team easy to like – just like their captain. They are exciting to watch inthe field, flashy with the bat, and never short of humour off the field. On sheertalent and grit, they have presented another story of success despite the system inIndia. Two years after their maiden success, nothing speaks of the system more thanthe fact that they are still an underdog story – it was endearing the first timeround just like any underdog story is, but it is disappointing this time. A RanjiTrophy triumph should mean more.