By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
New Delhi : Uttar Pradesh will play the Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai like any other match so that there is no undue pressure on the players, said coach Gyanendra Pandey three days before the battle starts in Mumbai Wednesday.
“We will play the final like any match because if we burden ourselves with expectations the players will not be able to perform to their potential,” Pandey told IANS over phone from his home city Lucknow.
“Although we are now mentally much tougher, especially after big victories over Bengal and Hyderabad, we would treat the final as any of the games we played this season,” stressed the former India player.
Unlike Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir, who said he would go to Mumbai with only one goal – to win the title – Pandey says his team’s aim is to play good, solid cricket and if they do so the result will automatically be the desired one.
Uttar Pradesh eye their second Ranji Trophy championship in three years, having won the crown under Mohammed Kaif’s captaincy in 2005-06, when Pandey was a playing member of the team.
Pandey pointed out that sensational bowling by debutant pacer Sudeep Tyagi, sessions with a psychologist and regular camps between matches were some of the steps that helped the Uttar Pradesh team to enter the final.
“I got almost the same team that played in 2005-06 and which barely avoided relegation from the Elite Group last season. But this year the boys are a transformed lot and the results are there for everyone to see,” said a proud Pandey.
Listing some of the aspects that helped the team, Pandey particularly mentioned the services of psychologist S.C. Tiwari without charging any fees.
“This season we did a few new things. We held regular short camps between matches in Lucknow, took help from Mr. Tiwari and the players also practiced yoga,” said Pandey.
Pandey also thanked the state administration for lending a hand in providing proper facilities for practice.
“The state administration, especially the principal secretary to chief minister, Fateh Bahadur Singh, gave us all help by allowing us to use government-owned stadiums in Lucknow for holding camps and practice. Uttar Pradesh cricket officials Jyoti Bajpai and Rajeev Shukla took all care to see the players got everything they needed.”
Kaif again led the team from the front and was prolific with the bat as well, amassing 650 runs at an average of 65.00 from seven matches with two centuries and four half-centuries. This performance should bring him back in the reckoning for a place in the Indian team.
About his first year as full-fledged coach, Pandey said his job became easier as he knew most of the players.
“I had played with most of them for many years. Kaif, for instance, played under my captaincy for seven years,” he said.
Kaif and Tyagi were among pillars of the team, he said.
“There were several 400-plus totals from our batsmen and the bowlers also performed well, with Tyagi impressing one and all by consistently bowling at a speed of 140-km plus,” said Pandey.
Tyagi is currently the second-highest wicket taker with 39 scalps – one short of Karnakata’s R. Vinay Kumar’s 40 wickets – and will most probably shoot ahead during the final at the Wankhede Stadium.
Pandey admitted that the selection of Tyagi at the start of the season was a “risk”.
“We took a big gamble by selecting him in the team after he was dropped from the state under-22 team,” said the 35-year-old coach.
The gamble paid off handsomely as the right-arm pacer from Ghaziabad bowled his team to an innings and 10-run win over Orissa in the tournament opener – and never looked back from then on.
“He has bowled extraordinarily well throughout the season to emerge as a force to reckon with. He has this uncanny ability to swing the ball both ways and also bowl sharp cutters,” said the man who played two ODIs in 1999.
Pacer Praveen Kumar (28 wickets in five matches), leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (27 in seven) and left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta (17 in four) were also impressive.
As for batsmen, besides Kaif, Suresh Raina (582 in seven matches), Tanmay Srivastava (360 in six), Ravikant Shukla (320 in seven) and R.P. Srivastava (315 in six) played with a lot of application.