The journey of the Odisha cricket team came to an end, in an impressive note though, at the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2018-19 season. Former Ranji cricketer Rashmi Ranjan Parida is quite impressed with his boys in his first season as a head coach of the senior team. In a tête-à-tête with Orissa POST the two-time Ranji winner (with Rajasthan) revealed his heart out. Excerpts…
Well… hard luck for failing to qualify for the knock-outs, but it was an impressive show, isn’t it?
Yes (I guess). We really had a chance to qualify for quarterfinals. But unfortunately we lost a couple of close matches (indicating the 2-run loss to Jharkhand and 35-run defeat to Rajasthan) which turned crucial. But if I take a look at the overall performance, I, as a coach, am bit satisfied. I’m kind of an optimistic person so I was hoping that we could have managed to enter the last eight, but unfortunately we couldn’t.
Odisha had a bad start, but the team picked up the momentum quite well in the later stages…
I would not blame the team for this, rather I would say it was the lack of match practice. No matter how you perform in training or at the nets, it hardly matters in real game as match practice is something that allows players to handle real-time pressure. And another thing was I didn’t have much time to know the team before the season began. By the time I got to know the team’s strengths and weaknesses, we already had played two matches. Nevertheless, from there on, we gathered the lost pieces and built up the momentum.
The positives and negatives you gained from the season..
If we talk about positives, I would say we were very much competitive (besides Uttar Pradesh match). We won four games …outright wins to be precise. This team learned how to win games. But most important thing they learnt is that they can challenge any side with their fighting spirit (indicating Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Services games). And as far as negatives are concerned, lack of consistency from batsmen and openers were real worries.
Impressive GenNext as far as season debutants are concerned?
Of course …if you look at our team, sans two-three players, we have one of the youngest squads in the competition. As far as debutants are concerned, Rajesh (Mohanty), Debabrata (Pradhan) and Debasish (Samantray) were quite impressive. I can see that we now have a bunch of youngsters who are holding the future of Odisha cricket. But the most important thing is that they should feel themselves secured in the team. They need to be nurtured carefully and given quite a bit of rope.
As far as seniors are concerned, Govind Poddar’s bad show throughout the tournament must be a setback..
He was (just) out of form. I didn’t find any technical flaws in his batting. If you look at the previous seasons, he was a regular contributor, he is the backbone of Odisha batting line-up. But as we know, form plays a crucial part and this time lack of form affected his performance which took a heavy toll on team’s batting as well. But in my point of view, he is the best batsman of the state right now.
However, you found a perfect replacement in Debasish Samantray for the No.3 spot which is Govind’s familiar batting position..
Definitely. In my view, this is a good thing for Odisha cricket. Govind himself must have realised the fact that the team have already found a replacement for him. He will definitely compete with him more to bring out the best from him next time. Look, the fact is that these kinds of competitions always help the team find better players. The situation demands the best from the players and it also brings out the best from them.
Rajesh Mohanty and Debabrat Pradhan were very impressive..
Rajesh is the find of the season. And if I have to be precise, I would say another Mohanty (Debashis) is in the making. After Debasish Mohanty, we got Basant and now Rajesh. To be frank, having Basant in the team helped me a lot. His experience and inputs helped not only Rajesh but also Debabrata. Debabrata was impressive but he needs to know how to take five wickets. He gives everything on the field. He is the quickest bowler in the team. So he was given preference ahead of Suryakant (Pradhan).
About Suryakant ? He is turning out as a bowling all-rounder, isn’t it?
Of course …as I said, when Debabrata was preferred ahead of him, he became hungry (for wickets). And it turned out to be beneficial for the team. He made an impact soon after regaining his place in the team. And as far as his batting is concerned, he played a couple of crucial innings down the order which helped the team immensely. As a coach, I’m very happy that I could exploit his abilities well.
Subhranshu Senapati was the star performer of the season..
Yes he was the best performing batsman for the state. But if you speak about the country, I would say he needs more. If you dream of playing for your country, then you have to be consistent and score nearly 1000 runs every season. I even talked to him regarding this giving an example of Mayank Agarwal. Just look at Mayank’s performances in past three seasons. As far as Subhranshu is concerned, I think he should have scored 800-1000 runs.
What is the theory behind giving young Subhranshu the captaincy?
I have seen a good leader inside him. Most of the players in the team are near his age group and some of them are even younger. And if you speak about the pressure on the young guy being appointed as the skipper, I would say being positive is what we can do. Yes it may put pressure on him and affect his batting, but there is also a chance that the additional responsibility can get the best out of him. Take the example of Virat (Kohli), his batting has improved immensely since taking over the captaincy rein from MS Dhoni. So I’m optimistic about young and talented Subhranshu as well.
Wicketkeeper-batsman is a major issue for the team…
Yes, I totally agree with this. We have tried Sujit Lenka and P Roshan Kumar Rao this season. As far as keeping is concerned, Sujit is the best wicketkeeper for us, but his batting is not that impressive. Roshan is very young and I don’t know what the selectors saw in him. But for me, he is yet to belong to this level. If we speak about Rajesh Dhuper, he is very good, but he was unfit. Let’s see when he regains his fitness.
The biggest question mark of the season is the omission of Pappu Roy. Reports suggested it was his bad performance which led to his ouster.
Frankly, this is rubbish (lack of good performance). How can someone comment like that that when Pappu has been selected for Deodhar Trophy and Board President’s XI teams! Pappu came into the team after a couple of splendid seasons in the junior level cricket. As far as his performance is concerned, I don’t really agree with the reports. He played the opening two matches (at KIIT Stadium) and both were pace tracks. How can someone even expect a spinner to get wickets on a pacer friendly track! So I don’t know what was going in the selectors mind, but I think he should have been in the side for the entire season.
So what’s next?
This (Ranji Trophy) was my second tournament after Vijay Hazare Trophy. Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament (Feb 21-Mar 13) is next. As I have failed so far in taking the team to knock-outs, my main target is to help the team qualify for the knock-out stage. And the players are now seasoned and fit, so let’s hope for the best.