Ranji Trophy: Fiery Gaurav demolishes Delhi on a cold and windy day

Gaurav Yadav is not young anymore. He is 32, but the seamer still has the fire in his belly and has a point to prove after he left his home state Madhya Pradesh and joined Pondicherry as a professional.

Yadav, who was instrumental in Madhya Pradesh winning the Ranji Trophy in 2022, says he joined Pondicherry after having differences with MP’s coach Chandrakant Pandit.

“Sahi nahi chal raha tha coach ke saath (it was not working out with the coach). They were not giving me a chance in the white ball, and I wanted to play all three formats. I approached them to play here. Actually, Venkatesh Iyer spoke to them for me. He told them about me and they had already seen me and agreed instantly,” Yadav tells The Indian Express.

In Delhi’s 62.5 overs innings, Yadav bowled 26.5 overs in two spells — 13 and 13.5 overs – and blew away Delhi with his seven-wicket haul. “I love bowling the longer spells. Especially in winter, the body heats up only after seven or eight overs. Bowling long spells is my strength and conditions were perfect for it as well,” says Yadav.

Delhi were bowled out for 148 runs, and in reply, Pondicherry were 113 for 2.

In Madhya Pradesh’s run to the Ranji title in 2022, with 23 strikes in five games, Gaurav was the highest wicket-taker among all seamers. Yadav alongside Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Kumar Kartikey, Saransh Jain and Anubhav Agarwal, had formed a formidable bowling unit for the Madhya Pradesh. It is not only Gaurav, who has left Madhya Pradesh, Kuldeep Sen, who made his international debut in December last year, is set to play for Tamil Nadu in the 2023-24 domestic season.

“It’s not an easy decision to leave your home and play. We were doing good, were a champion team. I was the highest wicket taker among fast bowlers that season and took six wickets in the final,” he says.

Yadav said the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) did not allow him to travel with IPL teams as net bowler and didn’t select him in white-ball squads.

“I had taken 23 wickets in nine games in the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy. Next season, I was not in any white-ball squads”

“CSK had called me so many times in 2021. They wanted me to join the team as a net bowler in UAE, but the association didn’t allow it. CSK wrote a mail but the MPCA said I was not available. I said no to CSK. They were not allowing me to go on the trials,” says Gaurav.

Splendid effort

In his long spells, Gaurav showed that he still has got the fire in him as he gave away nothing. The most fascinating part of his bowling was his ability to bowl onto the stumps as five of his seven wickets were bowled or leg before the wicket.

“Playing as a professional is a different kind of pressure. We won the toss and got assistance from the pitch. We bowled well as a unit and got the reward,” says Gourav. “Even for Madhya Pradesh, you can check, we used to bowl as a pack. In cricket, you can’t do anything single-handedly. I feel the same for Pondicherry and I strongly believe that this team can reach the knockouts,” he adds.

Ishant, Navdeep fail to impress

If not for the valuable 45-run stand between Harsh Tyagi and Navdeep Saini, Delhi would have been in danger of not crossing the three-figure mark.

With the ball, Delhi’s seamer led by Ishant Sharma, a veteran of 105 Tests, and India A regular Navdeep Saini lacked the discipline and failed to make the most out of the pitch, which had still a lot to offer.

Ishant picked the wicket of opener Akash Kargave, but lacked rhythm. On the other hand, Navdeep Saini was erratic and was bowling two or three balls on the leg stumps in every over. Debutant Himanshu Chauhan was impressive whenever he was pitching it up but was not consistent with his length.

Brief Scores

Delhi: 148 all out in 62.5 overs (Harsh Tyagi 34; Gourav Yadav 7/49, Abin Matthew 2/28) vs Pondicherry: 113 for 2 in 29 overs (Paras Ratnaparkhe 31 not out; Ishant Sharma 1/28)

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