We didn’t depend on individuals and everyone contributed: Vidarbha coach Ghani

Vidarbha coach Usman Ghani reflects on team's hard work and success in winning the Ranji Trophy final.

After the heartbreak of last year, it was a dream-come-true moment for Usman Ghani.

“It has indeed been a dream to hold this magnificent trophy,” the Vidarbha coach said after beating Kerala on the first-innings lead in the Ranji Trophy final at the VCA Stadium on Sunday. “We missed it by a whisker last year.”

He said the preparations had started last year itself, working on the areas that needed improvement. “We really worked hard on our batting,” he said. “We didn’t depend on individuals, and everyone contributed.”

Young batters like Danish Malewar and Yash Rathod really impressed. “I had a lot of faith in Danish and asked the selectors to play him in the eleven,” Ghani said. “He had done well with the Under-23 team and I felt he was ready for the bigger stage. As for Yash, he is a very matured, skilful player. It is an honour for the team that he is the highest run-getter in the Ranji Trophy this season.”

The highest wicket-taker is also from Vidarbha. Harsh Dubey, in fact, set a new record for the highest number of wickets in a Ranji season (69). “He has a lot of self-belief, which is very important,” said Ghani. “He also did well with the bat.”

He admitted Vidarbha was surprised by Kerala’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss. “We wanted to bat first in a pressure game like this, we knew it was a batting wicket though it could be difficult in the first hour because of the moisture,” he said. “We were very happy when Kerala asked us to bat first.”

He paid a tribute to the retiring captain Akshay Wadkar. “He has been a great servant of Vidarbha cricket,” he said. “It was only on the morning of the match that he told us that he was going to retire.”