Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh are gearing up for the do-and-die battle as the Ranji Trophy Semi-finals stage approaches. Here's how, when, and where you can watch the match actions live
Ranji Trophy 2024 has arrived at the turning where only 4 out of the 38 teams will move forward under the light of the silverware. On March 2, Saturday, Vidarbha will take on Madhya Pradesh in Nagpur. Let's have a look at the teams' arduous journey leading up to this epic showdown. (More Cricket News)
Vidarbha, the team that has won the Ranji Trophy title twice, has the power of veteran Karun Nair who scored 515 runs in the 2024 season. The import from Delhi Dhruv Shorey (496), top-order batter Atharva Taide (488) and skipper Akshay Wadkar (452). All of them have bailed them out of the woods on different occasions. Playing four matches at the VCA stadium, Vidarbha emerged victorious in three of them at home - against Services by seven wickets, against Haryana by 115 runs and against Karnataka by 127 runs in the quarterfinals.
Not only the batters but also the brilliant bowlers especially the duo of pacer Aditya Thakare and left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate have been instrumental in Vidarbha's success making a total of 68 wickets, changing the course of the game several times.
Meanwhile, team Madhya Pradesh is buckling up for their second title win in the Ranji Trophy armed with the exceptional talent of Venkatesh Iyer who accumulated 528 runs at an average of 52 including a ton and four fifties. MP has other heroes like Himanshu Mantri (513 runs) and Yash Dubey (510 runs). And when it comes to bowling, MP stands tall with Kumar Kartikeya who single-handedly took 38 wickets this season.
Nevertheless, there's one factor that may turn the tide in Madhya Pradesh's favour beyond the hands of the players. It is the team's coach, Chandrakant Pandit, who was the man behind Vidarbha's trophy in 2018 and 2019. He might stand behind Madhya Pradesh lifting the trophy this time around.
Vidarbha will take on Madhya Pradesh in the semi-final match of Ranji Trophy 2024 from March 2, Saturday to March 6, Wednesday. The match will start at 9:30 am at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur.
The semi-final match between Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh will be available to stream on the Jio Cinema app and website for free.
Unfortunately, there will be no live telecast of the Ranji Trophy 2024 matches on any TV channel.
Vidarbha Vs Madhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy 2024 semi-final match squads:
Vidarbha: Atharva Taide, Dhruv Shorey, Yash Rathod, Karun Nair, Akshay Wadkar (wk/captain), Mohit Kale, Aditya Sarwate, Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Faiz Fazal, Akshay Wakhare, Sanjay Raghunath, Rajneesh Gurbani, Lalit M Yadav, Siddhesh Wath, Jitesh Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Shubham Dubey.
Madhya Pradesh: Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri (wk), Harsh Gawli, Shubham S Sharma (captain), Venkatesh Iyer, Sumit Kushwah, Saransh Jain, Anubhav Agarwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Avesh Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Amarjeet Singh, Aditya Shrivastava, Mihir Hirwani, Rishabh Chouhan, Aryan Pandey.