I’ve been on the road for the last few months, with my cricket coverage spanning the Madhya Pradesh T20 League, India’s tour of England, and Sher-e-Punjab. I am no stranger to gigantic sixes at this point. After all, Ankush Singh Bais raced to three figures in 32 balls, Jos Buttler rediscovered his mojo in the company of Harry Brook in Southampton, and Naman Dhir came eerily close to breaking Chris Gayle’s long-standing record. As I entered what is arguably the biggest media center in India to kick off my reportage of Uttarakhand’s own franchise joust, another run-fest was my educated guess.
The tournament opener, albeit, sprung a surprise. Avneesh Sudha lost his poles to an away-seamer from Janmejay Joshi, the dismissal bearing shades of Mohammed Shami’s peach to Alastair Cook in Visakhapatnam which snapped his off-stump into half. Then slower balls were in vogue, finding able exponents in Rakshit Rohi and Sankalp Pithodia. The middle-order of Nainital Tigers returned scores of 26 off 22, 0, 9, and 28 off 23. Overs 7 to 15 featured a run rate of 5.6 in that innings, which ultimately totalled 166/8, a chase Haridwar Elmas almost made a meal of. The culprit? Shashwat Dangwal, whose run-a-ball 23 belied the talent of a southpaw holding a century in first-class cricket and an unbeaten 70 in List A fixtures to his name.
The match went right down to the wire, bringing back the feels of an Ekana thriller. Once Daksh Awana fell prey to Pithodia’s go-to option having anchored the pursuit with an elegant 74, Sudha summoned himself into the attack for the ultimate over. His rapid off-spin jarred the splices of Haridwar Elmas’ tail before messiah Rakshit Dalakoti got underneath a darter to seal a nervy win. A game that swung like a cherry released from James Anderson’s wrists had its maiden twist during the first PowerPlay, when Rohit Danu went on the offensive in response to a double blow. Priyank Singh copped successive boundaries off his willow, a pull in front of square followed by an advancing thump over mid-off that ushered Nainital Tigers to 50 in five overs from 16/2. A sliced six over cover greeted Dhruv Pratap Singh while poor fielding resulted in two unnecessary boundaries.
The early jitters now a thing of the past, the scoreboard in Dehradun read an ominous 91/2 at the halfway mark with Danu sniffing a well-compiled fifty. “He was in a flow state,” admitted Rohi, the breakthrough provider for Haridwar Elmas. “He was countering the fast bowlers adeptly so I fancied taking the pace off. I’m glad the cutters worked in my favour. We’d spoken in the team meeting about backing our strengths, and the ability to mix it up is mine.”
“To ensure that the batter is not picking the variation out of the hand you have to train yourself to hide the ball as much as possible in the process of loading up,” added the seamer who has been an integral part of Uttarakhand’s junior fold since 2021, even assuming the position of vice-captain on occasions. He also had a soothing six to his credit in the dying embers of the hunt, given the absence of Daksh had lent Nainital Tigers a foot in the door. Shots through the leg-side are the Roorkee right-hander’s forte, as evidenced by the stand-and-deliver whips against the new ball, however an inside out loft executed off left-arm spinner Shashank Pant challenges that notion.
“It is my natural game,” Daksh cooed in the press conference, the gentleness of his voice complementing his silken strokeplay. “Right from childhood, I believed in timing and placement. Therefore I stuck to my guns and I’m proud of the maturity I showed in the middle, especially considering the fact that I was running out of partners.”
Daksh started playing cricket at the age of 11 and grew skilled enough to represent Uttarakhand at U-16 and U-19 levels. The hill state subscribes to the ideology of fast-tracking young technically compact batters, taking into account the elevation of prodigy Lakshya Raichandani, the triumphant skipper of India Colts in the recently-concluded one-dayers against Australia U19. He was mighty impressive in his debut Ranji Trophy season, even facing the likes of Prasidh Krishna with aplomb as Uttarakhand contested the semi-final after eight years of toil.
In the home stretch, Daksh made a mistake that nearly cost Haridwar Elmas the glory. In Pithodia’s final over he took on a slower change-up only to miscue the hoick towards long-on. Becoming the bowler’s fourth scalp at the fag end of his quota on a gripping surface put Daksh into an introspective mood. “I should’ve finished things off. I thought I’d be able to achieve a good connection but it turned out to be a bad decision,” he replied to the query about seeing the parsimonious Pithodia off.
Pinning the blame entirely on Daksh for the tense epilogue would be imprudent because of the glaring lack of support in the middle phase. Haridwar Elmas went 28 balls without a boundary en route to an equation worth 78 off 54. In fact, Pithodia eyed a hat-trick at one stage. He could’ve returned five wickets if cow corner latched on to a straightforward chance from the anxious willow of Dangwal. The reason behind the sluggish nature of the pitch is easy to grasp. Uttarakhand Premier League features many a triple-header, hence the teams engaged in battle at night get a raw deal, with the surface having undergone 80 overs of wear and tear.
In their second affair at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Haridwar Elmas opted to bowl and jackhammered Rishikesh River Kings to 133-9, pocketing a facile win this time around to claim the top spot on the table. Normal services resumed for enforcer Yuvraj Choudhary after a cheap exit versus Nainital Tigers, who languish at the bottom awaiting their opening win. Although the improved batting performance against Tehri Titans will boost their confidence, for sure.
