Team believed in each other, wanted to bring white ball trophy home: Vidarbha coach Ghani

Vidarbha’s dominant title run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy was a result of the players’ belief in each other, which helped them overcome challenging situations successfully, reckoned head coach Usman Ghani.

Reigning Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha defeated Saurashtra by 38 runs here on Sunday to add the premier domestic one-day title also to their showcase.

“We believe in each other. We have been a dominant team in the white-ball formats for a while now, but that white-ball trophy has eluded us. This year, we didn’t have a good outing in the SMAT as well, losing a couple of close matches and could not even reach the Super League,” Ghani told PTI.

“But this time, we were confident and backed each other to bring a white ball trophy home. The team responded well to the challenge by playing a brand of positive cricket,” he added.

Support is the keyword for Ghani, a trait he thinks helps the team consistently rise above situations and fancied teams. “We have to support each player; it does not matter if it’s a clutch situation or not. We have to be behind them. If one game goes wrong for us, we are always confident of coming back and that’s what we are teaching everyone in the team.

“That has become a mindset of the team now, and if you look at it in the last couple of matches (VHT semifinal and final), we haven’t had that kind of situation. It’s all about keeping a positive mindset as a team,” he noted.

Unlike many teams in the domestic circuit, Vidarbha seemed to have found the right balance between red ball and white ball formats. Ghani credited it to Vidarbha’s incredible bench strength and diversity of players. “Look, (Dhruv) Shorey didn’t get to play in the final. We did not have the services of injured Danish Malewar also as he was injured in the league phase at Rajkot. But there is a good bench strength and healthy competition in Vidarbha for spots.

“So, we have players waiting to grab the opportunities and they want to capitalise on each outing, and that makes it easy for us to take on challenges,” he said.

Ghani is keen to project the team effort behind success, but could not avoid talking about a few individuals who shouldered Vidarbha’s campaign admirably.

Aman Mokhade is one of them as the 25-year-old opener bagged the player of the series award, scoring a tournament-highest 814 runs at an average of 90.44 with five hundreds.

“I have seen him from a very young age and he has always been a sharp learner. Earlier in the season, he had a couple of bad matches, and runs were not coming but we still persisted with him because he is a good talent. “He repaid our faith, scoring over 500 runs so far (in Ranji Trophy) and then over 800 runs in Hazare, which shows his skill and temperament. I know these young players’ mindset, they are very confident and that’s what we need as a team,” he said. Yash Thakur underlined his domestic performer tag, taking 19 wickets to top Vidarbha’s bowling charts in this Vijay Hazare Trophy, and Ghani has high expectations on his lead pacer.

“Thakur has been a complete leader of this side with the ball. He’s just 26, but he’s been one of the most consistent bowlers around. He’s got a very good head and reads the game very well. He reads the batsmen early and that’s very important for a bowler. He keeps working on the batsmen and it keeps him always ahead of them.

“He’s mentally very strong, too. He has a good amount of self-motivation and has worked on his pace, too. Unfortunately, he’s not playing for the country. He is a consistent performer and, hopefully, his chances will come soon,” he said. Ghani was also effusive in his praise for 23-year-old Harsh Dubey for leading Vidarbha in a mature way.

“He has put in a lot of work as a bowler and leader. There’s a lot of competition for spots in Vidarbha but when we gave him a chance, he proved worthy of it. “He is a very patient individual and developed good relations with senior players in the side as well. He talks with everyone and encourages a lot of communication.”

Vidarbha will resume their Ranji Trophy campaign against Andhra at Anantapur on January 22. They are currently leading Group A with 25 points from five matches.

Ghani hoped that the team can adapt to the needs of red ball cricket after playing white ball formats for close to two months.