One may
not easily identify this young lad - Gujarat wicketkeeper-batsman Smit Patel moved
out to join the Tripura cricket team.
Patel, a winner of the Under-19 World Cup title in 2012, signed for the North
East stating "better opportunities
available at Agartala".
Tripura,
in Northeast India is the third-smallest state in the country. It covers 10,491 km2 (4,051 sq mi) and is
bordered by Bangladesh, the Indian
states of Assam and Mizoram. The area of
modern 'Tripura' was ruled for several centuries by the Tripuri dynasty. It was
the independent princely state of the Tripuri Kingdom under the protectorate of
the British Empire which was known as Hill Tippera while the area annexed and
ruled directly by British India was known as Tippera District (present Comilla
District). The independent Tripuri
Kingdom (or Hill Tippera) joined the newly independent India in 1949. Ethnic
strife between the indigenous Tripuri people and the migrant Bengali population
due to large influx of Bengali Hindu refugees and settlers from Bangladesh led
to tension and scattered violence since its integration into the country of
India, but the establishment of an autonomous tribal administrative agency and
other strategies have led to peace.
This news
was interesting ! - Power ministers of India’s northeastern
states have proposed a power transmission line between Tripura and West Bengal
through Bangladesh. It is reported that
this proposal was put forth in a meeting between the ministers at Shillong,
Meghalaya. , Tripura’s Power Minister
Manik Dey reportedly told the reporters that - “Tripura’s transmission line is
connected to West Bengal via Assam. It passes through hilly areas and forests.
As a result, Tripura and its counterparts in the Northeast often suffer from
power disruption.” Tripura, south Assam, Mizoram and Manipur would be benefited
if a power line connecting Tripura and West Bengal is set up via Bangladesh, he
added.
We are reading about
Tripura more because it is in Group C of Ranji Trophy 2017-18 relaid format of
4 groups : the teams in this group are :
Andhra Pradesh, Baroda, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Odisha, Tamil Nadu & Tripura. The group is tough as only the top 2 teams
from each group move to QF. Tamilnadu
did not do all that well in the first match against Andhra and now is playing
Tripura at home.
Smit, who moved
from Gujarat to Tripura last year, was superbly caught by J Kousik off
Washington Sundar on 99 on day one while attempting to hit a six. "It
feels bad to get out on 99. The ball was there to be hit and I did go. But I
don't regret it because I played really well whole day. The one run could have
made a difference," he said. Smit used his feet brilliantly against R
Ashwin to unsettle the ace Indian offie during his knock. "I didn't give a
thought about the name Ashwin. I played the ball. TN bowlers bowled very well.
But whoever was bowling, I was playing on the merit of the ball," he
added.
After Aussies, the
team from Kiwiland is to tour India – play 3 ODIs and 3 T20s. One dayers are scheduled on Oct 22 at Wankhede; Oct 25 at Pune and Oct 29
Kanpur; T20s at Delhi on Nov 1; Rajkot Nov4 and Nov 7 at Thiruvananthapuram. Shardul
Thakur and Dinesh Karthik have made their way back into the ODI squad for the
three matches against New Zealand starting October 22 in Mumbai. Shikhar
Dhawan, who had sought leave for the Australia ODIs to be with his ill wife,
also returned to the 15-man squad. KL
Rahul, who was in the squad for the ODIs against Australia, was left out.
India's frontline spinners in Tests - R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja - were also
not part of the squad which meant the spin trio of Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep
Yadav and Axar Patel was retained. In
the pace department, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami were left out from the
squad after both of them played only the fourth ODI against Australiain Bengaluru.
The continuous
keeping away of ace Ravichandran Ashwin is baffling to say the least ! – the pair
of Ashwin and Jadeja have been exceptionally good in Tests and very effective
in limited overs format too .. is there something cooking ! – what is the real
reason – a player of his calibre cannot be rested for too long and certainly,
not against strong opponent like Australia. Is he not our mainstay for the WC
2019 ? Qs and more Qs …. !!
In the Ranji, allrounder
Washington Sundar's maiden first-class hundred - 156* off 223 balls - underpinned
Tamil Nadu's dominance against Tripura in Chennai. Opening the batting in the
absence of M Vijay - who is suffering from a neck spasm - Sundar struck 14
fours and a six to give his team a 74-run first-innings lead at stumps on the
second day. He first added 162 for the opening stand with captain Abhinav Mukund before combining with B
Indrajith for an unbroken 152-run stand for the third wicket. Abhinav made 76
off 130 balls - his second successive first-class fifty - while Indrajith
stayed unbeaten on 73 off 121 balls. Tripura used seven bowlers with only
Joydeep Bhattacharjee and Gurinder Singh finding success. The hosts,
ultimately, closed the day at 332 for 2, scoring at over four runs per over.
Earlier, seamer K
Vignesh's 4 for 41 helped Tamil Nadu dismiss Tripura for 258 from an overnight
244 for 7. The visitors had lost their last seven wickets for just 55 runs.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
15th Oct 2017.
