Ranji Trophy 2017: Debutant Ravi Teja derails Railways

Ravi Teja dismissed Railways openers and went on to claim his maiden five-wicket haul in his debut game. (Express photo by Somya Kapoor)

After a brilliant performance with the ball throughout the day, Hyderabad debutant Ravi Teja wore a disappointed look when he was smashed for a boundary by Railways’ No 11 Karan Thakur. Soon after the ball crashed into the ropes, skipper Ambati Rayudu walked up to Teja and whispered something into his ears. The advice, it seemed, worked as the seamer added another wicket to complete a five-wicket haul on debut.

He didn’t anything different with the delivery after getting hit for a boundary but this time Mehdi Hassan took a stunner at short mid-wicket to make it a memorable debut for Teja. It wasn’t quite a happy outing for hosts Railways at Karnai Singh Stadium in New Delhi on Friday. Resuming at 35/1, they lost four wickets in the morning session and failed to resist in the second too.

Teja troubled them from the word go and consistently pitched the ball in the right areas and played with the patience of the batsmen. He stuck to the outside off-stump line and had decent, but enough, movement both ways to keep the batsmen on their toes.

The seamer is just not restricted to being patient and play with the batsmen’s patience. His clever thinking came into play just four overs after Lunch when he laid a perfect trap to send Ashish Yadav back to the hut. The first two deliveries of the over were angled away from the left-hander and the third took clearly took him by surprise as it came in sharply, kept a bit low, and hit him in line of the stumps. Teja was ably supported by Hasan and Akash Bhandari on what was a good day for the visitors.

​After the day’s play, Teja, in interaction with indianexpress.com, talked about the joy of talking a fifer on debut and the support from senior teammates like Pragyan Ojha and skiper Rayudu.​

“As this was my first match so I was pretty nervous but we have players in the team who have played for India and their inputs have helped me a lot. Talking about this track, it isn’t a flat one and there was no carry through so there were chances of getting the batsmen out LBW as well as bowled. The bowlers from the other end also kept it tight and that helped me in getti​n​g wickets. And I’m happy to scalp fifer and score 70 runs in debut game and we also have a chance of winning an outright match so I just want to perform tomorrow as well,” ​said Teja.

Talking about the ​nature of the pitch, Teja said, “The track has changed a bit in three days as there are some cracks now which weren’t there when we were batting in first innings. (Ambati) Rayudu bhai suggested us that we need to bat through for two days as the ball won’t come on the bat properly after that. So we worked on that plan and executed it quite well.”

​Presence of Ojha, who moved back from Bengal to Hyderabad this year, has helped the youngsters in the side and Teja revealed that the senior player’s inputs are invaluable for the spinners in the team.​

“Pragyan Ojha’s is someone who has taken 100 Test wickets so his inputs are very valuable especially for the spinners in the team.”

​It wasn’t just with the ball as Teja chipped in with a brisk 70 when Hyderabad were batting. The all-rounder credited the coach who allowed him to play without any pressure.​

“Our coach suggested that I should go and play with free mind and shouldn’t think much. So I went out and played with that freedom. I train very rigrously and follow a very strict diet. Moreover, I try to follow Virat Kohli for this. Being an all-rounder, I need to train and alot and keep myself fit.”

​For Teja, it was a journey from the U-23 team to the Ranji set-up. After a good show in the age group, he was picked in the senior team and he has certainly lived up to the expectations of the selectors and management.​

“I’m an all-rounder so I know I will get more chances in future. I just want to work hard and who knows I might make it to the team. The atmosphere in the dressing room is very exciting because if we win this one outright, we still have a chance to qualify​,​”​ concluded Teja.​