Ranji trophy: Warrier wins the battle, and the war too

Kerala pacer Sandeep Warrier gave a swing-bowling masterclass at Eden Gardens on Thursday. He was up against a defiant home captain Manoj Tiwary. It was a fascinating contest between the two, with the seamer eventually breaching Tiwary’s defence. What a pity that not a single national selector was present at the venue for this Ranji Trophy Elite, Group B game.

The wicket of Tiwary made Warrier the hero of the day, his 5/33 from 21.5 overs secured a nine-wicket victory and six points for the Kerala inside three days. After the game, Warrier would say, “This is probably the best I have bowled in the past two-three years.” It has been a tough journey for the pacer who has seen several ups and downs.

Warrier learnt his early cricket at Bhavan’s school in Mumbai. After Class 10, he moved to Thrissur, his birthplace. It was here he started to seriously concentrate on cricket. He shone bright in the U-23s and made his first-class debut for Kerala in 2012. He took 20-plus wickets in his first Ranji season. Next season also, he returned with 23 scalps. He was on the national selection committee’s radar but an ankle fracture in his third season hindered his progress.

Warrier returned and played a couple of matches for his state team, but didn’t do well. The Kerala selectors dropped him from the Ranji squad. He was brought next year. And this season, he has started on a high note, with 10 scalps from three matches.

Warrier today consistently hit the right areas. “I wasn’t thinking too many things. I wasn’t trying too many things,” the medium pacer said post match. Another key feature of his bowling was the way he changed his speed from one to another. “With the new ball, on this kind of wicket, not back in Kerala where we mostly get turning pitches, you can’t compromise on the speed. Also, a bit more consistency is required on this type of wicket. The spell I bowled to Manoj bhai, I needed to be quick, because he was going after the bowling,” the 27-year-old explained.

He bowled in three spells. The first spell figures read: 13-7-17-2. After dismissing Koushik Ghosh last evening, Warrier accounted for Abhishek Raman with a bouncer on Thursday morning. The Bengal opener ducked under it but kept the bat above his shoulder, giving a simple catch to Sanju Samson behind the stumps. He was unlucky not to get Sudip Chatterjee’s wicket in that spell, as Sachin Baby dropped a sitter at first slip.

Warrier’s seven-over spell post lunch proved to be the game-changer. He made one reverse and castled Tiwary, but there was a prelude to this dismissal.

The Bengal skipper was in the middle of a rollicking innings. He started off with four consecutive fours against M Nidheesh. Tiwary raced to his half-century in 52 balls. He was an island of class amid abject batting mediocrity. After getting the reprieve, Chatterjee, too, had laboured into the 30s. The two had added 89 runs for the third wicket and a turnaround looked possible. With Mohammed Shami spearheading the Bengal pace attack, a victory target in the range of 175 could have been tricky. As Kerala coach Dav Whatmore said after the match, he thought the match could go deep into the fourth day when Tiwary was batting.

But that was not to be, as Tiwary lost his concentration. He left a gap between the bat and pad, while countering the reverse swing from Warrier. It was a vital blow from which Bengal couldn’t recover. Talking about his dismissal, Tiwary said, “He made the ball to reverse.”
Warrier dismissed Chatterjee a couple of overs later and removed Ishan Porel in his final spell to complete a five-for. Basil Thampi took care of the lower middle-order with his pace and movement, and the Bengal batting was virtually blown away. From 115/3 at one stage, the hosts were all out for 184 in their second innings.

Brief scores: Bengal 147 and 184 in 56.5 overs (Manoj Tiwary 62; Sandeep Warrier 5/33, Basil Thampi 3/59) lost to Kerala 291 and 44/1 in 11 overs by 9 wickets