Irani Cup champs Vidarbha coach on Rajneesh Gurbani: He won't let you down

The Vidarbha team pose with the Irani Cup after their win over Rest of India yesterday; (encircled) bowling coach Subroto Banerjee. Pics/PTI

Before the Irani Cup, Vidarbha's bowling coach Subroto Banerjee had the task of lifting the morale of his opening bowler Rajneesh Gurbani, who did not go into this prestigious annual fixture in a happy state of mind.

But Gurbani managed to deliver the goods and helped Vidarbha clinch the Irani Cup with his four for 70 as he opened the bowling with India pacer Umesh Yadav. "Gurbani suffered two blows before the Irani Cup. One was the fact that he wasn't even considered as a net bowler for India's tour of South Africa. After that, he was not picked in the Indian Premier League. As his bowling coach, I stressed that a good showing in the Irani will get him into national reckoning," Banerjee, the former India bowler, revealed yesterday.

Vidarbha pacer Rajneesh Gurbani celebrates a wicket on Saturday

Yesterday, Vidarbha lifted the Irani Cup after Rest of India were bowled out for 390 in response to Vidarbha's massive first innings score of 800 for seven declared. While Gurbani cleaned up the top-order, left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate (3-97) did some damage in the opponents' lower-order. Andhra Pradesh batsman Hanuma Vihari's 183 went in vain while discarded India all-rounder Jayant Yadav carved a 96. Vihari and Yadav added 216 for the seventh wicket.

"I knew what was going through Gurbani's mind but he showed a lot of character through his performance. He is someone who can bowl long spells and to me, he looks a complete package. I loved the way he dismissed KS Bharat. The ball was going outside the off stump, the batsman left it and then it took the off bail," said Banerjee, who felt the delivery which dismissed Rest skipper Karun Nair caught behind was a beauty as well.

"I hope Gurbani gets the national selectors' nod. He won't let anyone down, I can assure you," Banerjee concluded. Meanwhile, man of the match Wasim Jaffer, who scored 286 for Vidarbha, insisted that he will keep playing first-class cricket. "Yes, I will play even next year at 41. I have no regrets about missing the triple century. As a senior pro, my job was to score big. I was not trying to prove anything to anybody. One has to prove to himself that he is good enough and I played for my pride," said Jaffer.

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