On a historic high, Odisha dare to dream big

It was the year Odisha broke the shackles to find a new identity - under the leadership of Govinda Poddar, the very inspirational figure in the Odisha dressing room, the team played fearless cricket. There was a spark inside the dressing room that was hard to miss as Poddar had said, ‘United by a common ambition’. 

What has actually brought about this change? Is it only the change in attitude, or the inflection of new talents into the system, or having youngster Subhranshu Senapati as the leader of the pack? Whatever it was, it has calmed Odisha down. It has helped them settle and carve their own niche as the team awaits the challenge from far better teams than they have faced this year so far. 

Explaining further, Mohanty said, “Over the years in Ranji Trophy, there is a trend that if a team has one centurion and one five-wicket taker, then more often than not, you win. It is a plan that we had from the beginning and thankfully, we have been successfully making it happen during the game. Debasish and Shantanu have scored centuries, Rajesh, Suryakanta and I have picked five-wicket hauls. It is all coming together at the right time in the right fashion.” 

Basant couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Debasish Samantray - with a stunning 195 - did it against Services, Shantanu Mishra was the star against Uttarakhand, while the pace troika of Basant, Rajesh and Suryakanta have shared 49 wickets among them in three games so far. Not only that, Biplab Samantray has put his best foot forward as Odisha managed to secure the historic record.

Samantray, who has led Odisha with distinction in the past and remains one of the mainstays of the Odisha line-up for over a decade now, has seen the transformation along the way which saw not only the team reaching the quarter-final of the Ranji Trophy, but also managing to reach the Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-final in 2014. Samantray was one of the architects of both the achievements - scoring a century against Goa in the 2014-15 Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final and being Odisha’s highest-run scorer in their Ranji QF campaign four years ago. He has been witness to the cultural changes inside the change room that he is extremely proud of.

“In the face of a batting collapse against Chhattisgarh, Sujit Lenka stood up. Debasish Samantray played one solid 195-run knock against Services on a difficult knock. The DRIEMS track was tough for batsmen yet Shantanu Mishra scored a stoic century. It was the combination of their efforts along with our pace bowlers’ performances that is the foundation of our success. Basant Bhai is leading the pack, and how beautifully Suryakanta and Rajesh complimented him! All three have been fantastic for us so far,” Samantray added.

“It is believing in ourselves and stay clear of all the mistakes in the previous years that are helping us," said Rajesh Mohanty, the former India U-19 pacer who has already taken 57 wickets from 12 first-class games. "With Basant Bhai and Suryakant Bhai around me, I have the freedom to go for wickets, nevermind the runs I concede in the process. Basant Bhai doesn’t give away easy runs which build pressure from the other end, helping me force the batsmen out of their comfort zone."

Shedding light on it, Basant rewound the clock back to the time he started playing for the state team some 13 years ago and the support that he had been given by the team’s then pace spearhead Debasish Mohanty. The former Indian pacer had done all the heavy-lifting for the major part of his career and as soon as Basant made his debut, he had no pressure of containing runs. That job was well managed by the senior pacer and Basant reaped the benefits of it. If anything, with the current lot, Basant is just trying to don the same role as Debasish did for many long years. 

The challenges that await the team is no less in the upcoming matches, with Odisha getting comparatively easier draws for the first four rounds of the tournament; The likes of Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Assam being far tougher competitors than Uttarakhand, Chhatisgarh or Services. But they have already set their dream in stone, started believing that they can, and if my experience of following the team for over a decade makes any sense, it is a team that is different from the teams of bygone years. But the real question is can they ride the historic high and go on to make history?

“We have our plans in place. 21 points from three games but we are not going to take our foot off the gas. We’ll eye for another seven points against Tripura,” Biplab signed off, with a sense of assuredness that hasn’t been the team’s biggest ally in recent years. It all can change as Odisha, sitting on the verge of history, take on a depleted Tripura who have lost all their three games in the season so far.