Vidarbha vs Railways Match Prediction

The opening round of the Ranji Trophy will see two past winners take on each other in an Elite Group D match up when Vidarbha will host Railways. The match will be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur from December 13 to December 16. The match is scheduled to start at 9:30 AM IST.

Bet on Ranji Trophy

Vidarbha vs Railways Chance of Winning

After winning the Ranji Trophy in back to back seasons back in 2018 and 2019, Vidarbha have been off the boil in recent years. Last season they were placed in a difficult group alongside Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Assam and could only manage a second place finish. Akshay Wadkar, alongside Ganesh Satish and Faiz Fazal, was immense for them last season. The trio scored 950 runs in three matches with Wadkar averaging 136 thanks to his two not outs in four innings.

Much like Vidarbha, Railways have also won the Ranji Trophy twice since the turn of the century but their last win came all the way back in the 2004-05 season. While Railways boasts about the likes of Mohammad Saif, Arindam Ghosh, Shivam Chaudhary, and Birendra Vivek Singh in their batting order, it is their bowling that is their biggest strength. Amit Mishra, Yuvraj Singh and Karn Sharma all managed to claim double digit wickets last time around and will want to build on that performance in this season’s extended campaign.

The oddsmakers have decided to side with Vidarbha in the first game of the season. Melbet have offered odds of 1.70 for a Vidarbha win while for a punter who wants to go for a Railways win will get paid off at odds of 2.05. The implied odds mean that Vidarbha are favoured at 58.82% while Railways get implied odds of 48.78%

Our Prediction

This is a truly close game to call but at the end of the day, a call has to be made. We have decided to side with the bookmakers on this one because of the batting strength and experience that Vidarbha have at their disposal. In Akshay Wadkar, alongside Ganesh Satish and Faiz Fazal, Vidarbha have a unit to bat out any team out of a game and after a sub par season last time around, they will want to turn things around in this edition of the Ranji Trophy.

• Vidarbha to win @ 1.70 (Melbet)
• Railways to win @ 2.05 (Melbet)

Vidarbha vs Railways Tournament Prediction & Betting Tips 2022

With a comfortable draw against Uttar Pradesh, where Fazal scored a 192 in the first innings, Vidarbha got off to a good start in the group and would have fancied their chances of making it to the next round. Riding on a Ganesh Satish 275, Vidarbha managed to pile on 570/5 in the first inning against Maharashtra. A Naushad Shaikh century in response, proved to be enough for Maharashtra to secure a draw despite Vidarbha enforcing a follow on. In the last game, they were able to secure a win against Assam but that meant that they were left a point behind UP, who managed to progress.

Vidarbha, on the other hand, were placed alongside Puducherry, Railways and Karnataka. In a shocking turn of events, they found themselves leading the table after a game as Karnataka and Railways had played out a draw after Puducherry had suffered an eight wicket defeat. The joy was short lived though as Karnataka, riding on a Karun Nair century, raced past them in the first innings after Prasidh Krishna’s 6/35 restricted Vidarbha to just 93 runs in the first innings. Karnataka would go onto win the game by 117 runs and take control of the group. In the last game, they were again humbled by Railways as the latter walked away with a nine wicket win.

Last season, they began their campaign against Karnataka who scored a massive 481 runs. In response, Railways buoyed by a century partnership for the opening wicket, and a century from Arindam Ghosh looked to be destined to take a first innings lead. However, with the three wickets falling for just seven runs, all they could manage was a draw. In the game against Puducherry, they managed to get the extra points on the basis of the runs scored in the first innings as another draw was added to their tally. A win against Jammu and Kashmir gave them a boost but it proved to be too little too late as they fell six points behind group leaders Karnataka at the conclusion of the group stage.

Vidarbha vs Railways Match Toss Prediction

With a shortened version of the Ranji Trophy last season, Nagpur was not one of the allotted venues for the tournament. However, in the season before that, 2019-20, there were four matches played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground. Twice the team winning the toss decided to bat first while twice it was the opposite. Even the results do not paint a clear picture as the team opting to bat first won one game while losing the other.

Weather Report

While there is rain expected in the early morning, 5:00AM, it should not impact the match in general. However, with the moisture in the air, the team bowling first might be able to extract some help from the condition. The highest temperature in the day is expected to be around 29C while the minimum will be a cool 19C.

Vidarbha Player List

Vidarbha squad: Faiz Fazal (Captain), Akshay Wadkar, Harsh Dubey Ganesh Satish, Rajneesh Gurbani, Mohit Kale, Lalit Yadav, Sanjay Raghunath, Aditya Sarwate, Atharva Taide, Aditya Thakare, Akshay Wakhare, Apoorv Wankhade, Siddhesh Wath, Yash Thakur

Faiz FazalCaptain and Batter:

Sanjay Raghunath	Batter
Atharva Taide	All-rounder
Ganesh Satish	Batter
Akshay Wadkar	Wicket-keeper batter
Apoorv Wankhade	All-rounder
Aditya Sarwate	All-rounder
Akshay Wakhare	Bowler
Lalit Yadav	Bowler
Rajneesh Gurbani	Bowler
Aditya Thakare	Bowler

Vidarbha Team Form

Vidarbha come into the Ranji Trophy on the back of a disappointing Vijay Hazare campaign. Wins against Sikkim and Meghalaya were sandwiched between losses to, firstly, Delhi and Karnataka and Rajasthan and Assam. That meant that the win against Jharkhand was merely a consolation. However, make no mistake, this is a team built for the longer format and if they can find their groove, bet against them not going deep at your own peril.

Railways Player List

Railways squad: Karn Sharma (Captain), Shivam Chaudhary, Arindam Ghosh, Amit Kuila, Amit Mishra, Mohammad Saif, Akash Pandey, Pratham Singh, Rahul Rawat, Vivek Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Upendra Yadav

Pratham SinghBatter:

Vivek Singh	Batter
Shivam Chaudhary	All-rounder
Arindam Ghosh	Batter
Mohammad Saif	Batter
Upendra Yadav	Wicket-keeper batter
Karn Sharma	Captain and All-rounder
Amit Mishra	Bowler
Akash Pandey	Bowler
Yuvraj Singh	Bowler
Amit Kuila	Bowler

Railways Team Form

Railways come into the Ranji Trophy on the back of the very chaotic Vijay Hazare Trophy. After losing the first game against Maharashtra by seven wicket, they bounced back in style with three wins in a row against Puducherry (three wickets), Mizoram (254 runs), and Services (103 runs). With the huge boost in NRR, they had a great chance to make it into the next round. However, back to back losses to Bengal and Mumbai meant that they bowed out of the group stages of the 50-over event.

Vidarbha vs Railways Head to Head

Historically this has been a very one sided rivalry. Out of the 29 games that have been played between the two so far, Railways have come out on top 12 times in the past as compared to just three wins for Vidarbha. 14 matches between the two have been drawn. Since the turn of the millennium, the duo has faced each other four times with Railways winning three of them. However, in the last head to head contest in the Ranji Trophy, it was Vidarbha who walked away with the points with a 118 run win.

Vidarbha vs Railways Betting Odds

Vidarbha to win

Don’t let the head to head record fool you. That is ancient history and this Vidarbha team has shown time and again that they are more than capable of winning games against anyone in the country. Their batting lineup is one of the best in the Ranji Trophy and with Sarwate doing what Sarwate does, you are getting great odds for this one. At 1.70, you can make it a great payday for yourself by punting on this game.

Vidarbha vs Railways Top Team Batsmen

Faiz Fazal to be Vidarbha’s top batsman

Ganesh Satish might have scored more runs than him in the last Ranji Trophy and Akshay Wadkar might have averaged more, Faiz Fazal is still the main man at Vidarbha. Having retired from T20 cricket in order to give youngsters more chances, he has focused on the longest format and scored a cool 333 in just three matches last season.

Birendra Vivek Singh to be Railways’ top batter

While batting might not be Railways’ strength, Birendra Vivek Singh has very nicely carved out his spot in the team. After scoring 202 runs last season, he had an impressive display in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well where he scored 307 runs averaging more than a half century.

Vidarbha vs Railways Top Team Bowlers

Aditya Sarwate to be Vidarbha’s top bowler

Was it going to be anyone else? He finished last season with 17 wickets in three matches. The next person on the list was Rajneesh Gurbani with nine wickets. Even in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, Sarwate was the star of the bowling attack with a team high 10 wickets in six matches.

Karn Sharma to be Railways’ top bowler

This one is not close. They might have a lot of talent in that bowling line up but Karn Sharma is the main man in Railways. Last season, he claimed 14 wickets in just three games in the longest format. Even in the lead-up to the Ranji Trophy, Sharma scalped 13 wickets in six games in the 50 over format. On both occasions, he was the leading wicket taker in his side.