Vidarbha head coach Usman Ghani praises youngsters after Ranji triumph; Akshay Wakhare retires

Nagpur: Vidarbha head coach Usman Ghani on Sunday hailed the young troops in the squad for their all-round performances which gave the team its third title win in the Ranji Trophy, as senior player Akshay Wakhare announced his retirement from First-Class cricket.

The summit showdown ended in a draw but Vidarbha emerged champions of this Ranji season on the basis of the first-innings lead of 37 runs here.

Ghani, who took over as Vidarbha head coach last year, said the idea was to introduce more young players this season and trust them to do the job.

"If you look at Vidarbha's team this time, it's a mix of youth and experience," Ghani told the media after the win.

"Our policy was that, which included our executives, CADC chairman Mr Prashant Vaidya, the selectors along with us and our captain that we should now induce youngsters in the team. It was our motive to win the trophy but along with that, we want our youngsters to play for the country," he added.

Ghani praised youngsters Harsh Dubey (69 wickets), Yash Rathore (960 runs) and Danish Malewar (783 run) for their performances throughout the season.

"He is a very confident bowler. He has self-belief, that's very important. He was fortunate that this year he played all the matches. He was our main reliable spinner, along with Wakhare being experienced and he guided him. He really did well with the bat and with the ball also," Ghani said of Dubey.

"Yash is a very matured player, very talented, very skilful, and with a steady head and he amassed a lot of runs. We expected more in this final. But unfortunately, he got out. It was a dream run for him also. It's an honour for us to have a batter who is the highest run-getter in India," he said about Rathore.

Ghani continued, "I thought Danish was brilliant. I was very confident about him that's why we asked the selectors to just put him in this season." "Last year, he was in the team, but didn't play in the playing XI. But if you see the U-23 tournament, there he also did very well. He was a consistent performer." "This year, we thought we should now induce a youngster who is doing so well. This is the right time, right year for him to be introduced and he has done wonders," Ghani added.

Wakhare announced his retirement from First-Class cricket after playing 105 matches in which he took 344 wickets as a right-arm spinner.

"I'm very happy to be part of the champion team and retiring as a champion. It was already decided but it got prolonged," he told the media.

"I was thinking of retiring after 100 matches. But it was the team's requirement and it was important to play," added Wakhare, who last played for Vidarbha in the quarterfinal against Tamil Nadu.

Ghani said of Wakhare, "He is a great veteran, a great server of Vidarbha Cricket. We salute him for his service for our state team. He is a great ambassador of our team. We are very proud of him and wish him very best in the near future in his new innings." Ghani, meanwhile, said Vidarbha wanted to maximise the experience Karun Nair brought to their side.

"Karun's experience is very important for us because we have young batters in the team. (The plan was) He should guide our youngsters along with his big experience in, international plus domestically. He knows how to win the tournaments and how to play in the pressure matches," he said.