Dressing down
When favourites Hyderabad lost to Orissa by 9 wickets at home, the players knew that a dressing down by the coach was to be expected. They dragged their feet as they headed to the hut all the while fearing coach Vivek Jaisimha’s strong words. Once inside, the players saw a funny sight. The coach was shouting at the top of his voice as the No.12, 13, 14 and 15 sat in a state of shock. With the playing XI taking time to reach the dressing room, the coach couldn’t control his fit of rage and extras had to bear the brunt.

Incentives
Just before the season started, the BCCI announced a Rs 10,000 hike in match fee for every Ranji game. While the Indian board settles its account with players at the end of the season, UP coach Gyanendra Pandey has an unique end-of-the-day incentive scheme. Players are promised shoes, T-shirts or glasses if they perform up to his expectations.
The final saw Pandey raise the stake. With UP struggling in the first innings, the coach threw the bait to No.10 Praveen Gupta. “I will give you my mobile in case you score a 50,” said Pandey. Gupta was out for 27.

Bengal’s woes
Baroda versus Bengal isn’t a rivalry as old or famous as the one between Mumbai and Delhi but this East versus West has a past and a grudge factor too. Coach Paras Mhambrey moving from Bengal to Baroda just spiced up the tale. Last year, when Bengal knocked out Baroda in the semi-final, as if to make a point, the winning team’s pacer Laxmi Ratan Shukla mimicked a bodybuilder flexing his biceps. Such slights never fade from the memory of the defeated. So this time when the two sides met again, sparks were expected to fly. When all-rounder Yusuf Pathan reached 100, after he had taking five first innings wickets, he spotted Shukla in the field and flexed his muscles. Point made, score settled. Pathan went on to take 10 wickets in the game and scored 186 runs.
But Bengal was the biggest sob-story of the season. Runners-up of the last two seasons finished at the bottom of the table and were relegated to the Plate Division. The slide started during the game against Orissa at Siliguri. On a high after a win over Punjab at the same venue, Bengal opted for a green top. The move backfired as Orissa siblings Debasish and Vasanth Mohanty left the Bengal batsmen hopping and deeply scarred, inflicting a shock defeat. Moral of the story: Going green doesn’t always work.
Last season’s top wicket-taker Ranadeb Bose had a forgettable season for more than one reason. In a freak incident, the Bengal think-tank misspelt Ranadeb’s name in the official team list submitted to the match officials for the match against Uttar Pradesh at Eden Gardens. Uttar Pradesh didn’t protest, but the BCCI rulebook would have seen Bengal getting docked six points for this spelling error.
But Bengal bungled again. There was one name missing when the team list was submitted for the game against Punjab. Who did they miss? You guessed it right. It was Ranadeb again.

... contd.