Playing in the top-tier for long, Odisha are yet to taste success in terms of winning the championship in any format of the game at the domestic level. In recent years, their quarterfinal finish in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy, where they lost to Bengal at the DRIEMS ground in Tangi near Cuttack, has been their best closing to a season. And that was pre-Covid era.
During the pandemic, the training and pre-seasons were badly hit and that could be one of the reasons for Odisha failing to build upon that quarterfinal ending. However, with the pandemic situation behind them and under a new and young coach Dinesh Mongia, Odisha are looking forward to shed the status of also-rans this season. Armed with much better pre-season, the Govinda Poddar-led side is better prepared to start their domestic journey with much improved show in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy than their second-last finish above Sikkim in the group last season.
Before boarding the flight to Mumbai on Friday afternoon, the 32-year-old batting allrounder, who has been entrusted with the captaincy once again, sounded confident of turning the tide this time. “This season we are much better prepared compared to the Covid-hit last 2-3 years. We had a good pre-season going into Mushtaq Ali, most of the guys have played a lot of competitive cricket in the last two months, besides taking part in the preparatory camps under our new coach,” said Poddar, one of the Odisha’s batting mainstays across formats.
Heaping praise on the state association for showing great initiative in giving the team opportunities to play competitive matches, Poddar added that match-fitness will keep the team in good shape before starting their long domestic journey with the T20 meet.
“Unlike last few years where we had just 10-15 days’ camps before the start of the seasons, this year we have played in a meet in Chhattisgarh,then there was an 8-team invitational tournament organised by OCA two weeks ago. We also had OCL (Odisha Cricket League), so we are well prepared. I am very happy with the preparation, and now it’s up to us to repay our association with some good results, because they have showed great enthusiasm in arranging all these for us alongside coach Mongia, who has managed a lot of camps,” elaborated a determined Poddar, who is an utility off-spinner in the shortest format of the game.
Mostly retaining the team from last season, U-25 Soubhagya Rout could become a valuable inclusion into the senior side. Thecombination of youth and experience will also give Poddar the much-needed balance going into the 20-over meet where they are hoping to make it count this time around with an improved show.
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Coachspeak: “All the boys are talented and have potential, as a coach my job is to help them convert that into performance and bring the best out of them. I have always believed that there should be a transparency among the persons associated in a team, be it coach, senior players or newcomers. At this level everyone is aware of his role and responsibility in the side, but they should also have the backing of the team management so that no one feels insecure. If someone is dropped from the team, he should be communicated the reason so that he doesn’t feel left out. Sometimes a player is dropped to suit the team combination, and the player should get that message. A healthy atmosphere around the team is very important for success apart from performance. I am very happy to have a close-knit unit where everyone knows each other for quite some time now and the association (OCA) has shown a great vision before I took up the new challenge. I hope this season we will do something good for Odisha cricket together.” -- Odisha head coach, Dinesh Mongia.
Odisha squad: Govinda Poddar (c), Sandeep Pattanaik, Shantanu Mishra, Rajesh Dhupar (wk), Subhranshu Senapati, Abhishek Yadav, Swastik Samal, Prabin Luha (wk), Kartik Biswal, Rakesh Pattnaik, Soubhagya Rout, Prayash Singh, Debabrata Pradhan, Harshit Rathod, Sunil Roul, Tarani Sa
