Category: Ranchi

Chhath tale of Ranchi and Jamshedpur.

Source – telegraphindia.com

Civic bodies in both Ranchi and Jamshedpur are racing against time to deck up the ghats ahead of the four-day Chhath that begins from Thursday with Nahay Khay.

While heavy rains of last week and subsequent immersion of Kali and Chitragupta idols have increased the workload of Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC), the steel city is comparatively better placed with most major ghats in the final stages of being spruced up for the biggest festival of Jharkhand and Bihar.

“We have deputed our enforcement teams at major ghats to prevent dumping of puja paraphernalia,” RMC CEO Manoj Kumar said on Wednesday. “We are planning to depute guards at night from today at the major ghats. We are working against time to prepare the ghats as heavy rains, garbage-choked drains and dumping of idols and puja paraphernalia have compounded our problems. Despite the odds we are trying to prepare the ghats in the best possible manner for the devotees by Saturday,” he said.

Saturday is Pehli Arghya, when devotees offer prayers to the setting sun while standing in water.

Ranchi has nearly 60 ghats where devotees offer prayers to the sun god during Chhath. Some of the major ponds are Bada Talab, Karamtoli Talab, Line Tank Talab, Jail Mor Talab, Batan Talab, Hatania Talab and Kanke Lake.

“We are trying our best to clear the Ranchi Bada Talab of massive growth of water hyacinth,” Kumar said. “We have pressed into service nearly 15 heavy vehicles and 150 workers to clear the water hyacinth ahead of the festivity. Similarly, workers have been deputed to clean the other major ponds on a war footing under the supervision of specially constituted 10-member team of senior officials. We have appealed to all the (53) ward councillors to spread the message for cooperation in cleaning the ghats.”

The RMC will also be putting up bamboo made structures to demarcate danger zones at the ponds by Saturday morning, said an RMC health division official.

The roughly 30 ghats on the Subernarekha and Kharkai rivers and ponds across the steel city are a tad better prepared.

“We are taking help of (Tata Steel subsidiary) Jusco and other corporate groups (which maintain ponds in their areas) and also employing our resources to clean the ghats,” said Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) city manager Sonal Singh. “We had done the cleaning of the ghats completely after Durga Puja. However, after Kali Puja and Lakshmi Puja, puja paraphernalia and idols had to be cleaned again from the ghats which we are continuing till today (Wednesday). We hope to clean all the ghats by this evening.”

The JNAC will also install facilities such as changing rooms and mobile toilets at the major ghats. “Corporate groups and Jusco will be putting up lights at the major ghats. The approach roads to the ghats have been levelled,” Sonal Singh added.

Danger spots at the ghats will be demarcated with red and white tapes by Saturday morning.

Coal town ready

Dhanbad Municipal Corporation has completed clean-up operations at almost all the 90 ponds of the coal town except the historic Raja Talab of Jharia and Khokhan Talab of Hirapur.

Dhanbad mayor Chandrashekhar Agarwal, who inspected Raja Talab on Wednesday afternoon, said: “We faced some problem due to huge amount of hyacinth in the pond, but we will hopefully make it ready for Chhath by tomorrow (Thursday).”

India vs South Africa: Fewer To See The Last Test Match In Ranchi Ground.

Source – sportzwiki.com

The interest to watch Test matches has gone down after the introduction of the shorter format of cricket. The grounds are seen empty during the longer format cricket. Same is the view of the Ranchi ground where India will fight for the third and last Test match against South Africa from Saturday (19th October).

Sanjay Sahay, the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) secretary, said that less than 1500 tickets are sold in swank stadium which has the capacity of 39,000 people. Ranchi will have their second Test match in the Indian cricket history but the natives are not interested to see the match.

“If there is any demand, it is for daily tickets in the hospitality area priced at ~2000,” said Sahay. The daily tickets prices range from ~200 to ~2000 and the cheapest season ticket costs ~1000, he said.

Sahay said that 5000 tickets are distributed among the para-military forces, the army, local police and National Cadet Corps. Ranchi is the home ground of MS Dhoni but the player is not playing the series so it can be the reason for less no. of people to watch the Test match. Sahay said that if Dhoni would play then also maximum 20,000 tickets would have been sold.

This Test will help to understand the condition of Ranchi ground

Sahay also opined that this Test match will help to check the conditions of the light, pitch and fire arrangement of the ground.

“The advantage of staging this match is that we could check whether everything, from the pitch, the lights, the fire arrangements are working. It is because of this Test we have also got the (50-over knockout) Deodhar Trophy (October 31-November 4),” said Sahay.

Sourav Ganguly who will take the new role of BCCI president has opined that he will look forward to introducing day-night Test match. Sahay said that the ground team will have to make the arrangement according to that format.

“We will have to do something to keep this format relevant,” said Khan.

Deodhar Trophy 2019 schedule: Complete time-table, when and where to watch, live streaming and telecast details.

Source – sportskeeda.com

India’s domestic cricket season has got off to an excellent start with the nation’s elite 50-overs tournament, Vijay Hazare Trophy culminating last week. Up next is the Deodhar Trophy which is set to start on 31st October, 2019. The tournament features only a solitary group comprising India A, India B and India C. The top teams of the first round will battle in the finale on 4th November, 2019 in Ranchi.

The Deodhar Trophy is one of the most prominent cricket competitions of India, named after The Grand Old Man of Indian Cricket, Prof. D.B. Deodhar. India C are the defending champions of Deodhar Trophy having won the previous edition by defeating India B in the final.

BCCI had released the three squads on Thursday, 24th October declaring Hanuma Vihari, Parthiv Patel and Shubman Gill as the captains of India A, India B, and India C, respectively. Apart from these superstars, various other experienced names like Dinesh Karthik, Mayank Agarwal and Ravichandran Ashwin will also take part in this tournament.

The top performers of the Vijay Hazare Trophy Devdutt Padikkal, Vishnu Vinod and Yashasvi Jaiswal will look to impress the selectors by maintaining their consistency in the Deodhar Trophy. 

Here is the complete schedule of Deodhar Trophy 2019. 

Deodhar Trophy Schedule

1st Match: 31 October, 9:00 AM IST, India A vs India B, JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi.

2nd Match: 1 November, 9:00 AM IST, India C vs India A, , JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi.


3rd Match: 2 November, 9:00 AM IST, India B vs India C, JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi.

Final: TBA vs TBA, 9:00 am, JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi.

Telecast details

India – Star Sports Network.

Online Streaming – Hotstar.

MS Dhoni determined in setting up a cricket academy in Ranchi.

Source – crictracker.com

While the Indian cricket team keeps scaling new heights each time they take the field in all the formats of the game, veteran MS Dhoni’s speculation on making a comeback is still dominating the news. It remains under a cloud of uncertainty whether the 38-year old will retake the field or the semi-final game against the Kiwis in the World Cup 2019 was his swansong.

However, Dhoni has remained in touch with the sport outside the field as well and is reportedly determined to open an academy in his hometown of Ranchi. The wicketkeeper-batsman is set to fulfill his desire of opening a center of learning in Ranchi where aspiring cricketers can harness their skills to make it big.

As reported by Times Now, Arka sports, an organization of Dhoni’s long-time friend Mihir Diwakar, has been searching for a piece of land and considering all goes as planned, the academy could be fully set up in two years. Besides that, the reports also say that they also have the option of tying up the academy with a local school.

The source was quoted as saying “Aarka Sports, a company of Dhoni’s childhood friend and manager Mihir Diwakar, has been looking for a piece of land to open an academy and if all goes as per plan, we shall see an academy in the city in the next couple of years,”. The Ranchi-born batsman has also established academies in Indore, Delhi, Patna, Bokaro, Nagpur, Varanasi. An academy is also planned to be built in Siliguri.

Ravi Shastri firm on letting MS Dhoni decide on his future

Speaking of Dhoni’s immediate future, coach Ravi Shastri was crystal clear in his words, conceding that the former captain has earned the right to retire from the game as desired. He also criticized the people calling for his retirement and hailed him for what he has achieved for the nation.

Shastri said, “Half the guys commenting on Dhoni can’t even tie their shoelaces. Look at what he’s achieved for the country. Why are people in a hurry to see him off? Maybe, they don’t find enough talking points,” Shastri said. “Let me say this: M.S. Dhoni has earned the right to retire when he wants to. And let this debate end once and for all”.

Rishabh Pant chills with MS Dhoni at his home in Ranchi.

Source – indiatoday.in

Time and again young Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has expressed his admiration for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and has admitted that it will be tough for him to fill in the big shoes’ of former India captain, who is in the twilight of his career.

Rishabh Pant on Friday took to Instagram to post a picture with MS Dhoni and captioned it: Good Vibes Only. In the picture, Pant can be seen chilling out with India legend at the latter’s residence in Ranchi.

MS Dhoni was spotted in the Indian dressing room after the team’s innings and 202-run win over South Africa at the JSCA International Cricket Stadium in Ranchi in the last Test.

Dhoni was not picked for the three-match series against Bangladesh and it is yet not clear whether the 39-year-old wicketkeeper made himself available for selection or not. Prasad though, stated that they are looking for younger options in the shortest format with Pant being the man in focus for them.

Dhoni has not played any form of cricket since India’s exit from the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup in England in July. He took a break from the sport to train with his regiment in the Territorial Indian Army after which he made himself unavailable for the limited-overs series against South Africa at home.

Rishabh Pant, who has been in poor form with the bat this year in limited-overs cricket, was picked as first choice wicket-keeper for the T20I series against Bangladesh. His wicketkeeping skills are improving but there is still a lot of scope of improvement.

In 9 ODIs this year, Pant has managed just 188 runs in 8 innings at an average of 23.50 with 48 being his highest score. In the 10 T20Is that he has played in 2019, Pant has managed 168 runs at 21 with one half-century to his name.

India blow away South Africa in Ranchi for 3-0 clean sweep.

Source – tribuneindia.com

A formidable Indian team ticked all boxes with ease as they deservingly completed a 3-0 rout of an out-of-sorts South Africa with a comprehensive innings and 202 runs victory in the third and final Test here on Tuesday.

With another 120 points, India now sit pretty on top of the points table with 240 points as the formalities were completed within the first two overs of the day.The score line was not only an indicator of India’s absolute dominance but also the decline in standard of South African cricket as they couldn’t handle the might of India’s batting and the fiery India pace attack led by Mohammed Shami (13 wickets in the series).

Debutant Shahbaz Nadeem (2/18 in 6 overs) wrapped it up in the second over of the day as South Africa were all out for 133 in their second innings, 30 runs short of their  dismal first innings score of 162.This is India’s sixth clean sweep at home in a three-Test series and India didn’t put a foot wrong during the three-match series winning the first Test by 203 runs and the second by an innings and 137 runs.

If Rohit Sharma’s coming of age in his new role as an opener with 529 runs turned out to be a masterstroke in home conditions, Mayank Agarwal also consolidated his place in the side with a double century and a ton, easing India’s long-time opening woes.

“I was very happy to make my debut in Australia and make little contributions to the team,” Agarwal said after the match. 

Ranchi Test: Virat Kohli breaks Mohammad Azharuddin record as India bully South Africa.

Source – indiatoday.in

Virat Kohli on Monday went past Mohammad Azharuddin as the Indian captain who has enforced the follow-on most times in Test cricket after the hosts asked the South Africans to bat again on Day 3 of the Ranchi Test.

Kohli enforced the follow-on for the 8th time as captain of India, Azharuddin had done it 7 times while MS Dhoni and Sourav Ganguly enforced it 5 and 4 times, respectively.

India, who had declared on 497 for 9 on Sunday, took a first-innings lead of 335 after bowling South Africa out for 162 by the second session on day 3. This is the second biggest first innings lead for India against South Africa after the 347-run lead they took in the Kolkata Test in 2009-10.

Umesh Yadav was the pick of the Indian bowlers as he finished with 3 for 40 while Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami and debutant Shahbaz Nadeem bagged a couple of wickets each.

Umesh’s performance saw him become only the second fast bowler to pick 3-plus wickets in five successive innings on home soil after West Indies legend Courtney Walsh.

The struggle for the Proteas continued on Monday with captain Faf du Plessis getting out in the first over of the day, thanks to an unplayable delivery from Umesh.

The wickets kept on tumbling from there on as the visitors lost 4 in the first session to reach lunch at 129 for 6.

Zubayr Hamza (62), Temba Bavuma (32) and George Linde (37) offered some resistance but it was still not enough as the Indian bowlers hunted in packs and kept putting pressure on the batsmen in overcast conditions.

Earlier on Sunday, India had declared their innings on 497/9 and had picked the wickets of both the South African openers before play was stopped because of bad light.


Rohit Sharma says that his 200-run inning in Ranchi was his most challenging yet.

Source – asianage.com

Rohit Sharma feels his maiden double hundred in Test cricket on Sunday against South Africa was by far the “most challenging one” in his new role as an opener.

Rohit has had scores of 176, 127 in the first Test against the Proteas and now has hit his maiden double hundred to emulate Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag as players to score 200 across two formats.

“Speaking of this particular knock, I would say it was most challenging. I have not played much. I played only 30 Tests. In terms of what was thrown at me, I would definitely say it was probably the most challenging one,” the talented Mumbaikar said at the end of day’s play.

He always knew that he had to make the best use of the opportunities in his new role as a Test opener or else “a lot could have happened” as far as his stint in the longest format is concerned.

“Kafi kuch hone wala thaa naahin toh kaafi kuch aap likh dete mere barein mein (A lot could have happened had I not performed and you guys (media) would have written a lot about me),” a satisfied Sharma said while taking a slight dig at the media.

“So it was about making most of the opportunities I got. I knew I had to make full use of it, otherwise media would have written against me. Now I know everyone will write good things about me,” he added.

Rohit has amassed 529 runs from four innings thus becoming the only fifth Indian opener to score 500-plus runs in a Test series.

“It was a good opportunity for me to open the batting. As I said during the Vizag Test, the communication between me and my team management was happening for a long time about opening the batting. So mentally, I was ready for it. I knew it could come at anytime.”

His double-century came after India were left reeling at 39/3 in the first morning as he along with Ajinkya Rahane (115) staged a remarkable turnaround with a mammoth 267-run fourth wicket partnership, the highest versus South Africa.

While he has had a blockbuster start to his career as a Test opener, Rohit himself acknowledged that he has a long way to go.

“In Tests, it has its challenges. Having played only three Tests as an opener, I know I have long way to go. I am not reading too much into these three Tests. Of course, I will take a lot of positives but I am not reading too much into it.”

Talking about the challenge of opening the batting, he said,”Opening the batting is a different challenge to batting at Nos 6-7. It’s just about how you prepare yourself, what you talk to yourself in your mind about what do you want to go out there and achieve.

“Playing the first ball of the match, compared to facing a delivery after 30-40 overs is a different ball game altogether. There’s nothing in particular that I’ve done in terms of technique.”

The 32-year-old is now eyeing to replicate the success overseas when the tour New Zealand next year.

“Wherever you play the new ball, you have to have some understanding of the basics of the game. Which ball you have to play and leave. In certain aspects of the game you have to be mindful of.

“I was allowing myself to take time rather than going after the ball straightway. It’s not a good idea with a new ball. You got to play with a little lower backlift. In overseas, of course, it’s a different ball game. That’s a challenge and I am awaiting.”

He was all praise for Ajinkya Rahane, whose attacking strokeplay in the post-lunch session on the first day turned the tide.

“Once we went there after lunch (first day), it was Ajinkya, who started taking that momentum. It was he, who actually gave the team the momentum. If I am not wrong he was batting on 40 off 43 balls just around the first drinks break after lunch which means he capitalised on the loose balls, we got those singles as well,” Rohit praised his partner, with whom he shared a 267-run stand.

Asked whether he’s keeping a tab of the slew of records, he said: “When you bat, you are not aware of the records. I will see these records only after I stop playing.”

Ranchi Test: Kohli’s struggle with DRS continues.

Source – cricketnmore.com

 India skipper Virat Kohli’s struggle to get the Decision Review System (DRS) right continued as he became prey to a wrong call for the ninth successive time as batsman in the first innings of the third Test against South Africa on Saturday.

Kohli was trapped in front by Anrich Nortje for 12 and it looked plumb, but the ace batsman reviewed it to no avail.

India slumped to 39/3 before centurion Rohit Sharma (117 batting) and Ajinkya Rahane (83 batting) joined hands for a 185-run unbroken stand as India reached 224/3 before bad light stopped play.

With the duo of Rohit and Rahane steadying the ship for India, batting coach Vikram Rathour praised both the batsmen. Rathour said that Rohit showed grit and determination to play away the first session when the likes of Kagiso Rabada had the ball moving viciously.

“As I said, they were bowling in good areas and there was some help in the wicket. So, as a batsman, you have to survive during that time, which Rohit did very well,” he said.

“He is too good a player to not play all formats. Opening the batting with him was the right decision. And the number of runs he has scored, he has settled the issue (of opening) for the time being.

“If somebody of his stature starts coming good at the top of the order, that changes everything for the team, even when you are touring. He is such an experienced player; I don’t think you need to tinker with his technique. He just had to make some mental adjustments vis-a-vis his gameplan.”

Commenting on Rahane’s knock, the former India opener said that the Test deputy showed great intent and looked good in the middle during his unbeaten knock of 83.

“Ajinkya showed great intent today. Whenever he bats with this intent, he looks a really good player,” Rathour said.

FORECAST OF MODERATE RAIN IN RANCHI DURING NEXT 24 HRS, JAMSHEDPUR TO ALSO SEE SOME SHOWERS.

Source – skymetweather.com

Many parts of Jharkhand have observed light to moderate rain and thundershowers during the last 24 hours. The capital city of Ranchi recorded 37 mm rain, while 17 mm of rainfall was recorded in Daltonganj from 8:30 am on Saturday. Meanwhile, traces of rain have been recorded over Jamshedpur.

All these weather conditions were a result of the Cyclonic Circulation over the east-central parts of Madhya Pradesh along with an Anti-Cyclone over North Bay of Bengal off Gangetic West Bengal Coast. The same system is feeding moisture from the Bay of Bengal over Jharkhand and adjoining region.

According to our meteorologists, the above systems would remain intact for another 24 to 36 hours and bring more moderate rain and thundershowers for the state.

After 24 to 36 hours, rains would taper over the region, however, moderate spells of rain would keep lashing South Jharkhand for another 3-4 days.

Meanwhile, the capital city of Ranchi would observe comfortable yet humid weather along with moderate rain for another 24 hours. The highest relative humidity will be around 95%, while minimum around 75%.

These rains would reduce slightly after 24 hours. However, another spell of moderate rain is likely between October 23 and 25. Rains during this time would occur mostly during the late afternoon or early evening hours. The day temperatures would settle between 27 and 29-degree Celcius, while minimums would be somewhere close to 18 degree Celcius.

Not only Ranchi, but many other places like Jamshedpur, Bokaro, and Gumla in Jharkhand stand a chance to see post Monsoon showers for the next few days.