The Yuvi touch: Salil reaps benefits of off-season work in rapid start to Ranji Trophy season

Punjab wicketkeeper-batter Salil Arora scored his third consecutive hundred in the Ranji Trophy this season. | Photo Credit: G. RAMAKRISHNA

Two men, one franchise, one mentor. Both don Sunrisers Hyderabad colours and carry Yuvraj Singh’s lessons to the crease.

Both scored centuries on Tuesday, but in different languages: one in the staccato verse of international cricket’s shortest format, the other in the slow, unhurried prose of the longest on the domestic circuit.

While Abhishek Sharma’s blitzkrieg set New Zealand ablaze, about 11,800 kilometres away at the Gymkhana, Salil Arora laid his knock stone by stone — his fourth and highest First-Class ton — to help Punjab rise above Hyderabad.

Salil’s crucial 93-run stand with Ramandeep Singh on day one and his 116-run 10th-wicket partnership with Umesh Yadav on Tuesday took the wind out of Hyderabad’s sails.

The 23-year-old credited his coach, Rajan Gill, and Yuvraj for a Ranji purple patch that has seen him register three centuries on the trot to sit fourth on the runs table.

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“After the IPL, I played district matches back home. I then got a few months to work with the red ball. I practised with my coach in Amritsar for almost a month and a half. After that, I got a call from Yuvraj Singh and batted with him for a week,” he told Sportstar.

“I had problems with my technique last year. Making tweaks to that in Amritsar has given me a lot of benefit.”

Salil is no stranger to the City of Pearls.

“Hyderabad feels like home. I’m here for three to four months (during IPL). So it feels good to get 150 here. The team needed it. I thought if I play till the end, we’ll be able to score 400. I was just playing according to the merit of the ball and to the situation.”

“Yes, it’s a flat wicket. The batters did their job, and now it’s the bowlers’ turn to take responsibility,” he concluded.