Build-up to Indian Domestic Season 2008-09

[Arjun]

So far,

• Sharma is at it again. He's snared two more wickets to stifle ROI.
• Sangwan, though, has been overstepping and bowling diagonally, at only medium-pace.
• Fielding has been patchy from both teams.
• Nanda has been very impressive, often unplayable, and has got better with time in this match. He's got past the bat often.
• There's no pace in this wicket!
• Dravid looks like he's back in the groove, and Badrinath played a good hand here.
• The running between wickets has been questionable, as one dot ball too many has weakened this team.
• What on earth happened to the Delhi team? The loss of Chopra resulted in a freefall.
• It's a good match for the tailenders. Sangwan was the best on show, with several shots played with a straight bat, cleanly, unlike Harbhajan's agricultural swings. This is something the Indian tailenders will have to pick up.

 

[Arjun]

I told you guys Munaf Patel is a good bowler in the longer format, but did you listen?

It's only one match. We've seen enough of one good match from Munaf, then a terrible match, then an even worse one where he's off after only four overs, injured. That said, there have been reports that his fielding has improved, but one messy stop at the boundary suggested otherwise. He's also been the only (?) bowler in this match to hit 140k, though there may be a chance that Ishant did too.

 

[Arjun]

A funny sign shown during the match

M FOR BEST WICKETKEEPER OF INDIA

• Mustafa Kirmani
• More Kiran
• Mongia Nayan
• MS Dhoni

After Than

Mahesh Rawat? Tough to leave out Kunderan and Engineer, though...

 

[jeevan]

Dravid out at 69, but not before stringing four partnerships of 40-65 runs. In fact he appears in 5 of 6 top partnerships in this match so far.

 

[Manee]

It's only one match. We've seen enough of one good match from Munaf, then a terrible match, then an even worse one where he's off after only four overs, injured. That said, there have been reports that his fielding has improved, but one messy stop at the boundary suggested otherwise. He's also been the only (?) bowler in this match to hit 140k, though there may be a chance that Ishant did too.

It was a glib comment on my behalf

 

[Arjun]

Just saw Dhoni and Gambhir in action. Dhoni looked very much in control, bar some edges that hit the ground. He built some chunky partnerships with the tail, showing exactly how it's done- hitting the big shots and playing out dots except on the last ball. The tail end was patchy, with some of them getting out cheaply and RP Singh scoring a few. Gambhir, though, wasn't very fluent, but a score over 50 is a positive. He stands between ROI and victory, and it will take an exceptional innings from him for Delhi to win.

 

[Arjun]

After Munaf completed one delivery yesterday, Chopra complained about something. While it was a little tame initially, Sehwag noticed it and started arguing with Munaf. There was a lot of hot air out there, especially when part of the dialogue was censored by the news channels. Sehwag was clearly quite upset, while Chopra tried to ease the tensions. Last heard, Sehwag filed an official complaint against Munaf. That was today.

 

[viktor]

In other news, the BCCI website has just been launched. The only mistake I've found so far is that they haven't mentioned Gavaskar in the list of Mumbai players to have captained India.

 

[Arjun]

In other news, the BCCI website has just been launched. The only mistake I've found so far is that they haven't mentioned Gavaskar in the list of Mumbai players to have captained India.

Finally!!! The BCCI are no longer a board without a website.

 

[Arjun]

They can't make up their minds. Will Muralitharan play for Bengal? They say he'll be available for four matches, Duleep Mendis said he'll be availble, but Murali himself is unsure. Anyway, Bengal is the wrong team for him; he would be more useful in a team with a rather weak bowling attack, like, Hyderabad or Andhra or even Baroda, or he could play for TN, which isn't far from his IPL franchise, the Super Kings.

 

[Arjun]

It took a while to get this here, but here it comes from another site.

Mumbai youngsters Vinit Indulkar and Bhavin Thakkar will play for Himachal Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy this season in the recent transfer list released by the Indian cricket board.

Meanwhile, the Baroda pace attack would have Indian paceman Munaf Patel bowling alongside Sri Lankan speedster Dilhara Fernando in the upcoming Ranji Trophy tournament following the completion of inter-state transfers, according to a BCCI release.

Munaf, who represented Maharashtra last season, is among 15 cricketers who have sought inter-state transfers, a media release from Cricket Board Secretary N Srinivasan said here today.

Besides Fernando two other foreign cricketers, world's highest Test wicket taker Muthiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka, who will play for Bengal and Bangladesh's Inamul Haque Jr (to represent Maharashtra), would play in the national championship.

The players to get transfers are: Rashmi Ranjan Parida (Orissa to Assam), Vikrant Yadav (Goa to Assam), Jacob Martin (Baroda to Assam), Munaf Patel (Maharashtra to Baroda), Shahbaz Nadeem (Jharkhand to Bengal), Rahul Dewan (Delhi to Haryana), Bhavin Thakkar (Mumbai to Himachal Pradesh), Vinit Indulkar (Mumbai to HP), Hrishikesh Kanitkar (Maharashtra to Madhya Pradesh), Moondeep Mungela (Mumbai to Maharashtra), Shri Vasudeva (Tamil Nadu to Maharashtra), Sairaj Bahutule (Maharashtra to Mumbai), Prashant Bhoir (Maharashtra to Mumbai), V Cheluvaraj (Karnataka to Railways) and K T Yere Goud (Karnataka to Railways).

Foreign players: Muthiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka to represent Bengal), Dilhara Fernando (Sri Lanka to represent Baroda) and Inamul Haque Jr (Bangladesh to represent Maharashtra).

These transfers are hardly noteworthy, but the selection of Dilhara Fernando for Baroda and the apparent selection of Murali for Bengal (and also young spinner Nadeem shifting to Bengal) are important moves.

 

[Arjun]

A loose one- the ICL match at Hyderabad was interrupted by a power cut, and what we saw in the studio, had audio out of sync with the pictures!

 

[Arjun]

Challenger Trophy squads are announced. What a waste.

 

[Arjun]

Taking a second look, it's not too bad, when you have a lot of the current Indian players (no Sehwag, no Gambhir, no Dhoni, no Tendulkar, no good!), but it's still problem-ridden:

• The Test series against Australia runs right through this tournament, leaving out those players in the Test team.
• There are five wicketkeepers in contention here, not counting Dhoni. None of them are good enough for an India cap.
• The Blues have a rather weak batting lineup. Except Yuvraj, and to some extent, Kohli, none of them are likely to score big here.
• That may compel them to play a bowler less, and from their six bowling options, at least two are redundant.
• The Reds have to play all five bowlers, as they have only five frontline bowlers in the squad.
• After two teams are made from mixing and matching, the ones left behind make up the Greens, who have the weakest bowling options in the series.
• You find not one, but two star sons in this tournament. It makes one wonder- what more do some talented youngsters need to do to make the grade? Picking both Shivlal Yadav Jr and Niranjan Shah Jr ahead of Swapnil Asnodkar after only one series is dumb.
• To top it all, the motive behind this tournament, just like the last few editions, is highly confused. With just four matches to play, it should be no more than a workout for the frontline Indian team, against immediate reserves and future players. Instead, it's become a flawed selection springboard that encourages individual performances over team victories.

So you get nothing out of this event.

 

[Precambrian]

Mendis to play for Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy. He joins legend Murali who is playing for Bengal.

 

[Arjun]

Mendis to play for Rajasthan in the Ranji Trophy. He joins legend Murali who is playing for Bengal.

That's great news. While no Plate league player will make the national team, as has been the trend, we'll see a significantly competitive Plate league in some time. I wonder, will we get to see some such move in the Elite league? We'd prefer Mohammed Yousuf play for an Indian Ranji/ROD team rather than get entangled in the ICL/IPL tussle.

Rediff fans who have a mouth have no brain, though.

 

[viktor]

This M Vijay seems to be a good player. Has held the India Red innings together in the Challenger trophy game

 

[Arjun]

This M Vijay seems to be a good player. Has held the India Red innings together in the Challenger trophy game

Are you watching this match there? A whole lot of NEO matches are shown in the US somewhere.

 

[Arjun]

I wonder why Yuvraj is bowling himself and the part-timers. The opening bowlers and spinners are doing a rather good job here. In comparison, the part-timers (Uthappa going for eleven in an over) are letting off the pressure.

Vijay is finally gone, and a tight one by Ashwin has Vijay holing out to Sangwan in the deep.

 

[Arjun]

Ashwin is bowling well here. He got what looked like an edge (replay showed otherwise later) and has been tough to play.

I wonder how many are watching this match, when there's an ICL match going on elsewhere, blackouts notwithstanding.

This is one really slow track. No pace at all.