Build-up to Indian Domestic Season 2008-09

[Arjun]

Updated scorecards can be found here. Mumbai have bounced back, and how. They've skittled out Orissa for 108 with Dhawal Kulkarni taking five, yet again. The performance of the taller, less famous Kshemal Waingankar, is more relevant, as he took two wickets for just ten runs in eight overs.

Delhi have had a good day out on the field, losing only one wicket and scoring 215, with Dhawan getting over 80. Parminder Awana took five wickets.

Tamil Nadu bowled out Baroda for 166. Baroda have the first-innings lead, but it won't assure them of points as they are in danger of losing this match, with TN at 311/3 at stumps. Palani Amarnath (little medium-pacer who was whacked all around in IPL) took five wickets. TN scored at over four an over, with Karthik scoring a century, while Yusuf Pathan didn't pick up a wicket.

Maharashtra pinched a lead against Railways, with Shrikhande scoring a century. Bangar took two wickets, while ex-Bengal all-rounder Sanjib Sanyal took four wickets to add to his score over 70. Bangar, later, stayed unbeaten on 23 till stumps.

Hyderabad were bowled out for 335. Gony took three for Punjab while unknown youngster Sarabjeet Ladda took four. Punjab's response with the bat wasn't spectacular, at 150/6. This match looks like the current India/England Test.

Pankaj Singh scored 18 runs, then took two wickets, then stayed unbeaten for two. His opposite number, Trivedi, took five wickets for the match so far, and looks like winning the match for Gujarat. Otherwise, there's nothing to look forward to in this Rajasthan/Gujarat match.

 

[Arjun]

No Irfan Pathan in the Baroda/TN match? That's a little strange. Hopefully he's not injured, but if he's rested or dropped, it's a rather foolish move, seeing TN so safe at 311/3.

We're watching Australian domestic cricket, live and highlights, but we can't even watch Baroda play TN or Mumbai play Orissa! Where are the cameras, folks? And where are the priorities? Clearly NEO could have shown domestic cricket highlights (on NEO Cricket, or live on NEO Sports) rather than show us so many reruns and highlights packages, couldn't they?

 

[Precambrian]

No Irfan Pathan in the Baroda/TN match? That's a little strange. Hopefully he's not injured, but if he's rested or dropped, it's a rather foolish move, seeing TN so safe at 311/3.

We're watching Australian domestic cricket, live and highlights, but we can't even watch Baroda play TN or Mumbai play Orissa! Where are the cameras, folks? And where are the priorities? Clearly NEO could have shown domestic cricket highlights (on NEO Cricket, or live on NEO Sports) rather than show us so many reruns and highlights packages, couldn't they?

Atleast they can show the big matches.

 

[Manee]

No Irfan Pathan in the Baroda/TN match? That's a little strange. Hopefully he's not injured, but if he's rested or dropped, it's a rather foolish move, seeing TN so safe at 311/3.

No Munaf Patel either. Moreover, the scorecard from the last game does not seem to imply any injuries, both getting through a fair amount of full overs (ie. not needing anyone to complete overs for them due to injury).

Perhaps a tip off from team management that one may recieve a place in the Test squad for the second Test?

 

[Manee]

Updated scorecards can be found here. Mumbai have bounced back, and how. They've skittled out Orissa for 108 with Dhawal Kulkarni taking five, yet again. The performance of the taller, less famous Kshemal Waingankar, is more relevant, as he took two wickets for just ten runs in eight overs.

Why is the performance of some nobody more relevant than the performance of someone bossing domestic cricket at the moment. Dhawal Kulkarni is in superb form and I hope he can keep it up for one or two more seasons.

Hyderabad were bowled out for 335. Gony took three for Punjab while unknown youngster Sarabjeet Ladda took four. Punjab's response with the bat wasn't spectacular, at 150/6. This match looks like the current India/England Test.

It is sad because a full strength Punjab boasts VRV Singh and Gagandeep Singh but alas, both are injured.

 

[Arjun]

No Munaf Patel either. Moreover, the scorecard from the last game does not seem to imply any injuries, both getting through a fair amount of full overs (ie. not needing anyone to complete overs for them due to injury).

Perhaps a tip off from team management that one may recieve a place in the Test squad for the second Test?

Munaf was in the squad for the Test series, but not Irfan. If this was a 'tip-off' for a place in the XI, this wasn't very good, as they had to be in wicket-taking form on their way to the Indian team.

Why is the performance of some nobody more relevant than the performance of someone bossing domestic cricket at the moment. Dhawal Kulkarni is in superb form and I hope he can keep it up for one or two more seasons.

Kulkarni is over-rated and too much is being made of his performance here. We've seen him in the IPL and he was very average, and dreadful in the A-team triangular in India. He's a small man, and at his size, he'll struggle in the long run. Waingankar has taken five English wickets in that warm-up match in Mumbai, stands a few inches taller and deserves an extended run in the Mumbai side.

It is sad because a full strength Punjab boasts VRV Singh and Gagandeep Singh but alas, both are injured.

Also add Harbhajan and Yuvraj for a truly full-strength XI. Punjab is another team (after TN, AP and Hyderabad) who have lost their top players to ICL.

 

[Arjun]

Atleast they can show the big matches.

I wonder where to email feedback- they have feedback for Dial C for Cricket as well as the programming around live matches, but channel content feedback is a little tough to trace. The Mumbai/Orissa, Karnataka/UP and TN/Baroda matches are too important to miss.

 

[Lambu]

Arjun, do you know anything about the third seamer Rahil Shaikh? I'm under the impression that he is really quick..can you confirm one way or the other?He too had played in that warm-up match against England.

 

[Manee]

Kulkarni is over-rated and too much is being made of his performance here. We've seen him in the IPL and he was very average, and dreadful in the A-team triangular in India. He's a small man, and at his size, he'll struggle in the long run.

T20 performances mean nothing when talking about FC or OD cricket. He may have been poor in the triangular in India, but this is FC cricket, a totally different form and he is doing well. To discount him because of his size is ludicrous too; short people tend to struggle, but it is not impossible for them to do well.

EDIT: Kulkarni played for a weak team in the IPL and so did quite well comparitively. 11 wickets at 21.45, going for 8 an over is not too bad. That being said, if you mean average in terms of the dictionary term, then I'd agree. I thought he looked quite impressive visually in the IPL, saw him crank it up to 145kph when the adrenaline was flowing.

 

[Lambu]

T20 performances mean nothing when talking about FC or OD cricket. He may have been poor in the triangular in India, but this is FC cricket, a totally different form and he is doing well. To discount him because of his size is ludicrous too; short people tend to struggle, but it is not impossible for them to do well.

EDIT: Kulkarni played for a weak team in the IPL and so did quite well comparitively. 11 wickets at 21.45, going for 8 an over is not too bad. That being said, if you mean average in terms of the dictionary term, then I'd agree. I thought he looked quite impressive visually in the IPL, saw him crank it up to 145kph when the adrenaline was flowing.

Awta.

 

[Arjun]

Arjun, do you know anything about the third seamer Rahil Shaikh? I'm under the impression that he is really quick..can you confirm one way or the other?He too had played in that warm-up match against England.

Rahil Shaikh and Dinesh Salunkhe (that extra from Rajasthan Royals) were both discovered in a reality show called Cricket Star. I didn't know of this as I avoid reality shows.

He appears to be a very strong bowler, and was discovered by Naushad Khan, coach of a club known as Young Mohammedans, through family/friend links. He noticed that he was getting hit by Shaikh deliveries like never before, and felt that this was 'special pace'. Later on, Kapil Dev even went on record saying that Shaikh was clocked at 142km/h. Then he shifted to Parkophene, alongside Ajinkya Rahane and then joined the Tata Sports Club team to bowl alongside Agarkar, Malvi and Waingankar. In one practice game, he took enough wickets to get noticed, but his most important achievement is claiming a hat-trick against England in that (in)famous warm-up match.

I've seen a few photos of him, and he looks quite broad and bulky, and maybe a little less weight will help. Hopefully he'll stay out of contention for the national team until he reaches full pace.

 

[Lambu]

Rahil Shaikh and Dinesh Salunkhe (that extra from Rajasthan Royals) were both discovered in a reality show called Cricket Star. I didn't know of this as I avoid reality shows.

He appears to be a very strong bowler, and was discovered by Naushad Khan, coach of a club known as Young Mohammedans, through family/friend links. He noticed that he was getting hit by Shaikh deliveries like never before, and felt that this was 'special pace'. Later on, Kapil Dev even went on record saying that Shaikh was clocked at 142km/h. Then he shifted to Parkophene, alongside Ajinkya Rahane and then joined the Tata Sports Club team to bowl alongside Agarkar, Malvi and Waingankar. In one practice game, he took enough wickets to get noticed, but his most important achievement is claiming a hat-trick against England in that (in)famous warm-up match.

I've seen a few photos of him, and he looks quite broad and bulky, and maybe a little less weight will help. Hopefully he'll stay out of contention for the national team until he reaches full pace.

I found some articles about him in connection with Cricket Star(had no clue what it was till you told me!). Anyways,i found conflicting descriptions of him in various articles..is he a 18 year old right armer or a 23 year old left armer??

 

[Arjun]

I found some articles about him in connection with Cricket Star(had no clue what it was till you told me!). Anyways,i found conflicting descriptions of him in various articles..is he a 18 year old right armer or a 23 year old left armer??

I avoided Cricket Star because I thought it's a stereotypical Indian reality show which has a tendency to...um...be an Indian Idol...if you get a hint. That has no place in cricket, and so I tried to avoid that show. In a few clips, I found some net games which didn't look interesting.

More reports point to him being a left-arm seamer, and that article I pointed to from Times of India is possibly the most accurate one, apart from being the most informative. I can't tell much about his age, but he looks quite bulky in the photos, so it's difficult to determine how old he is.

 

[Manee]

I found some articles about him in connection with Cricket Star(had no clue what it was till you told me!). Anyways,i found conflicting descriptions of him in various articles..is he a 18 year old right armer or a 23 year old left armer??

Cricinfo clearly don't have a clue, here, so best ignore them on this matter (assuming you attained the prior description from cricinfo).

BTW, speaking of rumoured quick bowlers, I am still waiting in baited breath for this Atul Sharma, the 100mph bowler. Of all promises of a geniune fast bowler, this appears to be the most geniune.

 

[Arjun]

Cricinfo clearly don't have a clue, here, so best ignore them on this matter (assuming you attained the prior description from cricinfo).

Cricinfo once thought RP Singh is a right-arm medium pacer named "Rudrapa P Singh" way back in 2004-05. These were the same folks who thought Gough and Vasbert Drakes are Right Arm Fast, while Jones and Harmison were only RFM.

 

[Lambu]

^ But cricinfo lists him as 18 years old and right-arm fast bowling style.Hence my confusion.However i agree that the TOI article is more accurate.

edit:Thanks Manee..you guessed it.I was never aware that cricinfo can be so ignorant!!

 

[Manee]

Cricinfo once thought RP Singh is a right-arm medium pacer named "Rudrapa P Singh" way back in 2004-05. These were the same folks who thought Gough and Vasbert Drakes are Right Arm Fast, while Jones and Harmison were only RFM.

Best to always take estimations of a bowler's pace into such a category with a pinch of salt.

 

[Manee]

^ But cricinfo lists him as 18 years old and right-arm fast bowling style.Hence my confusion.However i agree that the TOI article is more accurate.

AFAIK, "Right arm fast" is the default listing of a bowler.

 

[Precambrian]

Interesting to hear about Atul Sharma. Though I want to get it confirmed by him playing in an actual match.

Got this funny lines from that site though:

"Punter, Punter" 
"Yes, Papa" 
"Eating sugar?" 
"No, Papa" 
"Telling Lies?" 
"No, Papa" 
"Open your mouth" 
"I think if you are actually questioning my integrity ..., you should not be standing here."

 

[Lambu]

Cricinfo clearly don't have a clue, here, so best ignore them on this matter (assuming you attained the prior description from cricinfo).

BTW, speaking of rumoured quick bowlers, I am still waiting in baited breath for this Atul Sharma, the 100mph bowler. Of all promises of a geniune fast bowler, this appears to be the most geniune.

Strange that we haven't heard further about him.I just wonder if its true..are there any other articles/snippets or any other cricket forum where Ian has mentioned him? Anywhere at all where i can read more about him?