Build-up to Indian Domestic Season 2008-09

[Arjun]

Observations from Day One:

• Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, the left-arm seamer, bowled well with the new ball, getting a lot out of that greenish pitch. He bowled slowly, but kept it wicket-to-wicket and was awarded with four leg-before decisions, though one of them was a tight decision.
• UP fielding was largely very good, with the highlight being the catch taken by Shivkant Shukla to dismiss Tendulkar.
• There was, however, a letdown, with Kaif dropping an edge a little above head height off Praveen Kumar.
• Praveen Kumar was unlucky not to get a wicket, as he was very accurate and made the batsmen play at everything, at a decent pace.
• Chawla was a little less impressive, but still unlucky not to get a wicket.
• RP Singh, coming in first-change, was patchy, though the fastest today. He took a wicket, which may be controversial, but also bowled well, unrewarded.
• Kaif, leading the UP team, gave one over too many to part-timer Parminder Singh, who had no pace, no movement, no bounce and no penetration at all. This allowed Sharma and Nayar to build a massive partnership and take Mumbai from the precarious 66/4 to a much bigger score.
• Rohit Sharma played a very risky, streaky innings, throwing caution to the wind initially but he came into his own facing the gentle, insipid slow-medium pace of the extended part-timer.
• Nayar was unlucky to be out on 99, but that Bhuvan delivery was headed straight to the stumps.
• Less said of the top four, the better. Bahutule is clearly out of time now.
• Surprisingly, the other UP spinner, Praveen Gupta, got only three overs.

 

[Arjun]

From Day Two-

• The pitch got flattened out, and so did the UP bowlers.
• Parminder Singh bowled even more rubbish, and this time, the lower order took full advantage of it.
• Agarkar was out in a caught-and-bowled by RP Singh, who pulled off an athletic catch.
• Zaheer Khan scored 33 valuable runs. He was excessively streaky at the start of his innings, but once settled, he played with more control. With Harbhajan, he'll form a very effective lower-order, and that possibility should be explored in the current absence of an all-rounder.
• His bowling was also not too bad, but was gifted a wicket by an umpiring error. Kaif's bat missed the ball as he swished outside off, but the umpire had him out LBW. He was visibly disappointed and almost stayed rooted at the crease, then walked back. In an interview, he said he's "playing by the rules", but we saw the opposite, more or less.
• Zaheer had a very good match. He held a line and length and the UP batsmen struggled against him, and he finished the day with two for eleven runs at an economy under one.
• Nayar also had it good but went wicketless.

 

[Manee]

Zaheer is really showing superiority over this level of cricket with 2/11 off 13 overs, top stuff.

 

[Arjun]

There was a lot of debate over whether Dhoni will make the East Zone team. When it was reported that Dhoni wanted out of it, there was enough outrage on Dial C for Cricket, saying that he's not above the game and country, and more illustrious players like Sachin and Dravid will turn out for their teams. Then, it seems, Dhoni was not contacted about it, and now we find that the BCCI couldn't contact him at all. The East Zone squad picked is a very weak one, without Dhoni, Shukla and Debashish Mohanty.

 

[Arjun]

Nayar is bowling in the 120s, but he's doing a good job of it. He's getting swing with the old ball and keeping it tight. He was rewarded with the wicket of Parminder Singh, who got an edge outside off and was snared by Vinayak Samant- compare that with the number of fumbles by UP keeper Amir Khan. While this may be a subject of jokes among fans of genuine pace, he's serving a purpose, very well- a frontline batsman helping out the bowlers. He's already keeping an average over 76 with the bat and under 16 with the ball, and will be useful for home Test matches- but you can't get much out of just four matches for Mumbai. He will, however, get more chances when he plays for West Zone. That team looks like it will bat all the way to ten.

 

[Arjun]

UP bat all the way till ten and the pitch has flattened out. They should take full advantage of this and hunt down that 402. Even as I type, Zaheer is all over Bhuvan Kumar, with three slips and a probing line outside off. Bhuvan, though, is just watchful. He and Shukla (who took a lot of risks for his 84*) have to put up a massive partnership for the likes of Chawla and Kumar to follow up and attack.

 

[Arjun]

Zaheer pulls out a brilliant performance from out of nowhere, to finish with seven wickets in this match, on a completely unhelpful pitch! We thought this match was meandering to a tame draw with a first-innings lead conclusion, but Zaheer blasts through the tail end with an amazing spell. He's done well with that seam position, line and length, and got a lot out of this pitch despite bowling in the 120s. Seven wickets and 33 runs make up a Man-of-the-Match worthy performance.

UP seem to have been blown away completely by this team. That gritty, committed approach of this Central team is completely absent, as they seem to be going through the motions here. Praveen Kumar has been wicketless, but this time, he's struggling. RP Singh is a pale shadow of the one-time India prospect and regular. He was a much better bowler then than he is now. We saw him throwing the ball back at Samant after the ball was out of play, then clapping as Samant hit a four on a wide outside off. That a makeshift opener like Samant is cashing in shows the UP team in a sorry state. It's a pity the youngsters, now discarded from the national team, are not doing well here. Maybe we'll expect a better Duleep performance, but their form is crucial.

 

[Arjun]

Yesterday, Times of India expressed surprise that Bhuvan Kumar, who has been taking more than a few wickets for UP, is left out of Central Zone's squad for Duleep. I am not surprised. As shown in this match, he's small, lacks pace and against a top quality batting side, he's underpowered. We saw Jaffer toy around with him with gentle jabs going to the boundary unchallenged. Rather than offer yet another Central cap, the people in charge need to help out Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla and RP Singh return to form.

 

[Arjun]

Rohit Sharma scored a century in both innings of this match. Now, his coach, Praveen Amre, strongly believes that he's ready for a Test berth. While I've always believed that he should be in the Test team only if he's good enough at four (just like every other batsman), his recent statistics show he's good enough for that. Amre even goes on to say that Sharma can replace Dravid in the Test team.

It's good to see Mumbai, the 37-time winners, on top again, and hopefully they'll win the match and not just pinch the first-innings lead. The fall of Uttar Pradesh, however, has been disappointing. These are players who are very young, come from small towns, develop in unhelpful conditions (UPCA is a badly-managed association) and have a reputation of being tough nuts in a game. This is not the UP team we're used to seeing, no way.

 

[Arjun]

Mumbai win, easily. Dhawal Kulkarni took five wickets in this second innings, while Powar scalped three. Kaif tried to delay the inevitable with a knock of 72, but UP eventually folded up. We can't say if it's a bad thing, as they would lose anyway on a first-innings lead, so maybe they tried for a win- but that looked unlikely at times. It's good to see Mumbai force an outright win to win Ranji Trophy number 38, but again, seeing this UP team with five India prospects implode like this was disappointing. The highlight of the match, however, was Zaheer Khan, who took a lot of wickets and backed that up with runs in the lower-order.

"There were no shortcuts"- Pravin Amre.

"Drop me if you want!"- A very emotional (maybe) Kaif.

 

[Arjun]

Probable West Zone XI?

• Jaffer
• Rahane
• Sharma
• Tendulkar
• Pujara
• Jadeja (SLA)
• Irfan Pathan (LMF)
• Samant/Patel (WK)
• Parmar (OB)
• Zaheer (LFM)
• Dhawal (RM)
• RESERVES: Yusuf Pathan (OB), Ramesh Powar(OB), Bhavik Thakkar, Trivedi (RM)

This is a tough XI to assemble, especially when there are so many with good numbers out here. Predictably, it's split up evenly though half the team is from Mumbai.

 

[Arjun]

For North Zone, it should be a little easier, though this too will possibly be dominated by Delhi and Punjab again.

• Sehwag
• Gambhir
• Dhawan
• Chopra
• Yuvraj
• Uday Kaul (WK)
• Harbhajan (OB)
• Sumit Narwal (RM)
• Mishra (LBG)
• Gagandeep (RM)
• Ishant (RFM)
• RESERVES: Bhatia (RM), Nanda (OB),Rana (RM),Sohal

 

[adharcric]

Probable West Zone XI?

• Jaffer
• Rahane
• Sharma
• Tendulkar
• Pujara
• Jadeja (SLA)
• Irfan Pathan (LMF)
• Samant/Patel (WK)
• Parmar (OB)
• Zaheer (LFM)
• Dhawal (RM)

This is a tough XI to assemble, especially when there are so many with good numbers out here. Predictably, it's split up evenly though half the team is from Mumbai.

Sachin and Zaheer should be in Sri Lanka at this time. Looks good once you bring in Thaker and Trivedi.

For North Zone, it should be a little easier, though this too will possibly be dominated by Delhi and Punjab again.

• Sehwag
• Gambhir
• Dhawan
• Chopra
• Yuvraj
• Uday Kaul (WK)
• Harbhajan (OB)
• Sumit Narwal (RM)
• Mishra (LBG)
• Gagandeep (RM)
• Ishant (RFM)
• ]

• 
  Once again, a large portion of the side you've named should be busy elsewhere. Bring in Sangram, Sohal, Kakkar, Nanda and Malik.

 

[Arjun]

Sachin and Zaheer should be in Sri Lanka at this time. Looks good once you bring in Thaker and Trivedi.

Once again, a large portion of the side you've named should be busy elsewhere. Bring in Sangram, Sohal, Kakkar, Nanda and Malik.

I wonder why we have the Duleep Trophy clashing with that meaningless ODI series- or rather, why we have the Duleep Trophy clashing with an international event. That is so wrong. We can't imagine Thakker replacing Sachin, Trivedi replacing Zaheer, Sohal replacing Sehwag or Manpreet Gony replacing Ishant, anywhere in the country. That's what's wrong with the scheduling. And then many complain that the domestic circuit isn't promising...

With the more important New Zealand tour coming up, the frontline Indian players are better used here in this tournament, facing several reserve players.

 

[adharcric]

Now that the squad for Sri Lanka has been announced, here are the Duleep Trophy selections I'd like to see.

West Zone
Jaffer, Rahane, Pujara, Patel, Jadhav, Thaker, Nayar, Powar, Kulkarni, Parmar, Trivedi

North Zone
Chopra, Sangram, Dhawan, Kohli, Sohal, Kaul, Narwal, Nanda, Mishra, Gagandeep, Malik

South Zone
Vijay, Mukund, Dravid, Laxman, Badrinath, Karthik, Ashwin, Ganapathy, Balaji, Sreesanth, Ojha (Joshi replaces him if South advances)

Central Zone
Shukla, Fazal, Raina (replaced by Bist if necessary), Kaif, Srivastava, Rawat, Praveen (replaced by Bhuvaneshwar if necessary), Chawla, Pankaj, Gupta, RPS

East Zone
Das, Manoj & Saurav Tiwary, Saha, Bose-Dinda-Basanth and nobody cares about the rest

 

[Arjun]

West Zone
Jaffer, Rahane, Pujara, Patel, Jadhav, Thaker, Nayar, Powar, Kulkarni, Parmar, Trivedi

This squad looks neat, though Jadeja should have been here and not in SL. Powar's been bowling decently, but his batting form has slumped greatly. The absence of Agarkar is a bit of a surprise- though not if you look at his stats- an average over 35 with the ball.

North Zone
Chopra, Sangram, Dhawan, Kohli, Sohal, Kaul, Narwal, Nanda, Mishra, Gagandeep, Malik

This is a good selection. Vikramjeet Malik and Ashok Thakur formed quite a pair. Hopefully we'll see Gagandeep ahead of Gony- while Gony is better raw material, Gagandeep has got more wickets. Nanda's average was a disappointment this season, and hopefully we'll see better stuff in the Duleep matches.

South Zone
Vijay, Mukund, Dravid, Laxman, Badrinath, Karthik, Ashwin, Ganapathy, Balaji, Sreesanth, Ojha (Joshi replaces him if South advances)

Another well-balanced team. Vinay Kumar may be considered as an option for Ganapathy, as he can score lower-order runs. We've seen Ganapathy bowl to the Mumbai batsmen and he wasn't very impressive, despite that five-wicket haul- he bowled at less than 120k.

Central Zone
Shukla, Fazal, Raina (replaced by Bist if necessary), Kaif, Srivastava, Rawat, Praveen (replaced by Bhuvaneshwar if necessary), Chawla, Pankaj, Gupta, RPS

Good team, given the options. There's the option of Parminder Singh from UP, but I expected this zonal selection to be populated mostly by UP players.

East Zone
Das, Manoj & Saurav Tiwary, Saha, Bose-Dinda-Basanth and nobody cares about the rest

The whipping boys. Enough said. The top four zones stand an equal chance of winning the Trophy, but this one doesn't stand a chance of winning a match.

 

[Arjun]

Adhar- your West Zone selection is almost exactly the same as the official one, but Mohnish Parmar has been left out. The reason for it has been his controversial action- West Zone selector Surendra Bhave claims to have received a report from the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, which has tested his action. The report seems to be unfavourable. Except for that, it's along expected lines, with seamer Fallah and reserve batsman Shrikhande (both from Maharashtra) making a 12-man squad.

 

[honestbharani]

Adhar- your West Zone selection is almost exactly the same as the official one, but Mohnish Parmar has been left out. The reason for it has been his controversial action- West Zone selector Surendra Bhave claims to have received a report from the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, which has tested his action. The report seems to be unfavourable. Except for that, it's along expected lines, with seamer Fallah and reserve batsman Shrikhande (both from Maharashtra) making a 12-man squad.

That is bad news... He seemed to be our next big spin hope..

 

[Arjun]

That is bad news... He seemed to be our next big spin hope..

Can't say- if he was reported for chucking at the international level, he'd be a big liability on the team. Anyway, there are a few former players supporting him.

Ajit Wadekar: Why was he not reported in the first place? Why wait until he's taken so many wickets?

Rajesh Chauhan: History is repeating itself. First me, now him. Why do this when he's about to play for India?

Dheeraj Parsana: Sri Lanka supported Muralitharan despite these allegations and look where he is now. Here someone wants to emulate Murali and we keep pulling him down? Double standards!"

More here. He's anyway not played too many matches. It's better to catch him here itself before Chris Broad does in an international match.

 

[adharcric]

Is there any footage of Parmar's action online? More importantly, is anyone broadcasting the Duleep Trophy matches outside of India (online)?