Build-up to Indian Domestic Season 2008-09

[Arjun]

Jadeja has generally been a top-class limited-overs spinner, be it for India A or in domestic cricket. Pawar was clearly superior in first-class cricket until this season (Jadeja was quite ordinary until the past season) and he'll have to do much better in the domestic circuit to be a serious contender. For now, Harbhajan, Ojha, Mishra and Jadeja are all ahead of him as limited-overs spinners (in the selectors eyes, as well).

While Jadeja has stats in his favour, his bowling is still a little suspect. He looked barely part-time quality, and didn't even bowl more than Pragyan Ojha. Dhoni's confidence in these new spinners and all-rounders is also a factor- if he won't last a full stretch, he shouldn't be there. His batting isn't very great- his batting average is boosted by a single score of 50, and he can't hit the ball hard. Pawar's experience and striking power should get him ahead, at least a little, though Mishra is better than both, and even Ojha, and should be the second ODI spinner after Harbhajan.

 

[Arjun]

Oh good...scorecards!

- Uthappa with 64 from 51 against Andhra

Good stuff. This space should be watched.

- Kohli and Manhas both with hundreds with strike rates over 90

Good to see both get rapid centuries, but J&K is no cricketing power in the country. None of their bowlers will even make the North Zone squad.

- Nehra makes comeback from injury with 0/18 off 7.

Good stuff, but J&K, like we know, is no cricketing power, when Rajat Bhatia finishes ten overs for only 48 runs- though he doesn't take a wicket. Yogesh Nagar is an interesting pick- primarily a batsman, but will support his bowlers when needed.

 

[Arjun]

Pathan power!!! Both brothers have had a fantastic OD against the champion team Mumbai. First they share five wickets for a little over a hundred (Irfan taking three, Yusuf two) and then scoring big (Yusuf gets a century, Irfan half) to win the match. Yusuf's knock had seven sixes, Irfan had one. Quite obviously, from the figures, the brothers together won the match, with the only other notable contributions being Munaf taking two cheap wickets and batsmen Rakesh Solanki and Ketan Panchal scoring rapid chunks.

It's a disastrous start for Mumbai, whose 278 came on the back of Jaffer's 131- no other batsman came to 50. Their bowling has been bad on the day, with Dhawal Kulkarni being the only one with an economy under six, taking two for 38. Comeback man Salvi got smashed a little, while spinners Pawar and Chavan got smashed a lot. Baroda were simply too good on this day, so Mumbai can regroup against any of the other teams- the sooner, the better, of course. Yes, this was on a tiny ground (which has hosted some ODIs) that's no Wankhede or Mohali, but one team (or rather, two players) got a lot more out of it than the other.

 

[Arjun]

Just in- a shock win for Haryana, as they defeated Punjab by 11 runs. Haryana, batting first, feasted on Punjab's weak part-time bowling and posted a total of 290. The top scorer was Sumit Sharma with one over 80, but all-rounders Joginder and Rana scored little, and there were no other noteworthy contributions. They bowled out Punjab for 278, with no clear leading wicket taker- Joginder took two for 60, while Rana's dismal match continued as he took one for 49 in seven overs. Amit Mishra finished with one for 52 but scored only nine runs.

Elsewhere, Bengal won easily over Jharkhand, buoyed by an all-round performance by Laxmi Ratan Shukla. He scored a rapid 86 and followed it up by taking two cheap wickets for what was an easy win. However, the players to watch- Ranadeb Bose, Ashok Dinda, Manoj Tiwary and Wriddhiman Saha- couldn't cash in and even the veteran, Ganguly, didn't do much- or rather, didn't have to do much.

 

[Arjun]

Mumbai have been shocked- and lost another match. They've lost to Gujarat by four wickets, with Bhavik Thaker scoring a match-winning 87. Dhawal Kulkarni continued his impressive form, but didn't run through the team, while all the other bowlers struggled. Ramesh Powar, smashed all around by Yusuf Pathan, was dropped, and the move backfired, as the bowling attack lacked the attack power to dismiss Gujarat cheaply. The only real positive was Rohit Sharma, scoring a rapid 58, with several hits to the fence.

Details of yesterday's Mumbai/Baroda clash are in today's Times of India.

Elsewhere, it was bowler against bowler as Goa clashed with Andhra. Goa's Shadab Jakati took five, but his team was bundled out cheaply by Shivkumar, who also took five, while the more experienced Kalyanakrishna took three. The other encounters were rather boring, except the one between Maharashtra and Saurashtra, where India prospect Ravi Jadeja scored a rapid 74 and followed it up with one wicket for 32, but that wasn't enough to stop Maharashtra from winning on the back of some good batting.

Tamil Nadu gobbled up Kerala in their encounter in the old Vizag stadium. Vijay scored a fast 73, and this was followed by the Karthik-Badrinath partnership, where both scored rapid centuries. Badrinath is carrying on his impressive domestic run, after finishing the Ranji trophy with an average in the 60s. His century follows the 66 in the last match. Yet he misses out on a berth in an India squad. Not surprisingly, he's more than displeased, having expressed anguish at being left out once more.

 

[honestbharani]

Mumbai have been shocked- and lost another match. They've lost to Gujarat by four wickets, with Bhavik Thaker scoring a match-winning 87. Dhawal Kulkarni continued his impressive form, but didn't run through the team, while all the other bowlers struggled. Ramesh Powar, smashed all around by Yusuf Pathan, was dropped, and the move backfired, as the bowling attack lacked the attack power to dismiss Gujarat cheaply. The only real positive was Rohit Sharma, scoring a rapid 58, with several hits to the fence.

Details of yesterday's Mumbai/Baroda clash are in today's Times of India.

Elsewhere, it was bowler against bowler as Goa clashed with Andhra. Goa's Shadab Jakati took five, but his team was bundled out cheaply by Shivkumar, who also took five, while the more experienced Kalyanakrishna took three. The other encounters were rather boring, except the one between Maharashtra and Saurashtra, where India prospect Ravi Jadeja scored a rapid 74 and followed it up with one wicket for 32, but that wasn't enough to stop Maharashtra from winning on the back of some good batting.

Tamil Nadu gobbled up Kerala in their encounter in the old Vizag stadium. Vijay scored a fast 73, and this was followed by the Karthik-Badrinath partnership, where both scored rapid centuries. Badrinath is carrying on his impressive domestic run, after finishing the Ranji trophy with an average in the 60s. His century follows the 66 in the last match. Yet he misses out on a berth in an India squad. Not surprisingly, he's more than displeased, having expressed anguish at being left out once more.

It was more about team composition, I think.. Had there been a place for a reserve middle order batsman, I am sure he would have been in.-

 

[Arjun]

Just in- Chawla took four wickets for UP to help win a match against MP. Praveen Kumar, though, was missing again. Elsewhere, Sanjay Bangar had a decent match against Vidharba, crunching them for eight runs in five overs with no wicket, then scoring a rapid 99 with three sixes, staying unbeaten. Amit Mishra took two for 37 even as Haryana slumped to a seven-wicket defeat, but scored only four runs. In the Assam/Bengal clash, Ganguly scored a strokeful 64 to lead the team to win their match against Assam. Wriddhiman Saha opened and blasted a century at more than a run a ball, while his partner Abhishek Bannerjee also scored a 50. Ashok Dinda took three wickets, but was hugely expensive, going for 84 runs. West and South have a break today.

Scorecards of Delhi/Punjab is yet to arrive.

 

[Manee]

Delhi/Punjab has been put up with Delhi with an easy win, as expected. Punjab missing Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Gony and VRV Singh (+ a few other pace bowlers to injury or the ICL) are a horribly understrength team and Delhi overpowered them. Nehra took 4/21 (four top order wickets no less) off 6 overs and Virat Kohli hit 119* off 110 balls (his second century and his second consecutive century in OD cricket). Uday Kaul's 107 off 142 balls was the only shining light for Punjab.

 

[Arjun]

Punjab missing these blokes was a disappointment. They could have used that match. Maybe Harbhajan needed a little more time to recover, but the others could surely have played. VRV is a regular injury worry, but the others don't need to miss matches. In the West and South, all the India players played their matches. Wonder what's keeping the others from playing...

Hang on, even regular domestic players like Karan Goel and Ranadeb Bose are missing from these matches!

 

[Manee]

Bose opened the bowling today with Dinda, didn't he?

 

[Arjun]

Bose opened the bowling today with Dinda, didn't he?

Oh well...Bose took one wicket for 62 in two matches, so it's like he was missed totally, by viewers. That other veteran Bengal bowler, Paul, has been missing for some time, as also their spinners. However, even as Times of India and DNA look at how the stars are doing in the Star Track section, here's a little MIA list.

1. Tendulkar- needs rest
2. Harbhajan- Needs to recover fully
3. Yuvraj- could have played
4. Gony- Strange absence, when he's no India regular
5. VRV Singh- Injured again, maybe
6. Ishant- could have played
7. Praveen Kumar- Strange absence
8. Raina- could have played; he only plays ODIs
9. Zaheer- May need rest, but also needs to be in action for the NZ series
10. Sehwag- Inexplicable absence
11. Gambhir- Inexplicable absence
12. Dhoni- may need rest, genuinely

Thus, except for Tendulkar, Dhoni, Harbhajan and Zaheer, the rest could have played this series. Doesn't look good.

 

[Arjun]

You now have a very shallow chart of top run-scorers, with Yashpal Singh leading. He's followed by Virat Kohli, then Badrinath, but none of the others, except Karthik by a longshot, are India prospects. Likewise, you have Shadab Jakati leading the wickets tally, and the only India prospects in the top ten are Chawla and also by a longshot, Murali Kartik. This shows that the star players were missed.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

You now have a very shallow chart of top run-scorers, with Yashpal Singh leading. He's followed by Virat Kohli, then Badrinath, but none of the others, except Karthik by a longshot, are India prospects. Likewise, you have Shadab Jakati leading the wickets tally, and the only India prospects in the top ten are Chawla and also by a longshot, Murali Kartik. This shows that the star players were missed.

Seems a little pointless to look at leading runscorers charts after each team has played two games though, Arjun.

 

[Arjun]

Seems a little pointless to look at leading runscorers charts after each team has played two games though, Arjun.

Look at the same chart two days hence. It will look very different. Two days from then, it will change again. When you don't have the best players in the country playing the league, the quality will be affected, as can be seen in this chart.

The real problem, however, is a mass absence of the Indian ODI team from this series, when they could use some ODI action. Only Rohit Sharma, the Pathans, Pragyan Ojha and Jadeja played here, so it's a point to think about.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Look at the same chart two days hence. It will look very different. Two days from then, it will change again. When you don't have the best players in the country playing the league, the quality will be affected, as can be seen in this chart.

The real problem, however, is a mass absence of the Indian ODI team from this series, when they could use some ODI action. Only Rohit Sharma, the Pathans, Pragyan Ojha and Jadeja played here, so it's a point to think about.

I get your point about the internationals playing, but I don't really understand the whole thing about the runscorers charts... of course they will change every few games, because one big innings can move you up, and obviously over time the better players will rise to the top.

 

[Arjun]

I get your point about the internationals playing, but I don't really understand the whole thing about the runscorers charts... of course they will change every few games, because one big innings can move you up, and obviously over time the better players will rise to the top.

When they change every match, and possibly look very different at the end, it does indicate the quality of the batting, doesn't it? If Yuvraj, Raina, Rohit and the Delhi Twins were operating throughout the series, we'd have a relatively consistent chart- likewise, if Zaheer, Ishant, Praveen and Harbhajan were playing, the bowling charts would have been equally stable. We can't really comment on that now, because they've all left for New Zealand, and the stability may be provided by Badrinath, Pujara, Vijay, Chopra, Dhawan, Sreesanth, RP Singh, Kulkarni, Chawla and Mishra. That won't be too bad.

 

[Arjun]

Mumbai finally won a match. With all the internationals on the flight to NZ, Mumbai are now the strongest team in the West. They won easily against Saurashtra, without international Ravi Jadeja, despite Chet Pujara's century, which set a not-so-competitive total of 213. Abhishek Nayar had a good all-round match, taking one wicket for 37 in ten overs, then scoring a rapid 52 in a match-winning chase. It was, however, again a dire match for the struggling Ramesh Powar, with no runs or wickets. His spinning partner, Iqbal Abdulla, took four for 35, which restricted the Saurashtra team to a score that doesn't intimidate on the batting-friendly Khanderi stadium.

Badrinath is batting like a man possessed. He's notched up his second consecutive century, in just his third innings, with his lowest score being a 66. It appears to be a Mumbai vs TN battle, which will be fought tightly.

 

[Manee]

The issue is that with international players away, the talent is dangerously diluted. The fact is that it is not practical to maintain this number of teams; the number must be reduced - whether with franchises or zones is moot, something needs to be done. We are seeing horrible mismatches and the rare good player absolutely dominate.

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

When they change every match, and possibly look very different at the end, it does indicate the quality of the batting, doesn't it? If Yuvraj, Raina, Rohit and the Delhi Twins were operating throughout the series, we'd have a relatively consistent chart- likewise, if Zaheer, Ishant, Praveen and Harbhajan were playing, the bowling charts would have been equally stable. We can't really comment on that now, because they've all left for New Zealand, and the stability may be provided by Badrinath, Pujara, Vijay, Chopra, Dhawan, Sreesanth, RP Singh, Kulkarni, Chawla and Mishra. That won't be too bad.

Er... no, probably not. Bit of a pointless argument this, but with each team potentially only playing a handful of games, it would not be unthinkable for all the internationals playing and none of them to feature in the top 5. A score of 150 followed by three starts would put you high up, just as taking a 6-fer would. Small samples are volatile, doesn't matter what 'quality' is involved.

 

[honestbharani]

The issue is that with international players away, the talent is dangerously diluted. The fact is that it is not practical to maintain this number of teams; the number must be reduced - whether with franchises or zones is moot, something needs to be done. We are seeing horrible mismatches and the rare good player absolutely dominate.

yeah, but the Deodhar Trophy will provide a better picture with just 5 or 6 teams in the fray.



Anyways, I still think the best option is to have the IPL franchises compete in the Duleep and Deodhar Trophies from next year, minus the international players.. It will mean more air time for the franchises and whichever international players are free (both Indian and foreign) can play for these franchise sides as and when possible.


Even with no international players, having 8 teams of FC players would give a much better picture of players and competition than so many teams. And with the franchises involved, it won't just be random teams like the zonal ones but actual teams who play together anyways in the IPL T20 league.