Build-up to Indian Domestic Season 2008-09

[Arjun]

There's this HP/UP match going on. Ravikant Shukla scored a dogged 50, even as wickets were falling all around. It was a match for the Shuklas, as they were involved in most of the small partnerships as UP were at 110-5. Chawla has provided good support, keeping the momentum going and they're now getting runs smartly, with cheeky shots.

On the other hand, the HP bowlers have been rather unimpressive. I just saw Vishal Bhatia appeal excessively now, and he was largely rubbish. Chawla hit one delivery outside off for four with a reverse sweep, so you get a hint. Sarandeep Singh bowled well, but was let down repeatedly by dreadful fielding- in one instance, two boundary-riders came running towards each other but failed to stop the ball going for four.

The ground where the match is played is a disgrace. Lots of yellow patches exist on the outfield. You won't find any good fielders in the Tripura Ranji team because of this, and even HP, who are not a dire fielding unit, have struggled largely. Boundary ropes are in very close, and looking at the empty stands, I can guess why they're empty- they're dusty, cracked and rough. The bounce is very low off the pitch and there's even some sand flying on impact.

 

[Arjun]

The wicketkeeper from HP let two dipping Malik deliveries go through. First it went through him for four on a wide, and then he conceded two byes. While the wicketkeeper-batsman craze is a result of some rather shoddy wicketkeepers operating now, this pitch and ground is also largely responsible. You'll need a Nayan Mongia here.

 

[Arjun]

Wrap of yesterday's match-

The match began with HP bowling tightly, and UP struggling to score, barely over three. Then came a well-constructed innings by Ravikant Shukla, who scored a slow but dogged fifty. He was supported well by Chawla, who kept the momentum going with some aggressive batting, eventually top-scoring with 56. For HP, Vikramjeet Malik took the most wickets and bowled at a decent pace, at 130k regularly, but lacked control, and got away with bowling on a dreadful pitch.

The HP batting was flimsy, with a lot of cheap wickets gifted here and there. Chawla backed up his fifty with four smart wickets, aided by good UP fielding. The only real threat came from Bhavin Thakkar, who scored a 50 similar to Ravi Shukla's, and Malik, who hit a few big shots to shake up the bowling side, but none were substantial. Even a total of 208 was unassailable on this pitch, which threw up puffs of sand every time bat, ball or shoe hit it. You can't have Premier Cup matches at such venues.

 

[Arjun]

Delhi v/s Bengal- I could only catch the Delhi innings, as after that, the cable went on the blink for the whole day. Delhi started off well with Manan Sharma leading the charge and Akash Chopra supporting him with singles. Unfortunately, a mix-up resulted in Chopra's run-out and there was a rush of wickets falling, particularly by run-outs. Spinners Kundu and Saxena got away with a bad pitch and worse batting, as Delhi were at 152 for eight, with only wicketkeeper Puneet Bhisht and seamer Pradeep Sangwan left. Bhisht is no Dhoni, and not even a Delhi Top Six batsman, but held fort while Sangwan went after the bowling, developing into a fine lower-order batsman. Bengal were a lot better when they chased Delhi's meagre total, with Tiwary leading the charge with 96 not out. The pitch was difficult to bat on, with seamers Sangwan and Bhatia doing very well, taking a cheap wicket each, but the middle-order got settled and stuck into the bowlers, particularly their left-arm spinner. Depending a little on part-timers, they kept it tight (Nagar and Nanda did well here) but eventually, Bengal sneaked home to win.

Tamil Nadu, in their other match, scored 252 in their innings, with Srikkanth Aniruddha top-scoring with 67 at a strike rate under 80. This is a fresh change from his usually (reportedly) aggressive, freakish batting that his famous father was famous for. Offie Ashwin scored a breezy 42 in these tough conditions, but a lot of easy runs came from five overs of Abhishek Nayar, going at close to seven an over. This may have handed the match to TN, as they eventually crunched Mumbai for 196 with no notable contribution from any batsman. Their top bowler was, not surprisingly, Vidyut, getting a lot of purchase from a wicket very helpful to slower bowlers. Agartala's college grounds seem to offer more than a little help to very average bowlers, with batting being very difficult.

 

[Arjun]

The show is over, and TN win against a butter-fingered Bengal team. I'll watch the whole highlights to tell you what happened with the Bengal innings. The TN innings was a chanceless one, with the hits to the fence looking clean. Mukund got his fifty, while others made chunky contributions around him, notably Suresh Kumar, who hit four sixes in his score of 41. TN finished at 282/6. The bowling had little to do, with the Bengal batting collasping, bar Tiwary, who made an unbeaten 76. The ground, as usual, was rough and patchy and the pitch threw up a lot of dust on impact.

The tournament was largely boring during the knockout phase, as all the national players were in New Zealand. This polarised the competition to favour Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, who have the strongest (by a long way) teams without internationals. The winner of the Mumbai vs TN match would win the tournament, and that's what happened. Bengal, though they reached the finals, didn't have much to crow about, bar a few good spells by Dinda and Bose, and Shukla's all-round show. They only profited because they had a reasonably strong team while their opponents missed the internationals, and how. Baroda was worst affected, and were merely lucky to make the semis. Delhi had decent backup but they didn't make the cut. Hyderabad missed Ojha, though he's their only international, while UP was another casualty, missing Praveen and Raina, though Kaif, RP Singh, Chawla and many of the Ranji-winning players were still around.

Virat Kohli top-scored in this tournament, though Delhi didn't even make the semis. The presence of Badrinath is not surprising, but we still see Yashpal Singh in the top ten list, so you get a hint of the consistency of some of the players who've gone the distance. Akash Chopra, typecast as a boring, strokeless Test opener, is third in the tally with an average of 63, striking at 79, followed by Tiwary and then Yashpal. There's also young UP opener Tanmay, followed by Ravi Teja, both of whom did their IPL chances no harm. We also see two surprises- Inder Singh from Punjab and Deepak Sharma from Assam, with Saha finishing the top ten, but had the internationals played, the scorecard would look different.

It's been a dicey series for the bowlers. None of the top ten bowlers have played more than six matches, except Suthesh. The top bowler, Shoaib from Hyderabad, took 21 in six, while Suthesh was next, taking 18 in eight. The under-rated Amit Mishra took fifteen in five, with five an innings twice, and we also see Chawla and Yo Mahesh, but we find several newcomers and extras in this list, so we can't take much out of it.

 

[honestbharani]

Go TN...

 

[Arjun]

Deodhar Trophy is on. West and North began their campaigns with contrasting wins against South and Central respectively, with West dominating South. Today, South held their own against a dire Zimbabwean team, possibly an association team, especially with Shivlal Yadav Jr and off-spinner Ashwin being the two top-scorers in their chase of 193. In the other match, East Zone defeated North by 65 runs, with Jaggi getting a century, and Wriddhiman Saha (watch this name) getting a rapid 84.

Saha has a shout as a reserve ODI keeper, with his average of 47. His strike rate doesn't seem so impressive. A place in the India A team is not far away.

The matches are being played on Ravenshaw College Ground and Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Ravenshaw College ground is actually a lot bigger than nearly every other college ground that has hosted FC/List-A matches in India, though it appears very hard and not conducive for very modern, attacking cricket- the fielders can't dive out there! We know what Barabati is all about, and it's one of the better grounds in India.

 

[Manee]

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.

He has signed for Warne's Rajasthan Royals, if anyone is interested.

 

[Arjun]

He has signed for Warne's Rajasthan Royals, if anyone is interested.

Whom will he replace? Not Shane watson- he's capable of top-order runs and can bowl fast. Not Morne Morkel- he's already a proven fast bowler. Not Tyron Henderson- there's so much going his way. Maybe Munaf Patel or Siddharth Trivedi, but these two are reasonably successful and replacing one of them would be risky.

 

[adharcric]

He has signed for Warne's Rajasthan Royals, if anyone is interested.

Looking forward to watching him in action, hope it's not yet another let-down.

 

[Arjun]

Wriddhiman Saha scores another rapid 50 to take East Zone into the finals of the Deodhar Trophy. They had a close win against Central, with Piyush Chawla, smashed for 52 runs in seven overs with a lone wicket, scored 93 rapid runs, but it still wasn't enough. Elsewhere, it was West Zone's turn to pound a hapless Zimbabwe President's XI, with Ravindra Jadeja getting flattering all-round figures. Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and spinner Iqbal Abdulla had a good outing here.

 

[Arjun]

Looking forward to watching him in action, hope it's not yet another let-down.

Would you have Atul Sharma playing alongside Warne, Morne Morkel, Shaun Tait and Shane Watson/Tyron Henderson? Anyway, this may be a victory for Ian Pont, author of The Fast Bowlers' Bible, who was the only person who claimed to know of this bowler.

 

[Arjun]

Deodhar finals are on. The scorecard on Cricinfo says "UPDATES ONLY" and we won't get too much on a regular basis. There's no coverage even on Neo.

Wasim Jaffer has thrashed the bowling all around, with Dinda going for six an over. Bose has been the top bowler, with two for 43 on a flat Cuttack deck. Jaffer finished his century with a strike rate over hundred. Cheteshwar Pujara missed his century, getting out to a dire part-timer. We now have Ravi Jadeja and Abhishek Nayar in the middle, and they're already off to a good start.

 

[Arjun]

If anybody is viewing the scorecard, you'd see hilarious developments.

12:31pm: West Zone 289/5 in 45 overs. RA Jadeja 30*, AM Nayar 13.

12:35pm: West Zone 320/5 in 45 overs. RA Jadeja 61*, AM Nayar 13.

12:37pm: West Zone 360/5 in 45 overs. RA Jadeja 64*, AM Nayar 54.

12:38pm: West Zone 362/5 in 50 overs. Ditto

They're updating individual figures with time.

 

[Arjun]

Match review here. That should finish the whole season. Now it's time for IPL, if it happens, and then, the A team.

 

[Arjun]

The season is now over. We have Mumbai winning the Ranji Trophy yet again, Tamil Nadu winning the Vijay Hazare (One-dayers) Trophy, West Zone winning Deodhar and Duleep. Now we can look to assembling the Indian reserve and development teams.

The reserve team should ideally have the best reserves, age no bar. It's more of a Board XI than India A. Old warhorses Akash Chopra and Wasim Jaffer may open yet again, with Vijay on the bench. The middle-order will look familiar, with Yashpal Singh, Badrinath and Kaif, though young Kohli will benefit a lot as a reserve. Ramesh Powar will be the lead spinner, with Pragyan Ojha as his partner, and though a lot is being said about Parmar's progress, his action is still suspect, so that will take a while to sort out. The pace attack will have RP Singh, Ashok Dinda and Irfan Pathan, with Balaji or Kulkarni as backup. They can have Dinesh Karthik as a wicketkeeper. While it would be ideal to keep out the current Indian players, when you have six Test/ODI specialists, a few may be brought in here.

For India A, the development team, you can pick some youngsters who have shown a lot of promise. The openers will be Uthappa and Vijay Krishnan, with Mukund in reserve. The middle-order is an easy one to assemble, with Rahane, Pujara and Kohli. Piyush Chawla and Ravi Jadeja as spinners, and then a pace attack of Dhawal Kulkarni, Ashok Dinda and Irfan Pathan. An experienced bowler, possibly Balaji or Bose, may travel with them. Wriddhiman Saha may keep wickets for them.

 

[Arjun]

We'd love to see top foreign players in the Ranji/Hazare matches. What is stopping the BCCI from doing that? With the top Indian players not getting a game, they can have some foreign players to make the matches competitive, can't they? We see them being auctioned here and there when franchise owners are assembling IPL teams. Why can't we have them playing for more mainstream, more serious tournaments? They can surely take a leaf out of what England have done for so long, and get some overseas players, two a team, provided to every team by decisions, rather than auctions. IPL was, and still is, a brand promotion exercise. When Ashok Dinda bowls to Matthew Hayden or Mike Hussey, there's a lot he can learn. Likewise, facing Brett Lee, youngsters like Pujara and Rahane can learn a lot.