***Official*** Indian Domestic Season 2014/15

[Arjun]

Mohit was bowling 130s and swinging it last time I saw him. Also has a very nice slower ball. I'd have him in our WC squad tbh.

That's common in most of India's seam/swing bowlers. Mohit has played 11 ODIs and 4 T20Is, and been poor across the period. He too is a green-top bully. Someone like Rishi Dhawan or Ashish Reddy can do the same, and also score runs. Shami has had far better ODI figures, with a very good strike rate.

Also I think Ranji performances will convert to Test performances better than IPL. IPL shouldn't even be a factor for the Test side.

Ranji Trophy doesn't expose the players to top international fast bowlers or batsmen who have sustained their careers facing top bowlers. The IPL does. Ranji may be a FC event, but still a comfort zone when it comes to quality.

 

[cnerd123]

Nah come on. Raina is a God in the IPL and he has failed at Test level whilst Rahane is a God in Ranji and has flourished. Ranji is flawed but it's still the best indicator for potential at Test level. Heck you yourself have said that Pankaj was ordinary in the IPL and yet is ready for Tests.

The only Test worthy player who made his name in the IPL is Ashwin, and even he had a pretty good Ranji record before his breakthrough.

 

[Arjun]

Nah come on. Raina is a God in the IPL and he has failed at Test level whilst Rahane is a God in Ranji and has flourished. Ranji is flawed but it's still the best indicator for potential at Test level.

The only Test worthy player who made his name in the IPL is Ashwin, and even he had a pretty good Ranji record before his breakthrough.

Raina was always an average FC player who wasn't Test-ready, and seems to be one of the best ODI players India has. Ashwin has had a good record across formats, which is why he's one of the best Test players India have picked. Rahane was highly flawed when he made his debut, but got better over time, and is a decent, if not breathtaking, player in IPL.

Ranji is flawed but it's still the best indicator for potential at Test level. Heck you yourself have said that Pankaj was ordinary in the IPL and yet is ready for Tests.

Pankaj was ordinary in the bits and pieces of chances that his IPL franchise owners gave him. Hardly got the space to grow, while any random overseas signing seems to thrive.

Besides, how many Test players have been picked on the back of IPL? Thankfully, none. But when many long-running performers in Ranji Trophy, such as Badrinath, Mazumdar, Manoj Tiwary, Pankaj, Naman Ojha, Laxmiratan Shukla and Murali Kartik have been ignored, even the new Ranji performers such as Ishwar Pandey, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav struggle to make the side, and performers with great Ranji figures over decades (Shikhar Dhawan, Jadeja) are now struggling to stay relevant, you get a hint that there may be something missing.

For all practical purposes, age certificates often determine who plays for India, more than Ranji records or even IPL, where Indian domestic players struggle to last a full season in the XI.

 

[cnerd123]

I don't get the point you are trying to make.

 

[Arjun]

Most Ranji players who have made it to the Indian team in the recent past have struggled to hold on to their places. Clearly, something is missing in Ranji Trophy, for it to lose relevance. On Ranji records, we should actually have Badrinath as a middle-order mainstay, Pankaj as the opening bowler (not Shami, Aaron or a spent Ishant), no threat to Dhawan's or Pujara's places in the XI and Jadeja as India's number six batsman (and also a support bowler for Ashwin everywhere), or earlier, Yusuf Pathan (bloke who scored a 150 and took 10 wickets once, and a Duleep trophy-winning double century), as that. But it isn't happening.

 

[cnerd123]

Yea no one is disagreeing about that. I was saying that you can use the fact that guys like Sid Kaul, Pankaj, Kulkarni don't perform in IPL as evidence of the Ranji trophy being flawed. The IPL is a totally different set of skills to FC and Test cricket. Pankaj has shown he has the ability for Tests but not T20. One doesn't equate to the other.

If players perform in the SMAT but then fail in the IPL, that would be an issue. As of now the effectiveness of Ranji should just be viewed in terms of the Test and A Team performances - which have been pretty bad.

 

[Arjun]

Welcome to the big league, Jammu & Kashmir. Hope the Karnataka experience hardens you. They've scored 366 and are still batting, after having bowled out the newly-promoted blokes for 160. Mumbai was out of form, but Karnataka, in form, have the game firmly in their grip. Robin Uthappa, in the middle-order, scored a 150. Guess who's scalped most J&K wickets? Vinay Kumar again.

Mumbai have put the opening game's disappointment behind them, with a 400+ score against Madhya Pradesh, who are now struggling without Ishwar Pandey in their third game without him. Surya Yadav, stereotyped as a T20 pinch-hitter, has made the most of this chance, with a rapid century. Sid Lad scored a few, and so did the new opener who missed a century, but the stupidity in opening with a wicketkeeper continues.

Their West Zone neighbours Maharashtra are all over Saurashtra with a massive 519. They've got big scores across the XI, including the century by Ankit Bawne. Expect this to be a sleeper of a game. Or is it? Saurashtra are at 89/3. Opening with a wicketkeeper hasn't helped.

More so between Baroda and UP, featuring several stars and has-beens. The only star or has-been who's done well in this game is Irfan Pathan, with 98. Everyone else has flopped. That still doesn't help Irfan get back into the frame for the national team.

That's because his younger rival Rishi Dhawan is taking plenty of wickets- five against Kerala, who are one of the better Group C teams. He's also scored a few runs till he was dismissed at 23. His teammate, Paras Dogra, is getting close to a century.

Punjab continue to falter on flat decks, as Rajasthan amassed 433 against them, with big scores distributed across the XI. Pankaj Singh came back to rock the Punjab top order with two early wickets. To think this bloke was left out of the Aussie Test series as well as the World Cup, with non-performers like Ishant, a very raw Varun Aaron and Test misfit Shami getting caps.

Haryana-Delhi will most likely end in a result, with the fall of 20 wickets. Delhi have the upper hand here, with a large first-innings lead. Wickets were shared equally among bowlers of both sides, but Sehwag's 147 made a difference. This game is being covered on the BCCI site, audio commentary and video feed available.

 

[Arjun]

Yea no one is disagreeing about that. I was saying that you can use the fact that guys like Sid Kaul, Pankaj, Kulkarni don't perform in IPL as evidence of the Ranji trophy being flawed. The IPL is a totally different set of skills to FC and Test cricket. Pankaj has shown he has the ability for Tests but not T20. One doesn't equate to the other.

If players perform in the SMAT but then fail in the IPL, that would be an issue. As of now the effectiveness of Ranji should just be viewed in terms of the Test and A Team performances - which have been pretty bad.

Those blokes don't do well in the IPL because their respective franchises don't give them enough chances to grow. When they still can't make the Test and ODI sides, you get the feeling something is missing, unless age is the only factor in national selection. Now Dhawan and Pujara have also been dropped, besides Jadeja, Pankaj and Mishra. Replacing Dhawan with Rahul is clearly a step down- one bloke with seven seasons of experience and a few technical faults has been replaced by a young bloke who lacks experience, lacks technique and sorely lacks temperament, and was drafted in three years too soon. Another bloke, Iqbal Abdulla, has very good 50-over figures with ball (great strike rate) and bat, over more than 60 games. He still can't make the ODI side. On the other hand, Axar is rushed into the ODI side long before he's ready.

Rohit Sharma, though, is an odd case. He's been found wanting across wide phases of his ODI career and he's been outright miscast as an ODI opener even when he lacks the strike rate and technique, but he's done well in IPL as well as Ranji.

Whom do we want? Pankaj, Pandey, Amit Mishra, Rakesh Dhurv, Dhawan, Uthappa, Abdulla (ODIs), Kedar (ODIs). Whom are we stuck with? Ishant, Aaron, Shami, Karn Sharma, Axar Patel, Rahul, Raina, Rayudu.

I have no idea how on earth Karn Sharma ended up playing a Test for India when he has nothing impressive about him, and eight spinners outperformed him last season.

Indeed, most players who perform in SMAT struggle in IPL, but I feel it's partly because of unforgiving franchise owners. One bloke doing well is Sandeep Sharma, who has enjoyed adequate support from the owners of the Punjab franchise. Likewise Mayank Agarwal, who's enjoyed his time in RCB, so he's maintained good figures in T20 across events. Support from team bosses helps a lot.

 

[Arjun]

Karnataka have won. Vinay Kumar finishes with seven wickets in the game, Mithun with five, Aravind with four. Stuart Binny, who took three wickets in the first innings, did nothing after, with bat or ball. Massive win for last year's champions. Meanwhile, Parvez Rasool, an India prospect, has had a rather poor series so far. It's Ram Dayal who's outperformed him, and even last year's other success story, Sami Beigh, has been poor. Mohammed Mudhashir, one of their top bowlers, has had a good comeback, but this is his first game.

Mumbai, after posting a massive first-innings score of 404, are all set to lose the lead to MP, who are only four wickets down. Wicketkeeper prospect Naman Ojha has scored a century and a half to take them ahead. Surely this bloke should play for India instead of Saha? He's played a century of FC games. That's a lot. While Jalaj Saxena isn't really a prospect, he's played well for 85. Then again, we're making international prospects out of Axar Patel and Karn Sharma, so why not him? Tough luck expecting any international prospects in the Mumbai bowling lineup- even the experienced Iqbal Abdulla has been poor here.

In the battle of the has-beens, Irfan Pathan's two wickets backing up his 98 and Yusuf Pathan's six wickets have helped Baroda gain a massive lead over UP. Neither of Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla could do enough with bat or ball, while RP Singh had a poor game.

Himachal have a firm grip over the game against Kerala, with a lower-order ton from Bipul Sharma, who also took three wickets. Fan favourite Rishi Dhawan failed to get to 50, though he took five earlier. Let's just hope they don't fluff things up in the second half of the tournament, the way they did last year. That's why neither of Dhawan and Bipul were considered for India caps.

Not quite a clinical performance from Rajasthan, all set to take the lead against Punjab, but struggling to take the final wicket. Yuvraj, excluded from the World Cup squad, was out for only three today, pushing him back in the race for top run-scorer. Pankaj, also excluded, could not add to his three wickets.

That place is taken by Sheldon Jackson. Making the most of an ordinary Maharashtra attack, he's been the only bloke not chewed by first-innings deficit pressure, scoring 104 of his team's 284 runs. The catch is that unlike Yuvraj, he's not ready for an India cap. His team, though, is struggling to save the match.

The blokes who are, from TN and Bengal, have had contrasting games. Bengal is on top, with a massive, still-growing lead. Tiwary did well for his big score, but missed a century by five. Mukund was out on 26. Unless Bengal's bowlers run out of steam, they're looking on course for a win.

The match to watch, also the match you can watch, right now, is Delhi vs Haryana. Delhi, having taken a lead in this rather competitive game, are 51 for one. Chand is out cheaply, while Gambhir has got going, and may get a 50. This is a low-scoring encounter with a good chance of a result.

 

[Arjun]

Big win for Maharashtra, winning by an innings and 48 runs against Saurashtra. Also big for Baroda, who won by ten wickets. Rajasthan won by nine and so did neighbours Hyderabad (against Tripura) and Andhra (against Jharkhand). Himachal, it seems, are running out of steam again, as they failed to close in on a win. Delhi had the win in sight, only for all sight to get obscured by fog, which ruled out play today. What really was happening in Odisha-Vidarbha is anybody's guess.

In absolute points, four of the top 8 teams are from Group C- Himachal, Hyderabad and Andhra. That's a bit unusual, since that group has had the least results so far- only seven, as against nine (A) and ten (B). While it's still scrappy with promotions from Group C, at least one major casualty is expected from Group A, and even Group B's bottom half looks large, with few points separating the teams there.

Sheldon Jackson leads the runs tally by 104 runs. The second and third places are occupied by actual India prospects, Yuvraj (World Cup only) and Mukund. Dinesh Karthik has shot up the ranks and is in the top ten right now, but we're unaware of how well his wicketkeeping is, these days. He was abysmal last time. Naman Ojha, who missed a game, is way behind the top ten, but has a better average and conversion rate. Robin Uthappa, who was unlucky to miss out on a place in the World Cup squad, is in the top ten as well, and also Paras Dogra, with two out of four innings ending in centuries.

What more does Pankaj Singh have to do to get his rightful place in the national side? Reclaim what should be his rightful place at the top of the wickets tally in Ranji. In four games, he's taken 24, and while his average and strike rate are not as impressive as Vinay Kumar's, who is one wicket behind, he's definitely a more relevant bowler in Test cricket. He won't stay at the top for long unless Rajasthan make it to the knockouts. Shaz Thakur of Mumbai was brought down the table by a flat pitch, while Puneet Datey of MP went up the ranks on that same pitch. Sreenath Aravind, third on the list, has very unreal figures- an average of 12 and a strike rate of 36! Rush Kalaria of Gujarat went down the chart because his team missed a game, while Rishi Dhawan went up. A surprise in the ranks is Krishna Das of Assam.

 

[Arjun]

Openers Uthappa and Mukund. Middle-order of Manish Pandey, Ankit Bawne and Paras Dogra, with Karun Nair in reserve. Naman Ojha as wicketkeeper. Pankaj Singh, Rishi Dhawan and Ishwar Pandey as seam trio and Dhurv-Jalaj as spinners. That's what a full Ranji XI looks like now, over two years.

Spin has been a bit weak this season, with most of the best spinners from the previous seasons not performing as well, and the best in India not getting games. Axar Patel would have got plenty had he played the full tournament, since he had pulled away from a poor start to get some form, until he flew to Australia. Mishra has missed a few games, Ojha is banned, Jadeja is in Australia, Rasool and Abdulla are in poor form, Dabholkar has played very little. Nadeem lacks a decent strike rate so he misses out. Less said of Chawla, the better. If you put together Ranji XIs of the last three years, the top two spinners are often different. If you look at a combined list of highest wicket-takers this season, the best spinner is way below the top ten. That's a bit worrying. In a bid to encourage pace bowling and make India's domestic batsmen strong against pace, they've encouraged green-top bullies and made it hard for spinners to grow.

Baroda has some hope for spin. However, Swapnil Singh is still new and Bhargav Bhatt has been short of wickets, and has played little this season. Yusuf Pathan, now a has-been, has shown some sign of form.

 

[Arjun]

Shaz Thakur, a short man whose pace has gone up with changes in action. He was doing well in the Ranji Trophy until he came to that flat deck back home in Mumbai. Clearly, a few changes in action can help, and several other bowlers who have played for India or are close, can benefit. If he has to be an India prospect, he needs to bowl 10ks faster- already Pankaj and Pandey bowl at that pace, are taller, and can get more out of any pitch. Three more years of Ranji, Duleep and reserves cricket can only do good.

 

[Arjun]

Live scores are on the official BCCI website (Ranji page here). CricInfo updates only by the session. Nobody's even running the Ranji Live blog this time.

Rajasthan vs Maharashtra appears to be headed for a result, with six Rajasthan wickets already down for 137. Maharashtra have gone in with four seamers (Dominic, Fallah, Sanklecha and Mundhe), so it's likely a green-top.

Karnataka struggling against MP (who are at 175/2) in Indore. Likely a flat deck. Good to see young spinner Shreyas Gopal, but not so sure if the return of Brijesh Patel Jr is so good.

UP pulled back from a disastrous first session (89/5) against TN to reach 168/8, but is it enough? No national prospects out here. Not even Praveen Kumar, who isn't playing this match.

Bengal were rescued by stalwarts Saha (unbeaten on 85) and Laxmiratan Shukla (72), and seem to have gone after Ram Dayal, J&K's prime bowler this season, plundering 88 runs in 19 overs. He's got two wickets so far. Parvez Rasool, the much-loved player in the media and political circles, has had a good game, for a change in this season. For long, either prominent ex-players or ex-officials (like Bishan Bedi) or State politicians have wanted Rasool to play for India, but this season, Ram Dayal has outperformed him.

Baroda-Railways is an evenly contested match right now. Hopefully it won't fade into a draw.

Himachal is squashing Jharkhand with a massive partnership. Likewise Vidarbha is all over Saurashtra. Can't say Assam is all over Hyderabad at 188/2, since Hyderabad is a stronger team, and can bounce back.

Gujarat-Punjab is being telecast in video and audio on the site. Surprise surprise, Ramesh Powar is playing for Gujarat! Now, it seems, at an uneasy 198/4, Gujarat is struggling to even put away the poor deliveries that Punjab's filler bowlers are rolling down, and they just got two off an inside edge.

 

[Arjun]

This article on Irfan Pathan's return to the Ranji scene after two years' absence is proof that journalists here are sadistic idiots. He proved his fitness by playing two three-day club games and then somehow said, when the BCA officials told him to prove his fitness, that five States wanted to hire him. The matter, though, was resolved, and he turned up for his team and did well so far. The local media, though, overplayed this incident. And then the industry wonders why people don't trust them. Let's not forget what Munaf Patel said about them earlier.

 

[cnerd123]

Great to see Irfan back.

Hope he bowls well this season. He is 30 years old tho. Might be hard to make a comeback.

Would like to see him bowling well and back in the Indian side.

 

[Arjun]

Great to see Irfan back.

Hope he bowls well this season. He is 30 years old tho. Might be hard to make a comeback.

Would like to see him bowling well and back in the Indian side.

This whole 30-years-is-too-old is a disease in the Indian cricket establishment, and in turn, spawned another disease of age-cheating. Still, Irfan needs a whole season to prove himself. There's already competition from Bhuvneshwar, Rishi Dhawan, Sumit Narwal and now Ram Dayal. He's already way behind, with only one game played.

 

[Arjun]

Now Cricinfo does a feature on the green-top mania and pace priority that's choking Indian spinners.

 

[Arjun]

Manish Pandey unbeaten on 143. This bloke has serious FC experience, featured in a Ranji win and a few Ranji finals, and would have been a better immediate choice than Rahul. Can't say the match is headed for a result, though.

TN, though, will win easily against UP. Likewise, Delhi have a firm grip in the game against Odisha. Maharashtra have made inroads after snatching a lead against Rajasthan. There's one more match with a clear result- Andhra vs Tripura- but nobody watches these teams in action.

Rishi Dhawan and Parvez Rasool have competition. Ram Dayal, the less-hyped bowler from J&K, has been getting wickets as well as runs lower down, against Group A teams. Rasool is struggling for form with bat and ball in Group A, while Rishi is stuck with an underperforming team in Group C. The other performing all-rounders, Ashish Reddy (going through a poor season) and Siva Kumar (who?) don't yet deserve a place in the probables.

Pankaj Singh is on top, with the ball. Sadly, his team is sinking again. Vinay Kumar plays for a team that's doing quite well, but he doesn't really fit in as a Test bowler. Meanwhile, Mukund is on top of the batting charts. Last time, he was picked way ahead of his time for Tests. Now, he's ready for it.

Ishwar Pandey misses the whole season, which is indeed disappointing, since he's a Test prospect, and a better long-form bowler than Shami.

 

[cnerd123]

Now Cricinfo does a feature on the green-top mania and pace priority that's choking Indian spinners.

Good article. Aakash Chopra talked about this back in 2012 as well

Aakash Chopra: What's going wrong with India's spin tradition? | Cricinfo Magazine | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Arjun]

We've seen spinners during the era of sufficient dustbowls, who used to rip through batting sides within India. How many seamers during the age of green-tops have ripped through batting sides in England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand consistently? Going by the lack of Test wins, none. I'm not sure any Indian seamer puts in enough effort to take wickets, and depends entirely on pitches green as the outfield to get on top of the wickets chart. There were several spinners who turned the ball, gave it flight and used plenty of variations. You don't have enough seamers who can bowl decently fast- that renders them incapable, once there's no swing or seam.

Supporters of the era of green-tops say spinners need to adapt themselves to bowl on green-tops and get wickets. Name one seamer who has adapted to flat-tops or dustbowls to get wickets. Why surrender the one advantage in an attempt to conquer all?

That IPL is a reason why spinners are cutting back on attacking deliveries isn't entirely true. Amit Mishra is one bloke who's had a great time every IPL. He's an attacking spinner with loads of Ranji experience. He's hit for plenty of sixes, but also gets plenty of wickets and is a leading wicket-taker in both Ranji and IPL (except this season). Ojha, before the ban, was getting wickets in both forms. Likewise Ashwin.