Build-up to Indian Domestic Season 2008-09

[Arjun]

Now Nayar is stumped off a Karthik blooper (bounced off the gloves), standing way out with no chance of a return. This happened off Yuvraj Singh.

The Reds have 87 off 91 to score.

 

[viktor]

Are you watching this match there? A whole lot of NEO matches are shown in the US somewhere.

Just going by Cricinfo, not the best of sources, I know.

 

[viktor]

Now Nayar is stumped off a Karthik blooper (bounced off the gloves), standing way out with no chance of a return. This happened off Yuvraj Singh.

The Reds have 87 off 91 to score.

Didn't Karthik miss another chance too? It seems his keeping has really gone to the dogs..

 

[Arjun]

Didn't Karthik miss another chance too? It seems his keeping has really gone to the dogs..

Karthik's wicketkeeping has been inconsistent, but without too many mishaps, compared to Patel's, which was error prone, yet again. In fact, the fielding of the Reds was quite inconsistent.

 

[Arjun]

Uthappa was good, but unspectacular, in his innings. He looked a little streaky, but somehow, gave next to no chances to the bowlers, and capitalised on the loose deliveries. On the other hand, Vijay looked in complete control. However, with Manoj Tiwary playing out too many dot balls, the onus of hitting the big shots fell squarely on Vijay, so he had to hit out. The decision to send in Piyush Chawla at three, especially after Patel opened the innings, was a strange one. These batsmen have some work to do to adapt to slower pitches like this one.

 

[Precambrian]

Mohnish Parmar was superb! I am watching the replay now on Neo Sports, and he had almost all batsmen in a quandary with his clever mix of doosra's and offspinners. His wrist action is ditto Murali and he imparts almost the same turn. Uthappa tried to work around him and then tried to dance down the track atleast 2 times, both he failed. But the way he fooled Virat Kohli made for good viewing, Kohli was beaten by the doosra a couple of times, before he assumed another doosra, which turned out to be a offpsinner and got the leading edge.

 

[Arjun]

From yesterday's match-

• When the Greens (or Yellows?) have NAman Ojha as a top scorer, it's not much. He scored a 90, but the strike rate was a lot lower and played out too many dot balls, especially when facing spinner Parmar.
• Parmar is a smart spinner, bowls with a lot of variety and gets a lot of turn, but that is one really ugly action- and with the likes of Chris Broad as match referees, he may never last long as an international.
• Chawla, though, has no problems with action, and picked up three for 50, a good sign. He wasn't quite a Shane Warne, though.
• Raina played a good hand, as usual, with just the right ingredients in this innings, especially the singles.
• The Greens' tail end folded up too cheaply. It didn't help matters that RP Singh, not a batsman, batted at eight.
• The batsmen, in general, still struggled to adapt to a slow pitch, but Vijay played smartly again. He looked in total control, again. Until his lofted shot was caught in the deep, again.
• The highlight of the match, though, was Rohit Sharma. The figures speak for themselves.

 

[honestbharani]

Does Vijay look like a decent option at the top of the order? Can we expect to see him in the India A team regularly now?



And Parmar, inspite of the action, has still been very impressive, right? What about that tall leggie from Delhi? How did he go? Have had high hopes for him after the Irani Trophy game..

 

[Arjun]

Does Vijay look like a decent option at the top of the order? Can we expect to see him in the India A team regularly now?



And Parmar, inspite of the action, has still been very impressive, right? What about that tall leggie from Delhi? How did he go? Have had high hopes for him after the Irani Trophy game..

Vijay is a newcomer, but he's looked a lot more assured than some other openers, such as Uthappa, Dhawan and Asnodkar. He doesn't take too many risks, and played mostly proper cricket shots, in complete control. He's surely a contender for India A, and may even be opening for Board XI in tour matches.

Parmar has been quite impressive, and he's run through teams. Once he was called, but now he's allowed to bowl with his current action. Nanda goes for a few runs, but he's a wicket-taker. He's often been put aside by silly selection policies by Delhi selectors, and he has to compete with Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra for North Zone.

Will you be watching the match today?

 

[Arjun]

The sky is overcast, the pitch is damp, the match will start at 2:45pm IST even as there is a chance of rain falling in Cuttack, due to the depression (weather) in Bengal.

 

[Precambrian]

Hoping the depression would cast a shadow over the Ind0 Aussie series.

M Vijay really impressed me. Going about his business in an unhurried fashion. Good strokes, no slogs. Really needs a good run at the top level. Maybe a couple of India A tours should see him settled.

 

[Arjun]

A few catches were dropped here. Robin Uthappa is batting like a maniac here, taking risks even outside the powerplay. The fielding was patchy here. A no-ball by RP Singh rattled the stumps and went for four.

 

[Arjun]

Pankaj Singh has been unlucky. The big man got edges going for four and two catches dropped.

 

[Precambrian]

What a wasted effort from Yuvraj Singh, a wild swing across the line, and timber!!! Considering he was beaten all square only the previous delivery.

 

[Arjun]

India Blues win and force the yellows...um...Greens out of the finals tomorrow. It was a good match for Irfan, who took two tight wickets and scored 28 quick runs, though he also bowled four wides. He held his line quite well for the whole spell, but for those four deliveries. The other seamers were not too bad, and supported him well; Dinda, in particular, had a good game. Yusuf, however, outshone Irfan in all departments, bar one lazy misfield. He scored 34 quick runs including two huge sixes that entered the stands, but with a big hit needed every over, he holed out in the deep, ending the Greens' challenge. He also took three wickets after being brought in inexplicably late by their captain.

The spinner from Delhi, Chetanya Nanda, continues to impress. He gets a lot of purchase out of slow wickets and can get unsettling bounce, and luckily, has no problems with his action. While attention is directed towards young spinners Chawla and Ojha and apprehensions are expressed about the future of Indian spin, the experienced domestic spinners have proven their worth yet again, so there is spin beyond Kumble and Harbhajan. With every Challenger series highlighting one bowler, this one may be a good series for Nanda. No more will he be sidelined in Delhi selections, and he may even be the next best spinner after Bhajji and Mishra.

There was an altercation between Ashwin and RP Singh over something. RP was quite agitated, and said things are getting late, and the umpires had to defuse tensions here. Nothing untoward, of course.

 

[Lambu]

Parmar has been impressive..i don't see anything wrong with his off-spinner its the doosra that sometimes creates a doubt..but i'm sure this can be corrected.

 

[brockley]

Who playing the duleep trophy.
When will an aussie side ever be included,this is descrimination.

 

[Arjun]

Who playing the duleep trophy.
When will an aussie side ever be included,this is descrimination.

I don't know. Any team that's not a minnow second XI or an academy XI should be in. Sri Lanka A and England Lions were good overseas teams, but before them, we had some rather disappointingly weak teams come here. There was an attempt to bring in Dolphins from South Africa, but it didn't happen.

 

[Arjun]

Chetanya Nanda has been very impressive in this series, and he shouldn't be too far from a Board XI or India A call-up. The tournament, however, has been a farce, especially with the kind of results we're seeing here. The selections and the pitches were both bowler-centric, resulting in very low totals. You can't get anything out of this series for a national selection. This should serve as a workout for the national team, but half of it was in the Test series and the other half was distributed over three colours. And who's the top scorer here? Robin Uthappa. The same who was found wanting when he played for India. Such tournaments should never even be thought of for national selection.

 

[Arjun]

Here's a Challenger XI

• Uthappa (#1 in runs@216 runs, average 72, SR 92)
• M Vijay (#2 in runs@164 runs, avg 53, SR 81)
• Pujara (#6 in runs@83 runs, avg 83, SR 72)
• Rohit Sharma (#3 in runs list@120, avg 60, SR 91)
• Rahane (#7 in runs list@81 runs, avg 40.5 and SR 73)
• Naman Ojha (keeper, #4 in runs list@107 runs, avg 53, SR 72)
• Irfan Pathan (#2 in wickets list@6 wickets, avg 13, #8 in runs list@71 runs, avg 35.5 and SR 91)
• Yusuf Pathan (#6 in wickets@4 with avg 15)
• MS Gony (#7, 4 wickets, avg 17)
• Chetanya Nanda (#3 with 5 wickets, avg 17)
• Sid Trivedi (#5 with 4 wickets, avg 17)
• Reserves: Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Badrinath, Ashwin

Not quite what we'd expect. While it's good to see the Pathans in good bowling form and runs from Rohit and Vijay, it's not quite an India frontline XI. We know those reserves are better than some of those in the first XI, but missed out due to less impressive statistics (and Ashwin wasn't fielding well at all). Is this what you need to make a national selection? No way!