Indian domestic season 2006-07

[silentstriker]

How come India Red play primarily in blue and India Green play primarily in red?

Its a conspiracy.

 

[Xuhaib]

Sachin fails in another final.

 

[Dravid]

Typical Sachin...O well he's still the best.

 

[marc71178]

How come India Red play primarily in blue and India Green play primarily in red?

And when do we get to see India Yellow?

 

[adharcric]

Still, it seems they've got the batting top-five settled. They have only picked six batsmen, and one of them (opener) will sit out. Pragyan Ojha will be one to watch, while Karthik and Lahiri have been far from impressive in the Challenger series. Picking Zaheer, Sreesanth and VRV is a good idea, but VRV Singh isn't any faster than Joginder Sharma, the all-rounder prospect dropped after the Bangladesh tour, or the new-found all-rounder prospect Pravin Kumar. Maybe the selectors expect him to suddenly crank up pace from out of nowhere and blast thE UP batsmen out.

Disappointing selections IMO. These batsmen were pretty much expected with Laxman injured and Ganguly on the verge of extinction, but the lack of an all-rounder is truly alarming. None of the bowlers can bat apart from Kartik, who is a #9 at best. They should really play 6 specialist batsmen now and let Sharma and Rao bowl (both are good part-timers). Please don't tell me crap like VRV having the same pace as Pravin Kumar. If you went by the speed guns in the Challenger Trophy, it makes sense because those things were ridiculously off. VRV has already shown he can bowl 85+, while Kumar is incapable of crossing 80 I think. Besides, VRV did quite well in this tournament apart from the washed out final where that ball was swinging like crazy. Here's my XI:

Jaffer*, Gambhir, Uthappa, Rao, Sharma, Badrinath, Karthik+, Kartik, Khan, VRV, Sreesanth

This match might turn out to be a stinker since Kaif, Raina and RP Singh won't be playing for UP. Basically, Chawla is the only important cricketer left in that UP side (Kumar proved that he's far from being a national prospect in the Challengers).

 

[Arjun]

Disappointing selections IMO. These batsmen were pretty much expected with Laxman injured and Ganguly on the verge of extinction, but the lack of an all-rounder is truly alarming. None of the bowlers can bat apart from Kartik, who is a #9 at best. They should really play 6 specialist batsmen now and let Sharma and Rao bowl (both are good part-timers). Please don't tell me crap like VRV having the same pace as Pravin Kumar. If you went by the speed guns in the Challenger Trophy, it makes sense because those things were ridiculously off. VRV has already shown he can bowl 85+, while Kumar is incapable of crossing 80 I think. Besides, VRV did quite well in this tournament apart from the washed out final where that ball was swinging like crazy. Here's my XI:

Jaffer*, Gambhir, Uthappa, Rao, Sharma, Badrinath, Karthik+, Kartik, Khan, VRV, Sreesanth

This match might turn out to be a stinker since Kaif, Raina and RP Singh won't be playing for UP. Basically, Chawla is the only important cricketer left in that UP side (Kumar proved that he's far from being a national prospect in the Challengers).

Going by these options, the Rest of India side is sunk either way. If they play six batsmen, they will have trouble bowling UP out twice with their attack of four bowlers, unless that team's batting is very weak. If they have five batsmen, their batting will be weak from seven onward. Neither Sharma nor Venugopal will last more than three overs each.

As for VRV Singh, he's not at all fast as expected. Throughout the series, he bowled in the 120's, which is Pravin Kumar's pace. The expected pace was over 140k cnsistently, and the fastest was Zaheer at 139.5, in the final, against the India Blue side. None of the bowlers were excessively fast in this series, and even one-time regulars Nehra and Balaji were slow, even barely crossing 100's in their first match. Munaf and Sreesanth struggled to get the ball past 135k.

These Challenger results should be taken with a pinch of salt. There is nothing a four-match series with each team getting two matches can prove. VRV may have had a good tournament being the highest wicket-taker, but he bowled excess no-balls and wides, which is unacceptable in ODI's. Pravin, on the other hand, merely bowled a few short balls too many and hopefully he'll learn, since he's got age and height on his side. He's got everything else (batting and fielding) covered, so it is foolish to write him off so early as a prospect, based on a mere workout series. The same Pravin Kumar had a good match with the ball against Sialkot, a visiting Pakistani team. Likewise Raina, based on just two innings. The forthcoming Irani, Ranji and ROD series will give a clearer picture.

 

[Pratters]

Balaji replaces injured Sreesanth. Not bad as far as I am concerned. Sreesanth wasn't in the C. Trophy squad and so has some time to recover from his injury. Balaji meanwhile get's an opportunity to perform again. Whether he will be preferred over Yo Mahesh who was in the squad already if it does come to that remains to be seen.

 

[adharcric]

The Irani Trophy won't mean much. There are only two worthwhile players in this UP side: Chawla and Kumar. If ROI don't pull off an easy win, that'll be a shame.

 

[Craig]

Arjun might be the best to answer, but anybody is welcome, I'm just wondering what has become of Harvinder Singh? I noted he is still playing domestic cricket (up until the end of the season), is he still involved in anyform or just haven't been picked yet for his domestic team. I noted his FC stats and they weren't bad, along with his List A ones. I guess he doesn't get considered for India because he was crap early on his career or just not good enough.

I also noted that Ashish Nehra and Ajay Ratra haven't played FC cricket since the 04/05 season, what is the story there?

 

[adharcric]

All yours Arjun.

 

[Arjun]

Arjun might be the best to answer, but anybody is welcome, I'm just wondering what has become of Harvinder Singh? I noted he is still playing domestic cricket (up until the end of the season), is he still involved in anyform or just haven't been picked yet for his domestic team. I noted his FC stats and they weren't bad, along with his List A ones. I guess he doesn't get considered for India because he was crap early on his career or just not good enough.

I also noted that Ashish Nehra and Ajay Ratra haven't played FC cricket since the 04/05 season, what is the story there?

Harvinder Singh is still leading the Railways attack with JP Yadav. He's been getting wickets at a decent average, but hasn't run through batting sides with ease to make the Indian side. Moreover, his small size is a weakness, and he isn't any faster than medium-pace. He's a decent bowler, but lack of power and pace may keep him out for some time. His fielding has been very good for a long time and his batting has improved a bit, and he's still a key player for Railways.

Nehra, as we all know, has been sidelined due to injury. As for Ratra, that case is a laughable one. He led Haryana to victory in the Plate league from behind the stumps, and had them promoted to the Elite league. However, the selectors thought he was 'short of runs' and 'dropped crucial catches', so they dropped him and had reserve opener Mahesh Rawat wicketkeeping. Not surprisingly, the team that rolled over most teams with Ratra behidn the stumps had difficulty getting 20 wickets quite often. When he was in action, he was the fastest wicketkeeper in India and had the best reflexes among all India prospects. Rawat, fine batsman that he is, may be yet another futile attempt in the domestic scene to unearth a wicketkeeper-batsman.

 

[Arjun]

Now Pravin Kumar opened the innings and got UP off to a rapid start, with 73 for the first wicket. He scored 42 before Balaji castled him. He was severe on VRV Singh, the top wicket-taker in the Challenger series and eevn had a go at Zaheer. How was the match? How did he do? The match is being shown on NEO Sports. I thought I'd look at my four sports channel slots, but where NEO was supposed to be, what did I have? A duplicate signal of SET MAX! What a scam!

 

[Pratters]

I did view parts of the pre lunch session. Pravin Kumar really played a rash shot before looking very good. VRV Singh did bowl well. At one point Jaffer had him bowl 9 consecutive overs and in humid conditions, it was a sight to watch him put the effort. UP lost track in session after a good start. Shamshad looked out of sorts looking plumb on the first ball versus Karthik and then finally getting out to Balaji. The broadcast was very good with clear pictures and good coverage which was great to see.

 

[adharcric]

Jaffer looked excellent before deciding to nudge one right to Shukla at gully. Praveen Kumar is bowling quite well right now and is being helped along by some stupid batting by the likes of Venugopal Rao. Karthik and Badrinath trying to settle down here.

 

[Pratters]

17 wickets down in first day is shocking given the pitch didn't do any thing special. It had normal bounce with the ball coming on nicely to the bat. You would think think not having very low bounce (some thing domestic batsmen would prefer to even normal bounce) would be the reason for the 17 wickets. However, given how good the pitch was to bat on, that possibility has to be excluded. Also considering the rash shots played.

 

[Arjun]

17 wickets down in first day is shocking given the pitch didn't do any thing special. It had normal bounce with the ball coming on nicely to the bat. You would think think not having very low bounce (some thing domestic batsmen would prefer to even normal bounce) would be the reason for the 17 wickets. However, given how good the pitch was to bat on, that possibility has to be excluded. Also considering the rash shots played.

Rest Of India has a five-man tail, so you can expect them to get wrapped up quickly. I'd like to know how Srivastava bowled. He's very tall and muscular and an ex India Under-19 player. How was the fielding?

Cable operator CONSPIRACY.....

 

[Pratters]

Rest Of India has a five-man tail, so you can expect them to get wrapped up quickly. I'd like to know how Srivastava bowled. He's very tall and muscular and an ex India Under-19 player. How was the fielding?

Cable operator CONSPIRACY.....

I didn't see Srivastava bowl.. Aharcric may answer that. The fielding was very good for a domestic match even though some players have played international cricket before. The ground fielding was good but the star early in the match was Badrinath. He took a good catch at forward short leg early on (SS Shukla). The second not much later was a beauty. Ravikant Shulka nudged at the ball and it seemed to be passing Badrinath before he plcked it out of thin air. Very good reflexes and one of those catches which stick.

They are showing the whole day telecast repeat now on NEO sports. Really a pity you are not getting the broadcast.

 

[Pratters]

I did watch portions of the repeat telecast.Srivastava bowled in 125-135 range and pitched every where from full to short to good length in different periods. It showed a bit of lack in planning. He strayed a bit and not much. He is 25 now and I doesn't look as if he will improve in performance or speed exceptionally, without which he would be punished a bit internationally. A good asset to have domestically though.

Two players who did impress me:

Badrinath - Was in exceptional form in the previous Ranji season and was the same in the tour to Australia with India A. Has good technique and the patience and didn't look in trouble at all when he batted, punishing the balls which gave him any chance to exploit. His fielding is good as well at first sight (as mentioned regarding his forward short leg fielding).

Praveen Kumar - Aggressive batsman though he has to improve on his average. The potential exists. Bowling wise, he is at 125-135 which is great for some one whom people are slating as not among the main bowlers. He has played very less so far and will be interesting to see how he develops. Definitely some one who can play one day cricket for India down the years.

 

[adharcric]

South Zone (Duleep Trophy)

The 15-man South Zone squad has been named.

I'm not too sure about Asnodkar as an opening batsman, but he will likely be opening with Uthappa, with Laxman, Badrinath, Rao and Rayudu to follow in the middle-order. Karthik is obviously the keeper and a four-man attack of Sreesanth-Balaji-Yomahesh-Kumble is probably a better idea than a long tail including Pragyan Ojha.

 

[Perm]

Does anybody know why Pragyan Ojha did not bowl a single ball for the Rest of India? I realise that Uttar Pradesh only batted for 46 overs but I thought he might've had a bowl since he has a pretty decent FC bowling record.