Indian domestic season 2006-07

[adharcric]

Joginder Sharma has taken 3 for 50 against Andhra. The selectors should definitely take a good look at him after his recent performances in the Duleep Trophy.

Gagandeep Singh has taken 4 for 36 against Bengal. He should at least be considered for tests. If he can be effective, who cares about pace? He has dominated the domestic circuit for quite some time now. Easily the most consistent seamer in India over the past 5 years.

UP's inability to bowl out Saurashtra has been disappointing. Chawla certainly needs to do better than 2 for 65.

Laxman is on 31 for Hyderabad. A ton here would really prepare him for South Africa.

In the Delhi-TN match, Ishant Sharma has had a fine debut (1 for 23) but the main story has been Badrinath's knock. On his way to yet another century, this guy is in really hot form and is an excellent fielder. Raina, time to wake up? Either way, Badri should be a lock in the test side with Yuvraj injured.

 

[honestbharani]

yeah, one would hope that, for once, the guy in really good nick will get a chance at the international level. He may still come out of it as a failure and as someone who still needs to develop a lot, but at least we gotta try him when he is in the best form and frame of mind. It would only better his chances of succeeding.

 

[Arjun]

Well, it's definitely work a try giving Badrinath a long run in both Tests and ODI's. He's got a place in the ODI side, but in Tests, he isn't likely to contribute much value. If he gets a go, he should be allowed to play himself into the team, rather than have the exit door an inch away, as is the case with Raina. If Raina's out of the scene for good, it will be yet another failure for Indian cricket in the last six years. Both are young, very talented and good choices for the future.

Compare that to yesterday's heroes that Vengsarkar and other lobbyists are determined to get back– they wanted some experience in the team. Of what use is that experience when it lets the team down when needed most? That experience couldn't match the agile, nimble South Africans on the field. That experience couldn't stand strong against Andre Nel, barely a fringe fast bowler. That experience isn't getting any better with time. Then Vengsarkar complains that there's not enough talent in domestic cricket. But when your best players are not that great when you need them the most, and you're not winnig for the last five years, where else can you look?

 

[Arjun]

Gagandeep definitely contributes value. He's a swing bowler, and very good at it. He can expolit seaming conditions and the new ball well, but his problem is when he's on a flat deck, and the ball isn't doing much. We haven't seen how he'll do when he gets an old ball– Zaheer, Irfan and JP Yadav have struggled. He's not much of a one-day bowler either, having had very little white-ball action. His fielding is very good, and since they're facing South Africa, it matters. A combination of Zaheer, Irfan and Gagandeep looks decent. That said, Gagandeep as third seamer for ODI's can be tried out.

Joginder has bowled 22 overs with just one no-ball, so he's doing something different here. Maybe he was carrying an injury in Duleep. Maybe he was trying to bowl outright quick. He's done rather well here, taking four wickets in an innings (he only took four in the Duleep Trophy), so that's an improvement. He'll make a good partner for Irfan in the lower order and also a good support seamer, and should finish this season before he gets a national recall. By that time, the Ranji Trophy may be over, and Haryana may win it. He won't get a World Cup call-up– that will be too sudden– but if he misses the team bus after that, it will be another blunder feather in the cap of the Vengsarkar-Raju-led selection committee. Three impressive FC seasons should make this lazy, regressive selection panel take note.

 

[Arjun]

Someone on a renegade cricket forum claims to have seen a few of the Duleep and Ranji matches. He says that Nehra got a top speed of 124km/h in the Delhi/TN match, while he's also seen Joginder in action, saying he's big and strong. I've seen Joginder on television in the Bangladesh series and he looked only as tall as Dhoni and an inch or two above Agarkar, and wasn't much of a bodybuilder. That said, someone managed to get past the NEO conspiracy, but I don't know where he is.

EDIT: That same someone has made a very valid point about Ganguly, one of yesterday's most popular (and most wanted) heroes. The post says that Ganguly has only been bowling regularly since he got dropped, realising that he'll only return to the team if he's capable of bowling extra stocks. That way, the regular stock seamer LR Shukla has been out of action for a long time and all-rounder Sanyal has been dropped. What was he doing in all the matches he got as captain? In those 50 matches, he bowled only 87 overs! That was one golden opportunity lost!

 

[Jungle Jumbo]

Well, it's definitely work a try giving Badrinath a long run in both Tests and ODI's. He's got a place in the ODI side, but in Tests, he isn't likely to contribute much value. If he gets a go, he should be allowed to play himself into the team, rather than have the exit door an inch away, as is the case with Raina. If Raina's out of the scene for good, it will be yet another failure for Indian cricket in the last six years. Both are young, very talented and good choices for the future.

To force your way into the India ODI side isn't too hard: score plenty of runs in domestic cricket. But if Badrinath plays with the India side set up as it is at the moment, he will probably either be messed around in the order (like Venugopal, like Kaif, like Dhoni, like Pathan) or stuck in at number seven. Only Kaif has had much success at number seven in recent years (going back to the NatWest Series 2002 - World Cup 2003), and even then it's just about the worst place to bat. I'm not sure about Badrinath's fielding, but he's unlikely to add much to the ODI bowling attack, which instantly sets him back from the likes of Dinesh Mongia and Venugopal Rao. Yes, he should play, but to see him batting at four or five for an extended run of games (5-10) this close to the World Cup is pretty unlikely.

Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid, Badrinath, Yuvraj, Mongia, Dhoni, Pathan, Harbhajan, Agarkar, Zaheer.

Nice to see one of last year's Under 19s, Ravi Teja, in the runs on first class debut for Hyderabad.

 

[superkingdave]

Solanki scored a fifty on his debut, and Kabir even managed a wicket...but Gujarat still in charge

 

[adharcric]

Interesting article here on the dire state of our domestic structure and the plight of Gagandeep Singh and other domestic stalwarts.

 

[Arjun]

Solanki scored a fifty on his debut, and Kabir even managed a wicket...but Gujarat still in charge

Gujarat were bundled out quickly and Rajasthan have the first-innings lead. Solanki only scored 20 runs in the next innings.

 

[Arjun]

To force your way into the India ODI side isn't too hard: score plenty of runs in domestic cricket. But if Badrinath plays with the India side set up as it is at the moment, he will probably either be messed around in the order (like Venugopal, like Kaif, like Dhoni, like Pathan) or stuck in at number seven. Only Kaif has had much success at number seven in recent years (going back to the NatWest Series 2002 - World Cup 2003), and even then it's just about the worst place to bat. I'm not sure about Badrinath's fielding, but he's unlikely to add much to the ODI bowling attack, which instantly sets him back from the likes of Dinesh Mongia and Venugopal Rao. Yes, he should play, but to see him batting at four or five for an extended run of games (5-10) this close to the World Cup is pretty unlikely.

Badrinath can bat anywhere between three and six. Batting position is immaterial, as long as he gets a whole innings to bat and not just eight or ten overs. That's what happened to Yuvraj, Venugopal and Raina and it affected their batting. Yuvraj, in particular, hada difficulty getting big scores for a very long time.

The Number Seven position should never go to a specialist batsman. He's not needed when the team is doing well, and more often than not, when the team does badly, he's often responsible. That's what damaged Kaif's batting so much in the time he batted there. He's got an average of 30 and a strike rate of 70, neither here nor there. A promotion and a regular place at four or five will do him a lot of good. Likewise Badrinath. Let seven and eight go to brawny non-specialist batsmen with decent technique.

You'd find a South African or Lankan or Kiwi named Badrinath, given what fans have seen of him. He's a fantastic fielder, with superb reflexes and a relentless approach to outfielding. That should get him into the ODI side as a specialist. Forget about bowling, even Dinesh and Venugopal can contribute nothing with their part-time bowling. The team needs a full-time stock bowler, which none of the three can be. He may not get a World Cup squad spot, but he's a contender for the team after it's over.

As for your selection, I don't know if it's made for the World Cup or afterward, but Powar for Mongia, Kumble for Harbhajan (maybe) and Sreesanth for Agarkar is worth a thought. After the World Cup, how about this team?

Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj, Dhoni (WK), Irfan (LMF), Joginder (RMF), Powar (OB), Sreesanth (RFM), Zaheer (RFM), with Harbhajan (OB), Munaf (RMF), Badrinath and Kaif as reserves? The batting lineup and bowling combination have been stretched, and the fielding (with the reserves) is also very good.

It should be back to UP for Raina, but we may expect a much-improved performance after the SA series this season. He may turn up a hero and a leading (massively?) run-scorer for his team.

 

[Arjun]

Currently, the Punjab/Bengal match, the Gujarat/Rajasthan match and the one between Haryana and Andhra will yield results. Bengal are all out for 148, leaving Punjab with a tiny sub-150 total to chase. Currently, they're at 54/3. Haryana were all out for 129, which was a disappointing reversal after they bndled out Andhra for 202, and now they have Andhra at 141/6. Rajasthan, with Jadeja and the two England players, have been bowled out for exactly 204, as much as they were in the first innings, but they have Gujarat on the mat.

As for the most important matches, which the media and selectors are watching, Tamil Nadu have the upper hand as Delhi are at 105/4, with Dhawan and Bhatia at the crease. Earlier, Bhatia bowled 16 overs, taking a wicket and giving away just 16 runs. TN's bowling, full of yesterday's heroes (Kapoor, Sathish), may just pinch a first-innings lead, but nothing else. While the Punjab/Bengal match is getting a lot of attention because Ganguly is playing, Gagandeep sends a reminder to the selectors and media, taking two more wickets cheaply. Maybe it's time to give him a run of three Test and ODI series, before he gets exhausted like so many other domestic stalwarts.

 

[adharcric]

A few individual performances to take note of in today's play ...

- Shikhar Dhawan's unbeaten century against TN - showing that he's still one of the top prospects and deserved a chance in the Challenger and Duleep Trophy

- Joginder Sharma on fire taking a hat-trick and finishing with match figures of 11 for 101 ... the selectors would be blind not to consider him now; some runs would really help now

- A fantastic 135 from under-19 captain Ravikant Shukla ... just imagine this side with Kaif and Raina back and the young Srivastava entering the fray

 

[Arjun]

We have a result!

Bengal have defeated Punjab by 17 runs. Punjab were bundled out for 133, as seamer Ashok Dinda, apparently a fast bowler, took five wickets, and Ganguly took two. That was expected, since Punjab were fielding a weak batting lineup, with no all-rounder in the scene. Ishan Malhatra's absence weakened them, and Sodhi not bowling didn't help.

Eleven wickets for Sharma. Let's just hoep he also scores a chunk of runs to take his team to victory. Already, Haryana have lost two wickets and are at 51, with Sumit Sharma on 24. Why Sunny Singh has been promoted to open, we don't know. I'm surprised that the openers from their season before promotion have been dropped, since they did the job just right, unlike the present makeshift bunch. As of now, the veteran Shafiq Khan is at the crease, and a good partnership will help a lot.

 

[Arjun]

Ashish Nehra minced no words about the state of Indian domestic cricket, or rather, the sad state of pitches in Indian domestic cricket. When he's bowled on four consecutive flat pitches, you know something's not right. That he bowled 44 overs on that dead Delhi pitch just gives you a hint that he's reasonably fit and he's trying really hard to get that team out, though he complained once too often about the pitch, which is not a good sign. He didn't hesitate to point to Durban, and it was just too obvious, given the stark difference in quality between the two pitches.

However, one comment– "You need to be a Brett Lee or Shoaib Akhtar to get something out of these pitches, and no Indian bowler has the pace"– also tells you it's not just the pitches that need to change, but also the bowlers. For far too long, we've seen Indian seamers content with just moving the ball, rather than forcing it off very hard and fast. They move the ball well on wickets that seam a bit, but when there's nothing in the pitch, they're of no use. The Indian bowling unit, and also bowling attacks in the dmoestic scene, need pace, lots of it, even if it's just one in an attack. Then there won't be so many complaints about the pitches.

 

[brockley]

You should get some aussie players in even if they do not play first class cricket here they will be competitive.

 

[Dravid]

Right so I'm back in Delhi and I was supposed to go to the Ranji Trophy match today, but I decided not to because the India South Africa match isn't day/night, and plus its freezing in Delhi. I feel sorry for the players that have to play in this weather.

 

[Arjun]

Delhi have pinched a first-innings lead from TN, with Dahiya and Bhatia scoring big hundreds. What are your comments on this?

Bhati bowled 16 good overs as a stock bowler, and should continue that way, until Delhi find an all-rounder. They cannot afford to have any of their bowlers, least of all Ashish Nehra, bowling 40 overs in every match. The stock bowlers they have are nothing special, except that they're yesterday's heroes. We still find Kunal Lal, Rahul Sanghvi, Chetan Nanda and Yogesh Sachdeva, who've done nothing exceptional when they've got their chances in the past seasons. Ishant Sharma bowled well here, taking three wickets. He's very tall and at his height, pace of 130's is quite effective. With Agarkar well over the hill and very underpowered for a strike bowler, this Delhi youngster should get noticed.

It was disappointing to see Haryana lose from their position. Sumit Sharma again failed to convert his start, wile Sunny Singh fell cheaply again. What has happened to Chetan and Bist, who opened the innings during the Plate era with reasonable success? They can also play Mahesh Rawat as a specialist batsman, maybe opener (he was one once) and recall Ajay Ratra, batting him at eight. They'll have a batting lineup till seven and a genine wicketkeeper then.

I won't be dropping into the India in South Africa thread, where we'll only be talking problems here. I'll stay here for all the solutions, which Vengsarkar and Raju convert into problems with their statements and actions. These really are solutions.

NEXT ROUND: Mumbai takes the field.

 

[adharcric]

Actually, we are talking solutions and not just problems in the India-South Africa thread.

Really looking forward to the Bengal-Mumbai (Ganguly, Sharma, Powar) and Delhi-UP (Gambhir, Nehra, Chawla) matches in the next round.

 

[Arjun]

An update on the NEO Conspiracy: Here's what a voice at the cable operator's said.

Spoken by Miss XYZ
We will be forwarding your request to the control room. We have yet to receive NEO Sports but there is demand, so in a few days, we will show the signals. We dont know if there is live action.

Give me a break– there IS live action, from Indian Domestic Cricket as well as German Bundesliga soccer. As LIVE as the cricket on TEN Sport. Meanwhile there's NOTHING live on Zee in the past month.

Miss XYZ: We are aware of that, and will definitely inform control room

Inform, but how many times?

 

[Arjun]

Actually, we are talking solutions and not just problems in the India-South Africa thread.

Really looking forward to the Bengal-Mumbai (Ganguly, Sharma, Powar) and Delhi-UP (Gambhir, Nehra, Chawla) matches in the next round.

The solutions will only come from here.

Mumbai v/s Bengal:

• Ganguly– Does he have a chance? Not in ODI's! But still worth a watch, for entertainment.
• Powar– He's an obvious pick, but Vengsarkar and Raju think otherwise. For some reason.
• Rohit Sharma– Can he build on his India A form?
• Waingankar– Another fast bowler with a scholarship. Can he be whatwe had expected of Salvi?
• Dinda– Who is he? And how fast?

Delhi v/s UP:

• Gambhir– Yet another chance to prove his exclusion was a shocker.
• Bhatia– In good batting form and also useful as a stock seamer.
• Dahiya– Still far from national selection, but scoring big runs.
• Ishant Sharma– He's tall. He's young. He's reasonably fast. But not too strong. Still a key player.
• Chawla– Prodigious young leg-spinner still requiring refinement. Also good on the field and even the bat. Leg-spinning allrounders are difficult to catch.
• Pravin Kumar– The Indian version of Afridi and a more-than-useful seamer.
• RP Singh– Opening the bowling once more, with another chance to force his way back to the national team with a bagful of wickets.
• Srivastava and the Shuklas– One former U-19, the others current. Resonably experienced.