Indian domestic season 2006-07

[Arjun]

Indeed, with the small grounds in the WI I wouldn't like to see India playing 2 spinners but if Irfan can't find some form, then the opportunity of that happening is increased.

Why not two spinners? If they can take wickets, it's not a bad idea. It's better than having four medium-pacers or a bowler less; that bits-and-pieces combination will simply not do now.

 

[Perm]

Why not two spinners? If they can take wickets, it's not a bad idea. It's better than having four medium-pacers or a bowler less; that bits-and-pieces combination will simply not do now.

Both spinners would have to be bowling quite well for me to choose them in my preferred XI considering the size of the grounds in this tournament, they could quite easily be taken out of the attack in a matter of a couple of balls.

 

[Arjun]

West Zone won that match with some comfort. I couldn't get NEO then. Today, late in the evening, NEO came on my screen, and I missd highlights of a thirller of a match, where South set a target of 270 for the loss of eight wickets, with seamer Bose getting two and spinner Shib Sagar Singh getting two more. East won on the LAST BALL of the match, with Rohan Gavaskar unbeaten on 79 and young opener Aziz scoring 56 off 37. With Asnodkar getting a century and Rohan hanging on till the last ball, you know it was a bad day for bowlers.

 

[adharcric]

Parvez Aziz looks pretty damn exciting. Can't wait to see him in action.

 

[Perm]

Swapnil Asnodkar seemed very impressive in the last game, 3 hundreds from 29 innings with an average of 49.60. Anybody here know anything about him?

 

[adharcric]

Arjun claims he's just lucky. I'd rather see him in action before making a judgment.

 

[Arjun]

Debasis Mohanty (Remember him? He's back, with long hair) is getting excess movement on both sides. The pace is obviously not there, but he's been very frugal and has looked like taking a wicket nearly every ball. The only disapointment is that he dropped a C&B chance.

 

[Arjun]

East Zone's fielders are putting in a lot of effort out in the field. New seamer Mihir Diwakar from Jharkhand has a good OD record. He lacks pace (again), and comes in from a little outside the stumps and gets a good angle. That lack of pace, however, allowed the freakish Yusuf Pathan to lightly edge the ball over the vacant slip cordon. This JH bloke seems a good find.

EDIT: This match is happening in Mumbai, but I'm home, housekeeping. Then again, I get to see a lot more on TV
EDIT PLUS: Yusuf hit a six off the fifth ball

 

[adharcric]

Keep the updates going Arjun. Cricinfo seems to have abandoned this match.

 

[Arjun]

There were two horrific run-outs, with yes-no interactions. In both cases, key batsmen were victims. First the hard-hitting (and in-form) Yusuf Pathan, then Rohit Sharma. In either case, the other batsman was a left-hander and has looked a misfit in the middle. Hrishiklesh Kanitkar and Parthiv Patel looked totally out of sorts but for a few bad balls bowled.

Even as I type, part-timer Jhunjhunwala bowls two short balls which are spanked by Parthiv. One was hit for four.

SCORE: West 155/6 (Pathan 55)

 

[Arjun]

Fielders in East are sliding and and diving...like...no current Indian ODI player. In contrast, the supposedly superior West batsmen have been dreadful between wickets.

Sourashish Lahiri is bowling a sticky line and length, with the odd variation. He's bowling very economically, giving little away, but the batsmen are not doing much. Even as I type, Parthiv does a top-edge sweep. His previous attempts at big hits have just goine straight up and luckily for West, landed safely.

 

[Arjun]

Mohanty bowls a little faster and Parthiv scoops over point. It dosn't goo too high or far, predictably. Two fielders converge and stop the ball, saving a run. Then again, are they playing football near the boundary? This bad habit has to be eradicated all the way down to school and club cricket.

 

[Arjun]

The tick and the tock keep West afloat, as Parthiv and Bahutule keep ticking over singles. East could have crushed them with their main bowlers or given Shukla an extension (he was getting decent pace for a frontline batsman) but instead, Rohan and Jhunjhunwala bowl nine overs between them, also cutting out two overs by the main bowlers. Another classic case of good work done by the main bowlers ruined by rubbish from part-timers comes up.

EDIT: Diwakar is on. His first over went for 15 runs and the next six, for just 21. He's not too quick, as I mentioned, but he's tight and the batsmen (now Parthiv) are having a tough time getting him away. Besides, the number of no-balls and wides was very low, most of them (six or so) coming near the end.

 

[Arjun]

Bahutule's lack of hitting power came into view as he tried to smash Diwakar over long-off and Bose came in to catch him, but the ball cleared him as he slipped, going to the boundary. Then Diwakar bowled one that hit him on the helmet. This bloke from the East may be one to watch, post-World Cup.

 

[Arjun]

West all out for 239. Bahutule top-scores with 56 off 55, and then Patel gets 46. These two made a partnership of 93.

East are 10/1 with Aziz out early to Patel. The Baroda seamer is the fastest, at a little over 133.

 

[Arjun]

Now Trivedi gets the second wicket, a caught-behind. East are at 20/2 now, and it's uphill for them, as the pitch is getting slower and the West team has three spin options, apart from the three seamers.

 

[Arjun]

Rakesh Patel is attacking the stumps and almost got a leg-before off Rohan Gavaskar his way. He finished a maiden over. Arun Lal is very impressed with him, and thinks he's a national prospect.

 

[Arjun]

East all out for 134. Tame collapse, and since the Bengal youngsters Tiwari and Jhunjhunwala were out cheaply, they were never really in the hunt. Rohan Gavaskar provided some resistance, but just that. Nothing to change the course of the match.

The top bowler was Bahutule with four wickets. None of those wickets were earned, as they were either out of dubious decisions or bad batting. The bowler to watch was seamer Rakesh Patel. He bowled a very tight line and got a little movement both ways. He was getting good pace (not tearaway stuff, though) and made the batsmen play at everything. What we find missing in the Indian team's top seamers was visible when he was bowling, and not surprisingly, Arun Lal said that he should be in contention for a place in the national team. He's also quite tall and muscular.

 

[Arjun]

Now, there's Central v/s South on. Central got to 239 with some difficulty, with another 50 by Khanolkar. For some reason, Praveen Kumar is missing again. The batting was brittle once again, and the gamble of opening with a wicketkeeper didn't work. Lower-order contributions by Chawla, Yadav and the tailenders got Central up to a decent score. RP Singh pulled, hooked and scooped to stretch them. The top bowler on display was Sahabuddin, bowling at less than 120k (name ANY Indian seamer who has real pace) and getting good movement.

Even as I type, RP Singh finished an over with just three runs and decent pace. Srivastava's first over had three boundaries (including a HORRIBLE misfield by Monish Mishra) and two wides.

 

[Arjun]

An aggressive attempt at a single by Asnodkar has Khanolkar in action, diving with a direct hit having the Goa opener out.

South Zone at 27/1. Now here's a surprise. Sahabuddin is in as a pinch-hitter, predictably to attack and keep the momentum going.