Indian domestic season 2006-07

[Arjun]

It's not like the other Irfan has pace now either, so now one more thing is common about them

Safi isn't much of a batsman, and like most Baroda stalwarts, very average on the field. I'm not sure how fast their frontline bowler Rakesh Patel is, given how close he's often been to a national call-up.

 

[Arjun]

MUMBAI: Zero points from two matches. Danger of relegation. This is the Platinum Jubilee year of a team that's been the strongest for many years. Who knows what's next.

On a flat wicket, they chose to go in with four bowlers, and it backfired badly. Both opening bowlers were found wanting, and the spinners tried very hard to make a mark, without any success. They missed the lead by a big margin. They went in with five bowlers in seamer-friendly Mohali, yet Punjab scored 353 and pinched a five-run lead. This team is missing Agarkar, Salvi, Jaffer and most importantly, Tendulkar. And how.

 

[adharcric]

Relegation?! Give me a break, we've only been through two rounds.

 

[Arjun]

Relegation?! Give me a break, we've only been through two rounds.

Their bowlers are not taking wickets quickly and even less when they're oen man down. Their batsmen, even with six specialists a side, are not scoring enough runs. Twice, they've failed to even pinch first-innings leads from the opposition. They're the only team yet to log a point in the table out of all 15 teams.

What I didn't mention last time was that when the ninth wicket fell, Mumbai were 51 runs behind. Then tailender Mandeep Mungela walked in, batted well to stitch a 48-run partnership with Mazumdar, still out there. The partnership was going well until a straight drive by Mungela was deflected by seamer Amanpreet (bowling then) onto the stumps to have Mazumdar run out. Now THAT'S unlucky.

 

[Arjun]

HOW THINGS STACK UP

Delhi: So near, yet so far. Dropped catches (one of them dropped a catch in every match) have often proved costly. Nehra had got fitness issues out of the way and then came this Chindhwad misadventure. Youngster Ishant Sharma has been bowling very well, without much support. The batting has been good, with nothing to complain about. Their main problems are lack of fielding support and a good all-rounder, with Rajat Bhatia called in to bowl stocks of overs quite often.

Uttar Pradesh: Spinner GK Pandey has now retired, so there's place for a young spinner in this team. With just four bowlers, they will struggle to take 20 wickets. They can capitalise on the batting abilities of Piyush Chawla, Pravin Kumar and Amir Khan (their wicketkeeper) and sneak in a fifth bowler, and it won't do their chances any harm. Fielding has been top-notch, as always. The batsmen are not converting their starts which is a cause for concern, and they're using Pravin as a pinch-hitter too often.

Haryana: This young team has been problem-ridden in their second season in Elite. They've done well to claim two points, but should have done better against TN to convert to four. Their slow batting was dreadful, though effective. They've found a new bowling hero in Gaurav Vashisht, the offie, while Joginder continues to impress. Joginder's batting, however, has been found wanting this time, after a successful Duleep, and the rest of the Haryana team are not even getting starts, let alone big scores. Another problem is leggie Mishra's bowling so far, very unlike an India prospect. Fielding is expectedly good.

Karnataka: On a roll, with two victories. Openers Uthappa and Rowland have combined well here. There's nothing special about the rest of the batting, but they've combined to put up good scores. Wicketkeeper Naidu has also scored a few chunks. The bowling has also been quite good, though there's not much to speak about veteran Sunil Joshi, once an India regular. Offie Raghu is one to watch, also seamer Vinay Kumar. You still find Stuart Binny here, but expect them to continue their good show.

Tamil Nadu: Batting has been their main strength so far, but they lost two points to Haryana as wickets fell in a heap. Badrinath continues to impress, as also newcomer opener Vijay Krishnan. Strangely, opener Vidyut (also a useful left-arm spinner) was left out for the last match. The relics in this team have underperformed.

Bengal: Another team banking on youngsters. They've done quite well so far, with Tiwary and Chakraborty getting huge scores. With Ganguly out of action, on national duty, they will need LR Shukla or Sanyal to do the all-round act. Scores have been big, but wickets are not falling too quickly and the absence of SS Paul has been a factor. Seamer Dinda has been a surprise package.

Punjab: They've started with a very average selection and their performances have been a little better than average. Seamer Luv Ablash took five wickets against Gujarat in the second match and missed the third. The taller, stronger Amanpreet impressed against Mumbai. Sodhi hadly ever bowls now. He seems to have passed on the all-round baton to young Ishan Malhotra, who's scoring quickly (but not heavily) and taking wickets to complete ten an innings. Gagandeep's impressive form continues.

Baroda: Looking at this team in action, you know why fans, experts and officials are not too optimistic about the domestic scene. They've gone backwards. They've packed the team with three spinners and two seamers, of which one spinner hardly bowls. The spinners are bowling most often, and adopt a frustrating negative line which won't even earn them points, let alone wins. Yusuf Pathan, an all-rounder and key player in this team, has been reduced to a meaningless role of tailender and restrictive bowler. The good things to come out of this are the form of Connor Williams, Jacob Martin and more so youngster Ketan Panchal.

Hyderabad: Anirudh Singh, Rayudu and opener Ravi Teja have scored lots of runs, but wickets are few and far between.

Maharashtra: No foreign recruits have joined this team yet and key bowler Munaf Patel is on national duty, but Jadhav, Bahutule and a newcomer Dole are performing for this team. They have yet to face tough opposition.

Rajasthan: Vikram Solanki and Kabir Ali have had average performances in these matches (Ali didn't get the last match) but their performance as a team has been dreadful, getting crushed by an under-strength Maharashtra side.

Andhra: Runs are not too many, but wickets taken at regular intervals by Kalyankrishna and Sahabuddin have won them two matches. They have yet to face tougher opposition.

Gujarat: Nothing of note so far, but for wickets taken by Sid Trivedi and runs scored by Niraj Patel. Nothing consistent.

Saurashtra: They're gone. Easily.

 

[Arjun]

Now there's this article by CS Luthra on the Delhi selections. Clearly, the selectors are often arguing, or are not too keen on revealing all to the media.

Six points from the first three home games. Call it a good start or the senseless wisdom of the five wise men running the affairs of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team. Now some players - Yogesh Sachdeva, Rahul Sanghvi, Vijay Dahiya and Amit Bhandari - called the backbone of the team, have either escaped, are dumped or reduced to non-identities.

Bhandari's still a key player, but the others are, as we guessed, useless. Kunal Lal isn't anything special either.

All the selectors, barring absentee Raj Kumar Sharma, decided after their 90-minute meeting on Thursday that their main off-spinner, Sachdeva, who was chosen despite heavy criticism, has suddenly lost his bowling skills, and he has been shown the door. The only offie among the stand-byes, Suhail Sharma, is the replacement.

Asked why Sachdeva was dropped on the basis of only one appearance, he said: "He has not performed well." Pressed further to explain why he was picked in the first place --- Delhi failed to get an outright victory over Baroda just because of him --- Wasan added: "Why do you want us (selectors) to go back and discuss this issue again when this chapter is closed? Even we're disappointed with the result."

At last, the chairman of selectors has admitted that it was Sachdeva who was to blame for Delhi's dismal show against Baroda.

That selection has haunted them a great deal. Sachdeva is the son of a prominent DDCA official. Clearly, a star-son and nothing more. The pieces say it all.

Wasan has a different yardstick for another spinner, former India player Sanghvi, who has looked as pedestrian as Sachdeva in the only match he played this season. "He could be of need if we have an under-prepared track for the next home game," said Wasan.

From an India bowler, Sanghvi has now come to a situation where he needs Delhi to give him "helpful" wickets to survive!

This is what's wrong with domestic cricket in India. They pick old relic spinners and then prepare helpful wickets to look good. Why not give such chances to younger spinners instead? Sanghvi is not even a North Zone prospect now. If the scene has to improve, let them pick future North/India prospects.

Wasan also proudly announced that Bhandari has been kept as the fourth pacer. "Isn't it good for Delhi that a like Amit has to struggle for his place?"

Wasan also challenged HT to produce Bhandari's adverse fitness report, which the newspaper had accessed before the start of the season. "I've not seen any such report." he said. However, DDCA Sports Secretary Sunil Dev admitted that he had received that report, and Wasan beat a hasty retreat. One senior selector told HT that Sanghvi would be shown the door soon. "We need time to get rid of the deadwood," he said. "Dahiya has retired, and the others (veterans) also have to think on those lines."

Cracks in the setup? Maybe. Anyway, some selector knows what's really wrong with the scene there.

 

[adharcric]

The highlight of the day's play was Robin Uthappa's blistering, unbeaten 161 against a Delhi attack which had fared well thus far with Ashish Nehra and Ishant Sharma leading the way. Among the bowlers, Joginder Sharma dominated the famed UP lineup with a spell in which he took 7 for 28. A certain Mumbai side also capitulated in face of a weak Hyderabad attack, getting bowled out only 115. Finally, Parthiv Patel is unbeaten on 97 against Bengal.

 

[Arjun]

There's a lot that Ishant can now learn, since a batsman has taken the attack to him. It's good to see middle-order batsman Rajat Bhatia continue to bowl stocks of overs for Delhi. There's talk of Bhandari on his way out of the Delhi team, but Kunnal Lall (I hate numerological spellings!) isn't much of a North Zone prospect himself, and contributes even less value than a retiring Bhandari.

Joginder is surely a Test contender, after this series. He adds a lot of value to his place in the team, being a frontline bowler and scoring quick runs. While all-round abilities were never in doubt, his impressive run of form with the ball should have him rushed into the national team, in Tests and ODI's, as a third seamer, and that gives the option of playing both spinners at home and away. That said, let the Ranji Trophy finish; then he's ready for higher action.

Mumbai surely is missing their stalwarts. Why they have fallen for the bug of opening with a wicketkeeper, only Pravin Amre can answer, but it has failed. Mazumdar wasn't so useful this time, but he's done a lot better than the rest of the team. It was disappointing (more or less dreadful) seeing them capitulate against an unbalanced, bits-and-pieces team like Hyderabad, themselves a one-man team.

After Ganguly, Laxmiratan Shukla is contributing stocks of overs for Bengal, and has picked up a wicket. Manoj Tiwary and Rohan Gavaskar, both part-timers, were smashed. It's surprising to see Vidyut missing from the team. He can score quickly from the middle-order and also bowls regularly, and is a good fielder. Baroda seem to have decided to play for first-innings leads rather than victories. Another name to watch is Ishan Malhatra from Punjab.

 

[Arjun]

WE HAVE A RESULT!!!

Haryana have won by an innings and 88 runs, skittling out UP for just 178 in their second innings. Joginder completed his ten wickets for the match and fixed his no-ball problem; hopefully it own't get unfixed again. He only scored twelve at number eight, but scored quickly as Haryana put up a relatively challenging total of 337. Piyush Chawla scored 24 and Pravin Kumar hung on a little longer, scoring 25 with a four and two sixes, but none of the top order did anything substantial.

Elsewhere, there's a huge total of 342 posted by Andhra and Baroda spinner Rajesh Pawar grabbed seven wickets, bowling a large stock of overs. Baroda are at 33 for no loss now, crawling.

Tamil Nadu declared exactly at 500 for eight. From position three, the scores read 89, 109, 93, 80 and 64. The century was scored by the retiring Sharath. The bowling, however, wasn't too good, struggling to get a wicket as Saurashtra, depsite opening with a wicketkeeper, posted 70 for no loss.

Parthiv Patel completed a century aganist Bengal, as Gujarat were all out for 329. "Don't forget me!" was seen in Laxmi Ratan Shukla's performance, as he bowled 14 overs and took two wickets, then scored 50 (the only one in the Bengal innings) from seven, just like Ganguly, before his recall.

Swapnil Hazare is the top bowler with two wickets for 52, which shows how the Mumbai bowlers struggled against Hyderabad, now at 253 for five. Youngster Waingankar took one wicket for 55, while Ramesh Powar finally took two wickets, for 62.

Punjab posted a crushing total of 550, with Dharmani scoring a century and spinner Vipul Sharma getting one in the 90's. Ishan Malhatra scored a slow 27, with the regulation six. Maharashtra spinners bowled 97 out of the 161 overs (not including part-timer Sriram) and took eight wickets for 296 runs.

At least it's only the end of the second day, so it's not another draw-fest.

 

[Arjun]

FROM THE PRESS:

Delhi v/s Karnataka: Ishant Sharma was unlucky not to get a single edge on the first day, but Nehra picked up two wickets in his second over. Shikhar Dhawan dropped one more catch as Raghu was on 47 and Raghu eventually made 87. Kunal Lal bowled just six overs and stepped out with a side strain.

Mumbai v/s Hyderabad: The Mumbai batsmen showed little or no application as they threw away their wicekts too soon. The ball was initially keeping low and most of the wicekts were catches offered behind, either to slips or keeper.

 

[Arjun]

Thilak Naidu smashed a century, and his innings had pulls, square cuts, late cuts and he scored 18 runs off one Nehra over, though Nehra was tiring then. In a last wicket partnership, he scored 81 of the 83 runs. Starting a little cautiously, he got set and then cut loose. Spinner Nanda was off-colour today, but nobody will question his selection, since he was their highest wicket-taker last season and no star-son, unlike the one replaced.

 

[Arjun]

Round Five is on...still nothing on television. Mumbai have started well, now at 96 for 2, at home against an under-strength Gujarat team. Opener Sahil Kukreja is unbeaten on 50, and Mane's out for 33. Thankfully we haven't seen a wicketkeeper open. Mumbai have three all-rounders in Wilkin Mota, Abhishek Nair and the famous Ramesh Powar ,with Swapnil Hazare being the lead seamer. They could have played Waingankar instead or had a four-seam attack and prepared a grassy/bouncy pitch.

 

[adharcric]

Sharma and Pujara doing well at the moment. Really hope the two of them go on for big ones.

 

[Arjun]

Good to see Sharma get three figures when Mumbai needed it most. Not so good to see the Delhi attack suffer, especially with one old relic scoring big.

 

[adharcric]

Rather pathetic that the Duleep Trophy was scheduled before the Ranji Trophy. It's like the all-star game or pro bowl being held before the start of the season - absurd.

 

[adharcric]

Pujara went on for 138 and Sharma unbeaten with a double ton. Good stuff.

 

[Arjun]

Pujara went on for 138 and Sharma unbeaten with a double ton. Good stuff.

Pujara's success with the bat isn't a good thing. We've got far too many batsmen of similar quality lining up for the Indian team. The team needs better seamers (dwarfs like Agarkar and the injury-prone Munaf are not a solution, but a problem) and Ishant Sharma is a sure-shot prospect, and he's had a dreadful match here. It's another flat pitch aimed at breeding a draw rather than forcing a victory, which prepares neither the batsmen nor the bowlers for the Test or ODI demands.

 

[adharcric]

The pitch may be a concern, but Pujara doing well is definitely a good thing. Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman and Ganguly will be gone in a few years and these are the guys who will have to replace them ... Yuvraj, Kaif, Rao, Badrinath, Dhawan, Sharma, Raina, Pujara, Srivastava, Kohli, ...

Of course, I hope Ishant Sharma does well and gets lively pitches to bowl on. He looks like a good prospect but he really needs to put some meat on his body - from what I've seen, he looks like a starving African orphan. (no offense intended) Not exactly what you want from a potential strike bowler. 5 matches, 22 wickets @ 21.90 looks mighty good for a debut effort.

 

[V Reddy]

Arjun, any info on Andhra's Opening bowlers? They have been running thru sides regularly and have a very good domestic record.

 

[Arjun]

Here's an input from the Hindustan Times cricket site. They say Mithun Manhas made the wrong call at the toss with his selection.

From Hindustan Times
Delhi skipper Mithun Manhas probably wished a wrong gift from Santa Claus - instead of asking for a win over Saurashtra, he probably asked for luck at the toss on a greenish wicket.

He did win the toss, but went wrong with his team selection. Judging by the way the wicket behaved, he must be ruing his choice of three seamers for the match, as Saurashtra finished the first day's play on 284 for three.

Sitanshu Kotak was unbeaten on 92 while young Cheteshwar Pujara knocked up an entertaining 85. Before them, opener Sagar Jogyani had spanked the Delhi attack with his 61.

Despite the greenish hue of the track, it had not assisted pacers in the season's earlier games. Manhas chose to gamble with three medium-pacers - Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma and Amit Bhandari - and a spinner, Suhail Sharma, who was surprisingly chosen ahead of Chetnya Nanda.

Offie Suhail got to make his debut simply because Saurashtra have three left-handers in their squad, but anyone watching Bhandari's indifferent show with the ball and in the field would have wondered why Delhi preferred him over a second spinner.

Right from the start of the Saurashtra innings, both Nehra and Ishant failed to get any assistance from the wicket despite not lacking in effort. Nehra finally got the breakthrough when he removed Kanaiya Vaghela for 17 in his seventh over, following it up with the wicket of Prashant Joshi in his very next over.

However, the Saurashtra batsmen never looked uncomfortable: Jogyani and Kotak, in fact, forced Manhas to look out for other bowling options, and thus Bhandari got to bowl his first over in competitive cricket for over six months, after his shoulder surgery.

Anyone who has seen a fully fit Bhandari in action would have been shocked at the pacer's present condition. Though he did try his best, from taking a long run-up to bending his back a little extra, he did not seem fit enough to do that extra bit that could have got him the wickets.

It is time the Delhi selection committee takes a serious re-look at the way they are selecting the team.

Delhi got their third wicket when Ishant deceived a well-set Jogyani with a yorker. After that, Kotak played true to his reputation, rotating the strike with his soft touches, while Pujara was clearly the pick of the day with his 130-ball 85. The India Under-19 star would thank Suhail for dropping him off his own bowling at 24, but he otherwise looked very much on course to repeat his last-match feat of 177 against Tamil Nadu.