Indian Domestic Season 2010-11

[Arjun]

UP is all out for a paltry 190. I haven't yet got to check how Baroda took the last wicket.

Sudeep Tyagi is working up decent pace, but still under the 140k mark. RP Singh bowled well to open, but at the other end, Bhuv Kumar was not up to the mark, giving Baroda's openers a chance to build a start- until a drive-deflect runout sent back Connor Williams. He's still playing for Baroda, for over a decade.

They've sent in Murtuza Vahora, their opening bowler, as night watchman.

Now Mohammed Kaif is having a horrendous day one of this game. After a zero with the bat, he's been a minus on the field. He dropped not one, but two catches, including one off Chawla, that could send back Vahora. Chawla bowled well so far without luck. He wasn't too smart when he batted, though, throwing his wicket away.

 

[Arjun]

Before tea, a clip showed tea poured from a flask to a paper cup, which tipped over the cup- some tea break indicator, this!

We can't get end-of-day scores right now on Cricinfo or any other place, but Baroda finished at 55/1. The new opener is unbeaten, with Murtuza Vahora trying to score runs.

 

[Manee]

Kulkarni.

You are not Manee

Woah, hold the phone. I do think RVK > Kulkarni. It is just that RVK's chances of a Test selection are so low that it is best to be realistic and support the dude who has been on a Test tour for India recently (New Zealand) and it is not incredibly poorly labelled as a T20 or ODI specialist.

 

[Manee]

Munaf Patel has ripped through the top four of Uttar Pradesh, including a scalp of Kaif for no score. He's been doing this bowling tight, stump to stump, getting thin movement, but lacked pace- he hasn't hit the 130k mark yet, let alone the 145k mark he used to hit in mid-2006. Most of Baroda's attack is medium-pace, and they've often been called for suspect actions.

Couldn't care what pace Munaf is bowling, as long as he gets Ranji Super League wickets on a consistent basis and proves fitness, he can have a Test spot. Sreesanth has done neither, ever, and he has had the honour of playing Test cricket, whenever fit.

 

[Cevno]

Abhinav Mukund and Arun Karthik have both scored centuries for Tamil Nadu today.

Have been impressed by Mukund as many times i have seen him, and have mentioned it several times too. He was picked in the squad for the 3rd test of Australia series as well.

 

[Arjun]

Woah, hold the phone. I do think RVK > Kulkarni. It is just that RVK's chances of a Test selection are so low that it is best to be realistic and support the dude who has been on a Test tour for India recently (New Zealand) and it is not incredibly poorly labelled as a T20 or ODI specialist.

Why should his chances be so low? He's good enough, and fills most checkboxes, except pace (most Indians leave this blank anyway, and this can be worked on) and has everything in his favour. He's played over five seasons, 50 FC matches, and taken over 200 wickets, and is useful without the ball and across formats as well, so there's no reason why he shouldn't make it. If he can't, it doesn't speak well of the Indian selectors, who seem to put other factors like age and captain's inner circle over performance, pedigree and relevance. That's why a less-than-average, flat-bowling slow left-armer like Ojha gets picked ahead of all of Murali Kartik, Amit Mishra, Ramesh Powar, Kulamani Parida and Piyush Chawla. If you're good enough, you're young enough.

How many seasons has Kulkarni played? Two, maybe two and a half. That's not enough. He's been on that tour of New Zealand, but so has Amit Mishra, who's struggling to gain a place in the Test team that should be his. He's far from the finished product, already underpowered, and a few seasons and A-team tours, and stints in England and New Zealand (he was there for a game) where he's actively playing and not watching from the bench will do him some good. We've seen them get it wrong with Dinda, Tyagi, Mithun and Umesh Yadav, and may get it wrong with Unadkat again.

 

[Arjun]

Vinay Kumar has top-scored with a fifty against Haryana, who are otherwise running through the much stronger Karnataka side. Maybe much stronger, as you'd hardly call a selection with Brijesh Patel Jr as strong. Robin Uthappa, branded a T20 specialist and lower-order blaster, is accumulating the runs in the Ranji Trophy, and now the leading run-scorer for his team this season. IPL find Manish Pandey, who impressed last Ranji, hasn't quite been as emphatic this year. Joginder Sharma and his opening partner Budhwar took four each, and are doing well in the Elite league so far, but Joginder's been short of runs. Their other all-rounder, Sachin Rana, has returned from an injury and not taken a wicket yet. Haryana have another journeyman player, Hemang Badani, to bolster their batting ranks, and he's doing well this season.

Baroda have taken the lead here, at 230/4. Rayudu, at six, has outscored (72*) the number three, Devdhar (50*), and they're standing firm against the UP bowlers. Chawla bowled well, and so have RP Singh and Tyagi, but the pace has been found wanting from all but Tyagi. RP Singh was bowling mostly in the 120ks, though he kept it largely tight and had the Baroda batsmen in check. Tyagi took most of the wickets, with the Baroda batsmen not able to cope with the bounce he got. The excitement in the game vanished as Yusuf Pathan, fresh from an explosive 195* and this five-for, was out for just 15 in nine balls, chopping one Tyagi delivery on the stumps trying to cut.

 

[Arjun]

UP has been catching well. Most of their catches have come either in slips or behind. One notable pla was against Rayudu- Tyagi bowled well short to Rayudu, who pulled and was out in the outfield. Kaif took two easy ones in the slips, where he has fielded regularly in the last few seasons. Good innings were played by Devdhar and Rayudu, both missing centuries, and they were all out for 309. Two innings down with less than a session in the second day, indicate that this game has a chance of a result. Tyagi has been bowling well, while Bhuv Kumar has got a lot despite absolute lack of pace, but RP Singh hasn't had it so good, which is disappointing, as he's a more experienced and accomplished bowler than these two. The spinners bowled well without luck. Neither team's ground fielding was tested across these sessions, and their catching at different heights has been good.

 

[Arjun]

Couldn't care what pace Munaf is bowling, as long as he gets Ranji Super League wickets on a consistent basis and proves fitness, he can have a Test spot. Sreesanth has done neither, ever, and he has had the honour of playing Test cricket, whenever fit.

You don't need Munaf Patel to bowl so slow and get wickets- you can get that much out of batsmen, run-scoring bowlers, good fielders and domestic veterans like Ranadeb Bose. None of those can get the kind of pace Munaf can get- or got, when he made his debut. When he played six Test matches across 2006, he averaged under 30 and struck at exactly 60. Then he began bowling slowly, and struggled to take wickets. When he's bowling slow, he's no threat, even to the tail, and he's underperforming, as he's a lot faster than this. Besides, he doesn't offer anything when he isn't bowling, so he needs to be bowling at that pace he clocked in 2006, all the time.

 

[Arjun]

Joginder Sharma and Sanjay Budhwar have five wickets each, as they routed Karnataka for just 222. Now Karnataka have struck back, pinning Haryana at 100/3, with rookie Mithun and veteran Joshi sharing the wickets. A funny thing about this Karnataka side is that their leading run-scorer in FC cricket is their strike spinner, Sunil Joshi!

 

[jashan83]

HP scored 473 against Punjab. Don know what has happened to the Punjab team. They seem to have lost all the fire in them

 

[Arjun]

HP scored 473 against Punjab. Don know what has happened to the Punjab team. They seem to have lost all the fire in them

Punjab may have lost their sting after they lost several players to the ICL. Even since, they've missed Gagandeep Singh, VRV Singh and Harbhajan, although the return of Yuvraj should help them. Their bowling attack has often been their weakness lately, and with medium-pacers like Harmeet Singh and Jaskaran Singh leading their attack, it isn't encouraging. Their spinners seem decent, but their pace attack is weak, and they lack a full-fledged all-rounder.

 

[Arjun]

Go for the ten, Yusuf! One wicket left.

UP, at 279-8, are 160 runs ahead. They started off well, negotiating the Baroda seam attack neatly, until Yusuf Pathan took four wickets, chipping away at their top order. Only opener Tanmay and middle-order bat Bhuvaneshwar Kumar passed 50, while Chawla, too eager to attack, didn't last too long, despite getting set. He's had a disappointing Ranji Trophy this year with the ball, and unspectacular with the bat. The day had its fair share of poor cricket, with difficult catches not taken (Yusuf Pathan and a slipper not taking), a few misfields (point rolled all over a cut), lazy running (one for a chance of two a few times) and poor shot selection (Chawla's over-attacking and Bhuv's poor judgement against Munaf), but the match is set up nicely for a result.

 

[Arjun]

Abhinav Mukund and Arun Karthik have both scored centuries for Tamil Nadu today.

Have been impressed by Mukund as many times i have seen him, and have mentioned it several times too. He was picked in the squad for the 3rd test of Australia series as well.

Tamil Nadu appears to be a potential supply line for the Indian team. They already have Vijay playing Tests and Dinesh Karthik as a reserve, and then there's opener Mukund, middle-order stalwart Badrinath, offie with runs Ashwin, old hand seamer Balaji and to stretch it, Ganapathy as your batsman who can turn in some seam up. They could have had Vidyut SRK as well, but he's shifted to Goa and hasn't done so well since. The selectors ought to look here to build a team, rather than look at fresh graduates from U-19s- we're talking about Unadkat, Yadav, Mithun, Tyagi and the likes.

 

[Arjun]

It was a tense final day. Sudeep Tyagi bowled well, getting good bounce and movement to unsettle and thus scalp the Baroda top order. Chasing an easy 179, they were undone by Sudeep Tyagi, and lost several top order players for little. The only one who could save Baroda was Yusuf Pathan, who balanced caution with his trademark flamboyance. He had to go over the fence more often, just to keep the tailenders off strike. Eventually, he too fell to the Tyagi-Bhuvanesh duo (who took all ten wickets) and beyond him, the flimsy tail end was crushed.

 

[vcs]

That Baroda-UP match was awesome. Caught a bit of it and the India-Pakistan hockey match () while flipping channels during the Test.

 

[honestbharani]

It was a tense final day. Sudeep Tyagi bowled well, getting good bounce and movement to unsettle and thus scalp the Baroda top order. Chasing an easy 179, they were undone by Sudeep Tyagi, and lost several top order players for little. The only one who could save Baroda was Yusuf Pathan, who balanced caution with his trademark flamboyance. He had to go over the fence more often, just to keep the tailenders off strike. Eventually, he too fell to the Tyagi-Bhuvanesh duo (who took all ten wickets) and beyond him, the flimsy tail end was crushed.

He got reprieves of each off the first 3 balls he faced. He is worse than Ravi Jadeja if that is possible..

 

[Arjun]

That Baroda-UP match was awesome. Caught a bit of it and the India-Pakistan hockey match () while flipping channels during the Test.

The next match is Himachal Pradesh vs Uttar Pradesh. That's short for a boring Himachal Pradesh vs Uttar Pradesh without Raina and Praveen Kumar. Not surprisingly, many fans will switch to the ODIs going on.

He got reprieves of each off the first 3 balls he faced. He is worse than Ravi Jadeja if that is possible..

He offered three catching chances trying to hit sixes. He can only play one way. After all, he's Yusuf Pathan. Those dropped catches are entirely due to the fielders' ineptitude, rather than the batsman's mistakes. The match was full of dropped catches, misfields and poor running.

 

[Cevno]

Dawn of an era: Anil Kumble & Co sweep KSCA election - Sport - DNA


Anil Kumble is the new president of the Karnataka cricket association,while Srinath is the new secretary after their group including Venkatesh Prasad too won the elections and most seats though by small margins in some cases.

This is great for indian cricket and hopefully more cricketers get at the helm of the associations rather than politicians or even unconcerned businessmen.
Kumble i am sure will be a fantastic president for the KSCA.

 

[ramkumar_gr]

Tamilnadu vs Railways

Can't wait for this match. I had always loved Railways playing at Chepauk. I had met Harvinder Singh once, had the chance to chat with him for a while, sad he had faded away, such a good bowler in his prime. My all time favourite is Sanjay Bangar, a real workhorse.

guys, any thoughts why we don't have 2 teams from TN. Chennai and Tamilnadu, similiar to Andhra and Hyderabad, Mumbai and Maharashtra.

There are definitely 11 people sitting out of TN who could easily make a better team than many pretenders in Ranji at present.