Indian Domestic Season 2011/2012

[Arjun]

Surely this would have been the perfect game for Yadav and Aaron to get some match practice in. Also depressing that by what I've read, Sangwan was the only one to cross 130kph with consistency. Fair enough that Pathan is coming back from injury but the likes of Pankaj Singh and Unadkat will surely never be prospects at 125kph. Unless you are a master of variation like Mascharanas, Harvey or Hollioake, I do not think there is a place for someone in the ODI game at 125kph unless they are something special.

India do have bowlers who bowl consistently over 130kph and this should be the reduced pool from who we select. The likes of Shami Ahmed has barely played domestic cricket but timed at 141kph in the IPL - maybe we should be looking for people like him.

I do hate to be the one to disregard domestic records but you are quite simply not an ODI prospect as a specialist bowler if you bowl no more than 125kph.

We've tried to make prospects out of Dinda, Tyagi, Gony, Mukund and Umesh. None of them are even remotely international standard. They bowl no faster than 132k, and seriously lack accuracy and variation. Instead of picking rubbish bowlers merely on a little pace, it's better to pick those who chip wickets away regularly and boost their pace, or pick a medium-pacer on batting, as it adds a little balance.

The fans are dreaming of real pace with Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav. Those two can't even bowl straight! And the fans think they're better than successful bowlers like Vinay Kumar...Shami Ahmed bowled a couple of deliveries over 141K, but doesn't have the wickets- maybe fewer than his 140K+ deliveries. And Abu Nechim. And Abid Nabi.

 

[Arjun]

Selections in this Challenger Nonsense are getting worse. That Jalaj Saxena isn't even good enough for an IPL side and we have him as a national prospect.

When the first game started, the seamers got tonked around while the spinners held their own and finished thirty overs for under 150. Since that innings, however, slower bowlers have been tapped around for more than six runs an over, and have squandered the advantage that the then-performing pacers built up.

A dreadful stroke- Harbhajan hasn't even scored a run, and on his fifth delivery, he's tried a reverse-sweep and is out caught. Dire

 

[Arjun]

Greenhorns are all out for 170. Seven out of ten wickets fell to dreadful shots. Most of them tried to be too innovative (Harbhajan, Gautam) or lacked the striking power (Kaif, Mithun- who hit a six earlier), and one horrendous running attempt that had Monish Mishra run out halfway. It's been a good innings for Yusuf Pathan, who took four wickets and also two catches, but the bowling hasn't been exceptional. Except for Uthappa and Harbhajan (and maybe Abdulla), none of these are national prospects, and it shows. Twelve overs wasted, and we have some India Red batting until the actual break.

 

[Manee]

We've tried to make prospects out of Dinda, Tyagi, Gony, Mukund and Umesh. None of them are even remotely international standard. They bowl no faster than 132k, and seriously lack accuracy and variation. Instead of picking rubbish bowlers merely on a little pace, it's better to pick those who chip wickets away regularly and boost their pace, or pick a medium-pacer on batting, as it adds a little balance.

Mukund? Dinda and Yadav both bowled 140kph against Zimbabwe. Tyagi also bowls at 135kph. Gony was never quick. Dinda has a good slower ball.

The fans are dreaming of real pace with Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav. Those two can't even bowl straight! And the fans think they're better than successful bowlers like Vinay Kumar...Shami Ahmed bowled a couple of deliveries over 141K, but doesn't have the wickets- maybe fewer than his 140K+ deliveries. And Abu Nechim. And Abid Nabi.

Vinay got destroyed by England. He was piss poor.

 

[Arjun]

Mukund? Dinda and Yadav both bowled 140kph against Zimbabwe. Tyagi also bowls at 135kph. Gony was never quick. Dinda has a good slower ball.

Mithun, actually. All of them bowl 140k, but don't get wickets. Dinda has a first-class and List-A average over 30! Hardly encouraging. Worse than VRV Singh, a bowler picked only on the promise of pace but had absolutely nothing going for him. It's like picking a batsman who can't get you fifties and hundreds, only because he's good for hitting a few sixes out of the ground. All of these bowlers have had just two or three seasons, and two more seasons will have them flattened out.

Vinay just had one poor series, in a series where everyone was in poor form. Hardly something to judge. We've seen oodles of chances given to Jadeja at the expense of proper spinners- and there are a few in India. There are no real pacers, so one poor series is no excuse at all to drop someone who's the best seamer in India outside of internationals. Six good seasons of domestic/reserves cricket shouldn't be cancelled out by three poor matches in England on flat decks.

Instead of picking these rubbish so-called pacers, pick a bowler who's got accuracy and variations, and boost his pace.

 

[Daemon]

Got to stop looking for that awesome gun quick, we're doing what Australia has done with it's spinners in recent times. Got to give Vinay at least one more series imo.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

.... Worse than VRV Singh, a bowler picked only on the promise of pace but had absolutely nothing going for him. It's like picking a batsman who can't get you fifties and hundreds, only because he's good for hitting a few sixes out of the ground.

....
Instead of picking these rubbish so-called pacers, pick a bowler who's got accuracy and
variations, and boost his pace.

Got to stop looking for that awesome gun quick, we're doing what Australia has done with it's spinners in recent times. Got to give Vinay at least one more series imo.

Yeah, good points. Ideally, a genuinely quick guy who can nip it around and maintain good control would be great. But let's be honest, shall we? It's not like Trueman and Lillee are waiting in the ranks to be absorbed into the Indian team.

Got to make the best of what one's got. In most cases, a bowler who's not been through a proper indoctrination at the f/c level would find test cricket very hard. Better to pick guys on merit and look to improve on their attributes. I'm certain that the two Kumars - Praveen and Vinay - can add a yard or two of pace with some fine tuning. The former is a formidable prospect, notwithstanding his modest speed.

 

[Daemon]

The two new balls rule won't hurt Praveen.

 

[Arjun]

Pitches like these will hurt any bowler. For over 30 overs, a run-rate over eight was sustained. What was the curator thinking?

 

[nsniks]

Chawla played a blinder yesterday and match ended in a tie. Still no use of this challenger trophy this year with many of the top domestic talents missing.

 

[nikodas]

Hope the team gets selected in a proper balanced manner. We're going to need great performances to take on this England side!

 

[Arjun]

The Challenger Trophy has lost all relevance and credibility. What was the best team and had the best players was eliminated, and neither of the two teams in the finals were balanced or full. You can't pick an India side on the basis of this.

Another tournament struggling to stay relevant begins tomorrow. It's the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, a domestic T20 event without any top players, whose best performances are ignored even by IPL franchises.

 

[nsniks]

^^^^^^^ Whats more disappointing is that IPL franchisee scout for foreign talents whereas they completely ignore the performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy

 

[Arjun]

^Let's start a feature on that. "Indian Premier League- Nothing Indian about it?"

But the SMAT suffers from lack of availability of top Indian players. We've seen some of the top players struggle in the IPL- Parameshwaran was eaten up by RCB, while Monish Mishra has been patchy. Indians, in general, play very little T20 cricket, contrary to what the jazzy IPL images show.

 

[Arjun]

The two new quicks, Aaron and Umesh, come from nondescript, bottom-tier teams in India. Aaron comes from Jharkhand, while Umesh represents Vidarbha. There's hardly much exposure to quality cricket, especially when their teams get knocked out early. Would you recommend these two going elsewhere? Aaron, though, has a better system to depend on at Jharkhand, as the steel state does invest a lot in sports. Moreover, Jharkhand won the last Vijay Hazare Trophy and his contribution was significant. They won't stand much of a chance in the Ranji Trophy, though. It's even worse for Umesh Yadav, who plays for a very weak state association, which is essentially an offshoot of Maharashtra. He'd help himself by travelling to a stronger state, particularly Rajasthan or Baroda, or MP, who have a better chance of graduating to the Super League and staying there.

 

[indian_legend]

The Challenger Trophy format needs a change. It should be played at a time when we arent playing any international matches and it should be contested by the Indian team, India A team and the India u-23 team. The teams will look something like (assuming Sehwag, Tendulkar & Zaheer are rested)

India

Murali Vijay
Shikhar Dhawan
Ajinkya Rahane
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
*+MS Dhoni
Yusuf Pathan
R Ashwin
Amit Mishra
Praveen Kumar
Vinay Kumar

India A

Paul Valthaty
Robin Uthappa
*Gautam Gambhir
Cheteshwar Pujara
Manoj Tiwary
+Dinesh Kartik
Irfan Pathan
Piyush Chawla
Pragyan Ojha
Sreenath Aravind
Munaf Patel

Gambhir included as captain to make the team more strong

India u-23

Abhinav Mukund
Tanmay Srivastav
*Virat Kohli
Manish Pandey
Saurabh Tiwary
+Shreevats Goswami
Ravindra Jadeja
Rahul Sharma
Varun Aaron
Ishant Sharma
Pradeep Sangwan

Kohli & Ishant Sharma included to strengthen the team

 

[Arjun]

The Challenger Trophy format needs a change. It should be played at a time when we arent playing any international matches and it should be contested by the Indian team, India A team and the India u-23 team. The teams will look something like (assuming Sehwag, Tendulkar & Zaheer are rested)

My sentiments alike. I say this tournament should be used only as a team workout, so that they get a little practice, and play well together. This is not a good tournament to decide national selections, but the BCCI thinks otherwise, which results in this mess.

 

[nsniks]

Rather than at the start of the season, I would have challenger trophy as a proper triangular series when a season is coming to an end. A series with 3 teams and 4 matches is hardly useful. Atleast teams should play each other twice in the league phase

 

[Arjun]

TN and Karnataka win their matches with ease. Of players to watch, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay, Aniruddha and Stuart Binny have a good day. Today there are more zones in action, and results are awaited.

 

[ramkumar_gr]

TN and Karnataka win their matches with ease. Of players to watch, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay, Aniruddha and Stuart Binny have a good day. Today there are more zones in action, and results are awaited.

Are these matches televised? Even the coverage in cricinfo is poor. They updated 17th October matches only today.