*Official* Indian Domestic Season 2004/2005

[Arjun]

West v/s South-

South Zone were bundled out for just 107, with Trivedi recovering from an early attack by the South openers, returning with 4/40. Agarkar and Maharashtra's all-rounder Ranjit Khirid took two wickets each, while spinners Rajesh Pawar and Yusuf Pathan grabbed one each. Venugopal Rao was the last man out for 31. How each got out and what happened, one cannot tell from the CricInfo commentary.

 

[chris.hinton]

Who is the Strongest Zone on Paper... it must be Mumbai zone?

 

[Pratters]

Impressive batting by Kaif. Against a strong North Zone team which had players like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Jadeja (who scored a duck ) Harvinder Singh bowled very well to take 4 wickets.

It was kaif who was the star however with an unbeaten 131 to win the match against a virtual former/current India XI north zone team.

I am really liking the Deodhar Trophy this year.

I think it is very crucial for the future of a lot of players how they perform in this tournament.

I cant see the aggregate match stats of individual players in the tournament on cricinfo. I hope some inspired performances in the tournament can make the promising players push the so called players whose places are supposedly fixed in the Indian side a run for their money.

 

[Arjun]

Harvinder Singh bowled very well to take 4 wickets.

Luckily, it was RP Singh- his impressive form continues.

It was kaif who was the star however with an unbeaten 131 to win the match against a virtual former/current India XI north zone team.

Makes one wonder- what if the entire top-5 were Mohammed Kaif clones? That would make the team a lot better than it is now.

I am really liking the Deodhar Trophy this year.

I think it is very crucial for the future of a lot of players how they perform in this tournament.

It is a more meaningful series than that ridiculous Ranji-OD series, where all matches are played in club grounds and mediocre extras are star players.

I cant see the aggregate match stats of individual players in the tournament on cricinfo.

Hunt down the Deodhar page from cricketarchive.com and you'll get aggregate stats by team.

hope some inspired performances in the tournament can make the promising players push the so called players whose places are supposedly fixed in the Indian side a run for their money.

If the performance of the Indian team should improve, the all-rounders and fast bowlers who can field should have a good series.

Jai Prakash Yadav may be over 30, but he has been in good form with the ball- good enough to make the team as a medium-pacer, while he can also hit the ball hard and play a quick innings, with the possibility of a 50. Until Joginder Sharma improves as a batsman and bowler, this is the man to choose. Sadly, Ramesh Powar's out sick.

Who is the Strongest Zone on Paper... it must be Mumbai zone?

The Mumbai/West Zone team has the most lopsided squad selected, but still have two victories in two matches. On paper, North have the best squad, but the bowling let them down in the last match.

 

[honestbharani]

Salvi was quite accurate (not for as long as McGrath) and bowled at over 130's and occasionally even over 140's. He could use seam movement and bounce very well. He had a phenomenal 2002 Ranji season, getting him first into the Champions Trophy probables, then the World Cup probables, then the A-team. His performances away from India have been good (16 in West Indies, 29 in England and less than 25 in OD's in Lanka), while on the same tours, Balaji underperformed. But injuries came way too often and subsequently, he lost his place to Balaji.

I think what helped Balaji was that he could bowl for long spells without compromising on his pace and he also started to swing the ball, thanks to Bruce Reid. We will have to wait till the Challenger trophy to see how he goes, since he is coming back from the injury.

 

[Arjun]

I think what helped Balaji was that he could bowl for long spells without compromising on his pace and he also started to swing the ball, thanks to Bruce Reid. We will have to wait till the Challenger trophy to see how he goes, since he is coming back from the injury.

Balaji could bowl long spells- yet return with just one wicket and give over 180 runs, as was seen in his Test debut- and that NZ team had been rolled over a few times for less than 200.

His main weaknesses were lack of pace, a diagonal run-up and a repeated short length. It's easy for many a batsman to get on top of a medium-pacer, particularly when conditions don't suit medium-pace bowling. He ran in diagonally, which reduced chances of the ball hitting the stumps. Moreover, on South Indian pitches, the bounce was so weak, he could get away with bowling short of a length repeatedly- once there was more pace, he was hittable. He's a limited-overs target and his average is over 40. He never got control of his swing, particularly in ODI's, where he struggled to strike a length.

The Challenger Trophy results should be taken with a pinch of salt- that's a meaningless exhibition series where each team gets two or three matches. That's a very small sample space to consider- too small if you're thinking of ODI prospects. If that tournament had any meaning, it would have gone on longer.

 

[Pratters]

Luckily, it was RP Singh- his impressive form continues.

Thank God for that! I thought it is Harvinder Singh in haste and was partly disappointed because he didnt show much talent in the earlier times I have seen him.

 

[Pratters]

The North Zone-West Zone match is coming live on DD sports.

Sadly I have to go now for work. Else would have loved to watch this one.

 

[viktor]

C Zone v E Zone. C Zone 346.
Leading the chase for EZ, MH Dhoni, 38 off 21 with 9 fours!!!!

 

[Arjun]

Thank God for that! I thought it is Harvinder Singh in haste and was partly disappointed because he didnt show much talent in the earlier times I have seen him.

He was too short and too slow- not much that he could do.

The North Zone-West Zone match is coming live on DD sports.

Sadly I have to go now for work. Else would have loved to watch this one.

Luckily you missed it. That match was a bit silly- you have a lush-green club ground (More or less. Grrrrr........) and yet there were so many misfields. Yuvraj Singh played a good innings, top-scoring with 74 in 72, while Ajay Jadeja made a quickfire 56 in the final overs, while Gambhir made 59- but does it help? Maybe Gambhir should make the Indian ODI side, but that's the same batsmen scoring runs, but they need a bowler who can score runs- Joginder Sharma got just 10 runs and his 5 overs went for 33, though he bowled one straight and got a wicket.

The most irritating aspect of the match was getting Dinesh Mongia to bowl 10 overs- is ther any point? Next time, he'll get smashed, then in the next, you won't see him bowl. Clearly, he bowls one bad ball too many in an over. That he got 3 wicekts for 41 shows the lack of application of the West Zone battign side, for whom Parthiv Patel top-scored. Worse, you had openers batting at positions 4 and 5! Zaheer bowled well to take 3/42, while Harbhajan's 10 overs got him 2/28. Sehwag could have brought himself on to bowl more than just 5 overs, though he took a wicket for 24, he's a better bowler and can last longer.

C Zone v E Zone. C Zone 346.
Leading the chase for EZ, MH Dhoni, 38 off 21 with 9 fours!!!!

That match was a farce of monstrous proportions. Except for the batting of Raina, Jai Prakash Yadav and Dhoni, nothing reall stands out. Though Rohan Gavaskar got 97 in 81, WHAT was he doing in Holland and England? Goofing off? That match was terrible for the bowlers and if such pitches are the order of the day, that is what's wrong with cricket in India. You won't find such pitches in ODI's will you? However, the selectors can stick to Mahendra Dhoni in ODI's- he's a better keeper than Rahul Dravid and his hard-hitting batting is fresh relief from the apprehensive efforts of the rest of the Indian ODI batsmen, save Sehwag.

 

[Arjun]

North Zone are on top...hopefully they'll win, being the best side in the tournament.

Jai Prakash Yadav should complete the series on an all-round high.

 

[Pratters]

S.Raina is batting exceptioanlly well which makes me really happy. This guy is a real talent.

 

[Arjun]

Was out of touch that time...North have won the last match and the Deodhar Trophy, with a superb century by Yuvraj Singh. Not bad, for someone likely to lose his place in the ODI squad, but better consistency is required. The biggest disappointment was young seam bowling all-rounder Joginder Sharma, but he couldn't get too many batting opportunities. West lost their last match against Central, which got the Deodhar Trophy for North, with that fantastic batting performance by Suresh Raina and a decent all-round performance (2/51 and 56 in 61) by old hand Jai Prakash Yadav- he has finished the series with a batting average of over 40 and a bowling average of slightly over 30. Not bad.

But something really bad has happened to the Challenger Trophy- They don't have a sponsor and nobody is telecasting the matches live.

 

[Arjun]

Action from the Challenger series-

• Zaheer Khan took three early wickets, the top three of the India Seniors XI. Interesting.....hope this is not a one-off and he converts this to five
• MS Dhoni opened the innings and was out first ball. Terrible.....the only wicketkeeper who can bat for a top 6 out cheaply
• Irfan Pathan on the bench. WHAT???? Don't be surprised if neither Pawar nor Niraj get too many runs or wickets!
• Agarkar taken to the cleaners by Yuvraj and Venugopal. As usual....bowls utter rubbish throughout the odd match
• Yuvraj gets 100 in 91. Why doesn't he do this in ODI's?
• Mongia gets three wickets for 38 in 8 overs. Three bad shots.....and doubt about the pitch, too. Still, that's three mistakes too many. Not good.
• RP Singh goes for too many runs without a wicket. There's always the next match
• The same of Yusuf Pathan. The next match......or even the next innings, with the bat
• Four overs left....but nobody to score the runs

 

[Arjun]

The A-team should get Zaheer back for the last two overs. Finish off the tail.

 

[amokk1]

Is there any live commentary for this match on the web ?

 

[Arjun]

None that I can find. Even the CricInfo live scorecard does not load on time!

 

[amokk1]

Cricinfo is pretty bad when it comes to local matches. I got the same delayed updating problem.

However, I was suprised to see the Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh ODI series get the same treatment.

 

[Arjun]

Yet another bad pitch for a crucial match. Dinesh Mongia's rubbish left-arm spin gets 4 wickets for 48. Then fans complain the Indian team doesn't win ODI tournaments. How will they ever improve if pitches offer little or no bounce and mediocre pie-chuckers look world beaters? Had the same Dinesh Mongia bowled on Australian pitches, against the top six, he'd end up with an economy of twice as much.

RP Singh's direct hit to run out Balaji offers the selectors a new option- a medium-pacer who can field.

 

[Arjun]

RP Singh only gets 5 overs while Dinesh, who's a 100% specialist batsman, gets his 10. Even if there is a reason for something as diabolical as this, one must ask- are the people who matter really bothered about improving the Indian ODI side?