*Official* Indian Domestic Season 2004/2005

[venx86]

Interesting Ranji this year

I think this will be as good a domestic season we've had for a long long time. I guess with the lacklustre performances of the National team, there have been places that have been made up for grabs and The Domestic Season holds extremely important for the "fringe" players. They know they have to perform well and this pressure will eventually decide how well they and their team fares.

Some fringe players I will be focussed on will be - MS Dhoni (Bihar), Sridharan Sriram (TN), Venugopala Rao (AP), Aavishkar Salvi (Mumbai), S. Badrinath (TN), Wasim Jaffer (Mumbai) and many others.

How do u rate Maharashtra's chances this time around ? I guess they will IMPROVE upon their position and challenge some top teams. I guess they usually win their matches by posting huge totals and one man responsible for that has been Dheeraj Jadhav, who was a phenomenon last season will be missed at least for as long as Abhijit Kale's ban is lifted on December 15th. Niranjan Godbole is one man to watch out for. He is a classy batsman and is a huge run scorer. Hrishikesh Kanitkar is one of their best bets to enable them to get huge scores from where they dictate terms to the opposition. Dhruv Mohan and Sagar Shah are some young and talented to-be-watched out prospects for Maharashtra. Kaushik Aphale has also done well in the past. Their bowling seems to be a bit weak and guys like Iqbal Siddiqui, Ranjan Khirid and Sachin Nair will be the ones who will be relied upon to do well. Not sure about the offie they got Khadkikar, he did bowl well last season and could be the weak link for the Maharashtra team.

On the whole, I guess they will do well. May be 3rd or 4th place in the Group although I would dearly like to see a Mumbai vs Maharashtra semi-final match or a final match. Those spots may well be beyond their grasp this season, but improvements is all I can see for these guys.

What do ya guys have to say bout them ??

 

[viktor]

I haven't followed Mah. for a couple of years but traditionally the batting has been their strong suit. To improve their bowling ,they should may be try and snare some Mum discards, like Goa did with Sandeep Dahad, or Baroda with Rajesh Pawar. All said, the batting is quite strong with Kanitkar, Jadhav and Aphale with Kale joining when his ban ends so a 4th place in the group seems reasonable. I don't think they will be able to displace Pun, TN and Baroda.

 

[venx86]

Punjab

Punjab only do have an outside chance I feel. One might assume that they will be major threats coz the have Intikhab Alam as their coach-***-manager. But on ground realities reflect otherwise. Their batting often wins them matches as well as lets them down. Dinesh Mongia, Reetinder Sodhi, Pankaj Dharmani all can be great players on a given day, but can also meekly surrender to the opposition. This double dilemma is a worry for Punjab. Their bowling seems reasonable with Gagandeep Singh and Navdeep Singh, but the problem in Punjab is that last season, their batsmen didnt give the bowlers enough runs to play with. It'll be interesting to see what this season holds for them. I dont see them as harming TN or Mumbai's chances, but yes they could change a scenario or two. May be i am being a bit pessemestic about their chances, but yes, they still need to improve to go a long way in Domestic Cricket.

 

[viktor]

can anybody tell me the score for mum v railways??

 

[NikhilN]

can anybody tell me the score for mum v railways??

http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/NEW/LIVE/frames/I-RLYS_BOM_RJI_07-10NOV2004.html


Wasim Jaffer gets 150 on day one of the match, he really should get another shot in the test line up

 

[SJS]

http://usa.cricinfo.com/db/NEW/LIVE/frames/I-RLYS_BOM_RJI_07-10NOV2004.html


Wasim Jaffer gets 150 on day one of the match, he really should get another shot in the test line up

One cant read to much into domestic performances. As the late Vijay Mnjrekar said, our domestic cricket produces a lot of "first class batting, on second class wickets against third class bowlers"

 

[marc71178]

I would've thought he's at least 6th in line if not lower than that.

 

[viktor]

Agree with that. I like Jaffer but I think he has blown the chances he had. I hope he can just continue doing a good job for Mumbai.. who knows, a couple of good seasons and his time might come..

 

[honestbharani]

I think it would be unfair to guys like Jadhav, Gambhir, Ramesh and Sriram. Yes, Ramesh has had his chances in the past too, but he went to Australia, performed well in the first class games there and was unlucky to have missed out on a test spot.

 

[Arjun]

Why can't the Sachins, Laxmans, Dravids, Kumbles, Sehwags and other senior players turn up for their state sides? Baroda is missing Zaheer and Irfan. Karnataka is badly missing Dravid and Kumble. Delhi could do with some hard hitting of Sehwag, as well as some off-spinners, and also his captaincy, though Jadeja was not too bad.

Burnout? What do you think will benefit Indian cricket more? All the star palyers playing meaningless ODI's or series against Bangladesh? Or playing domestic cricket? If they need rest, they don't need to play such events.

 

[NikhilN]

Why can't the Sachins, Laxmans, Dravids, Kumbles, Sehwags and other senior players turn up for their state sides? Baroda is missing Zaheer and Irfan. Karnataka is badly missing Dravid and Kumble. Delhi could do with some hard hitting of Sehwag, as well as some off-spinners, and also his captaincy, though Jadeja was not too bad.

Burnout? What do you think will benefit Indian cricket more? All the star palyers playing meaningless ODI's or series against Bangladesh? Or playing domestic cricket? If they need rest, they don't need to play such events.

International matches, can be tough for domestic teams

 

[Arjun]

International matches, can be tough for domestic teams

It should be tough for the domestic bowlers. There are a lot of technical mistakes in Indian domestic cricket- be it a wide gap between bat and pad, or a short ball bowled repeatedly. International players would exploit them fully, and these domestic regulars would think twice when continuing with these same sub-standard methods. It is not easy to bowl to Sachin Tendulkar, but if they don't bowl to him, how will they ever face the Haydens, Trescothicks, Smiths and Gayles? That is the basic objective.

 

[viktor]

Mumbai v M.P. was getting pretty interesting, last I checked with MP ahead by 133 with 5 wickets in hand.. Mum don't seem to be playing that well this season or may be their batting failures are finally beginning to go against them.. any way lets c what happens...
MAh also conceded the 1st innings lead to Baroda after being in a good position overnite, Rajesh Pawar getting a fifer.edit: MP lead by 146 with 3 in hand.. the cricinfo scorecard is totally f#%&ed up

 

[Arjun]

At one stage, when MP was bowled out on the first day, and play started on the next, the scorecard read both MP openers not out on zero!

 

[Arjun]

Anyone supporting Baroda or Punjab? I am getting sick of these predictable Mumbai v/s TN events- TN don't seem to be title contenders, given their record in Ranji finals. Baroda, with all the national players in the team, have a definite chance of stopping Mumbai, and so do Punjab, with Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh in the side.

 

[viktor]

The problem for baroda would be that neither pathan nor zaheer will be able to participate in too many games. on the other hand, if the mumbai batting clicks, they still seem too strong for the others. punjab or delhi is a chance though...

 

[Arjun]

If the next series is a tour of Bangladesh, neither need to play that series. It's just a picnic or holiday of some sort, and even a learner can take 10 wickets a match. No point playing the numerous Sharjah matches either. By playing these two in domestic matches, the batsmen will have to work harder to last long and score runs. At the same time, Pathan is a more effective batsman than the top six of Baroda. He will have more opportunities to score runs playing for Baroda than playing in the national team. Given his style of bowling, he has to score more runs.

Not much can be expected of Delhi. They depend a lot on their key players, and are quite inconsistent. Save Sehwag, Chopra and Gambhir, not too many can score a lot of runs. Mithun Manhas is not reliable- he gets a start, then throws his wicket away. Not much is known of Shikhar Dhawan, Ajay Jadeja and Rajat Bhatia. They have batting only till 7 or 8, and don't have too many run-scorers in the bottom five. Not to mention, the way the game is run there is quite murky. If they need to win the trophy, they have to be more consistent, and they need balance. Rajat Bhatia should be bowling a lot more.

Why Reetinder Sodhi is opening for Punjab, one cannot understand. It's not helping Punjab at all, nor is Indian cricket going to benefit. Nor will Reetinder Sodhi- he's not the right man to open an innings- he's at best a number 6/7 who can hit the ball hard and bowl tight medium-pace. Gagandeep Singh is running hot, and a national/A-team call should not be far. Harbhajan needs to get some temperamental issues sorted out, and he too needs more runs.

 

[Arjun]

Why do Hirwani and Pandey still get picked? It is not helping these two, since they have no chance of returning to the team, nor does UP/MP cricket benefit, since younger players don't get a chance. It doesn't help Indian domestic cricket on the whole, since these two are not going to cause the batsmen much of a threat, and definitely not the Sachins, Dravids and Sehwags.

One player of interest is Joginder Sharma. He is a medium-pacer who plays for Haryana, and he made a North Zone team. His bowling average is impressive, but the more interesting point is his batting average of 26, with 5 FC 50's. He should work hard on his batting, and that would get him into the Indian A-team and make himself relevant in selection plans. The same can be said of Rajat Bhatia, who bats in the Delhi middle order and bowls like Manoj Prabhakar. Surprisingly, he doesn't get to bowl, despite his average of 25 against his batting average of 40.

 

[viktor]

ITs like the Indian team; the senior pros don't move on and the selectors don't have the guts to drop them..

 

[Arjun]

ITs like the Indian team; the senior pros don't move on and the selectors don't have the guts to drop them..

It's about time the selectors take some tough steps for the benefit of Indian domestic cricket, even if it means droppign old non-performers. At least Tushar Arothe from baroda has retired, and so have the spinners. The Mumbai side have thankfully dropped Vinod Kambli.