*Official* Indian Domestic Season 2004/2005

[viktor]

you mean, as in chose powar when the wanted to select pawar???!!!

 

[Arjun]

you mean, as in chose powar when the wanted to select pawar???!!!

The other way round. There was enough talk about Ramesh Powar, but they confused him with Rajesh Pawar. Luckily, they got the right man. Unluckily, they don't have him now. He was running hot with bat and ball in 2002 and 2003 and could have been an automatic selection, and he's run out of steam now. Hopefully he'll have a very good match with both bat and ball.

I haven't seen Gagandeep.. heck I haven't seen int'l cricket for a while now.

You wouldn't. He hasn't played a Test or ODI. Indian domestic matches are not even shown in India, let alone the US. I had seen clips of the man in action in the Duleep final, but nothing more.

 

[Arjun]

About Samant, I dunno, he has apparently always kept well but has never ever been in contention. His batting, from all accounts is also not too bad.

If you have to keep for India, batting is no concern- it's how you keep to spinners that counts. Saba Karim was the best wicketkeeper batsman the team ever had- he could actually get into an Indian top-6.

But lack of the necessary skills is what caused that awful career-terminating accident in Dhaka, with Kumble bowling. Deep Dasgupta's struggles to keep to Kumble are well known. No wonder, ever since Mongia was dropped, he has never had any confidence in any other keeper, since only Mongia had the skills to keep to Kumble. A famous wicketkeeper even said that he's the best international keper not in a national side.

Samant has been keepnig to spinners who hunt in twos and threes for a long time, for Assam as well as for Mumbai. He could keep to them while they were in great wicket-taking form and that shows that his glovework is good, since keeping to spinners is the true test of keeping skills.

 

[marc71178]

Considering he has no confidence in his keeper, his recent form is rather good.

 

[V Reddy]

Considering he has no confidence in his keeper, his recent form is rather good.

Didn't get this one. Whom was this aimed at ? Samant or Kaarthick

 

[Arjun]

Didn't get this one. Whom was this aimed at ? Samant or Kaarthick

Anybody, be it Dropgupta, Parthiv or Dravid.

 

[viktor]

Didn't get this one. Whom was this aimed at ? Samant or Kaarthick

Kumble

 

[viktor]

You wouldn't. He hasn't played a Test or ODI. Indian domestic matches are not even shown in India, let alone the US. I had seen clips of the man in action in the Duleep final, but nothing more.

No, I meant I haven't even seen int'l cricket for a while, let alone domestic cricket.

 

[viktor]

The other way round. There was enough talk about Ramesh Powar, but they confused him with Rajesh Pawar. Luckily, they got the right man. Unluckily, they don't have him now. He was running hot with bat and ball in 2002 and 2003 and could have been an automatic selection, and he's run out of steam now. Hopefully he'll have a very good match with both bat and ball

Isn't he playing for Baroda now? Thats good, will atleast keep him in contention if he keeps performing.

 

[viktor]

If you have to keep for India, batting is no concern- it's how you keep to spinners that counts. Saba Karim was the best wicketkeeper batsman the team ever had- he could actually get into an Indian top-6.

But lack of the necessary skills is what caused that awful career-terminating accident in Dhaka, with Kumble bowling. Deep Dasgupta's struggles to keep to Kumble are well known. No wonder, ever since Mongia was dropped, he has never had any confidence in any other keeper, since only Mongia had the skills to keep to Kumble. A famous wicketkeeper even said that he's the best international keper not in a national side.

Samant has been keepnig to spinners who hunt in twos and threes for a long time, for Assam as well as for Mumbai. He could keep to them while they were in great wicket-taking form and that shows that his glovework is good, since keeping to spinners is the true test of keeping skills.

The national selectors have been following a pollicy of selecting keepers who can bat a bit; that is why Deep Dasgupta got anywhere near the national squad. Agree about Samant, he has been good with the spinners, may be will get a chance if KArtick fails.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Incredibly, Gagandeep has been called up to the India 15 to play Bangladesh in place of Ajit Agarkar. If Pathan or Zaheer are unfit at any point, it will be between Gagandeep and SS Paul for the second seamer's place.

 

[Arjun]

Incredibly, Gagandeep has been called up to the India 15 to play Bangladesh in place of Ajit Agarkar. If Pathan or Zaheer are unfit at any point, it will be between Gagandeep and SS Paul for the second seamer's place.

Gagandeep has been running hot, repeatedly knocking over bating sides cheaply, so his selection was on the cards. Nehra was only warming the benches, given his recent record, so this move was a good one. It's better if he makes the starting lineup.

Isn't he playing for Baroda now? Thats good, will atleast keep him in contention if he keeps performing.

Hopeflly Yusuf Pathan will outperform him with bat and ball. Baroda needs its younger players to perform more, not the has-beens and Mumbai extras. Yusuf can bat quite well, though his bowling has been weak so far.

 

[exuberance]

I wonder how slats would pronounce his name..."Gagandeeep"..
hehe..but hey...whats in a name!

 

[viktor]

Gagandeep has been running hot, repeatedly knocking over bating sides cheaply, so his selection was on the cards. Nehra was only warming the benches, given his recent record, so this move was a good one. It's better if he makes the starting lineup.Hopeflly Yusuf Pathan will outperform him with bat and ball. Baroda needs its younger players to perform more, not the has-beens and Mumbai extras. Yusuf can bat quite well, though his bowling has been weak so far.

Yeah, Yusuf did pretty well in the 1st match IIRC. As for Rajesh Pawar being a Mumbai extra, he was unlucky that he had to compete with Nilesh Kulkarni. Zaheer also went to Baroda after he couldn't crack the mumbai side, so not all Mumbai extras are useless.

 

[viktor]

Incredibly, Gagandeep has been called up to the India 15 to play Bangladesh in place of Ajit Agarkar. If Pathan or Zaheer are unfit at any point, it will be between Gagandeep and SS Paul for the second seamer's place.

Gagandeep has been performing really well in the Ranjis and much as I would like to see AAin the national side, he has had enough opportunities. Maybe a full domestic season will do him some good. He has already hit 2 half centuries, albeit against weak attacks, and has a fifer.

 

[marc71178]

Didn't get this one. Whom was this aimed at ? Samant or Kaarthick

I was talking about Kumble.

 

[c8w]

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.

Bombay has done nothing of the sort - Vinod Kambli was unwell on the morning of
the match and so dropped out for this game. But he is hardly dropped - he was
captain for the previous game (when Bahutule was away playing for India-A
against RSA), and Bombay doesnt go around dropping its captains willy-nilly
(unlike Karnataka :-) Kambli will be back in the side for the gamea gainst Bengal
in a couple of days if he is well again. (BTW, Bombay has had quite a few
losses with illness/injury this year - both Munaf Patel and Avishkar Salvi have
injured shoulders, and Vinayak Mane scored an unbeaten century in the first
match of the season but missed the second game as he came down with
malaria!)

Also, *why* should anybody drop old players in domestics, anyway? If they are
non-performing - sure. But most of them *do* perform, far more than the younger
kids who are handed spots do (people like Kaif and Yuvraj *still* havent really
performed at the domestic level, so its no surprise that they havent excelled
in tests). Hirwani is one of the best spinners in the country still - last year he
was I think the #1 wickettaker in the entire Ranjis, not just #1 for MP (though,
of course, he played in the Second Division, where it is relatively easy to
pad your statistics against weak teams). There is no way any domestic
team should drop him - every team should play their *best* players, be they
young or old. That way the young prospects are not handed anything and
instead have to earn it - and it makes them better players in the long run,
and better prospects for India too.


c8w

 

[c8w]

They have enough runs in Morris (he's a frontline batsman), Powar, Bahutule, Agarkar and ven Samant, so five specialist batsmen are enough. One good thing about Mumbai is that there are so many multi-skilled players in the side, but they would be a lot better if they played against the Indian senior players more often.Hopefully these pitches are of Test standard, not like Mumbai2002, Mumbai2004 and those minefields in NZ..

Bombay does *not* have enough runs in Morris, Powar, Bahutule, Agarkar and
Samant IMHO - the problem with Bombay at the moment is a certain fragility
in the batting. This was true 2 years ago (btu the tail mentioned above saved
them repeatedly and they won) - last year the batting clicked well. But this
year the batting is not doing well yet, and the tail isnt the answer either.
Partly because Powar hasnt played much (and hasnt been quite as brilliantly
successful with the bat so far this year), and because Samant's batting
has deteriorated quite a bit I think, he isnt *that* useful witht he bat anymore.
And, of course, Robin Morris is not even in the side - I think he's injured, but
he hasnt played a single Ranji game for Bombay this year so far (missed all
3 to date).

Bombay needs IMHO 5 or maybe even 6 specialist batsmen, and good ones -
one of the big reasons they failed to get points against Madhya Pradesh 2 weeks
ago was that opener Vinayak Mane came down with malaria, and they ended
up replacing him at the last minute at opener with Abhijit Shetye! Shetye isnt
awful, but he is a *wicketkeeper*, who is only a stodgy batsman - he was in
the side as a backup keeper, and they had just not included a backup
opener in the 14, and were caught short-handed at the last minute when Mane
went down. This move failed spectacularly, as Shetye fell for single digits
in both innings and Bombay failed to take the first innings lead. This sort of
silly pick is not going to work against better teams when the knockouts
come around (if they do). It is a great help if the bowlers can bat (and
Powar, Bahutule and Agarkar all can) - but you ought not to rely on it
for every single match IMHO.

Also, BTW, I disagree entirely with your "test match pitch" characterization -
you do mean Bombay 2001 (rather than 2002) I presume? That is, the pitch
for the match against Australia, which ended in 3 days with Australia
winning easily? IMHO that was one of the best pitches produced in India,
it had pace and bounce and turn - our batsmen just couldnt handle it, is
all. The Australians handled it just fine. The only really awful pitch (and it
was a really awful one) that Bombay has produced in memory, IMHO, was
the latest one for the test against Australia.


c8w

 

[c8w]

Let's see how consistently he gets wickets, at what average. A more reliable choice is Gagandeep Singh, who has played six times as many FC matches, and has taken over 150 wickets at an average of 20. He has maintained that average for six seasons, as the breakup on CricketArchive.com suggests.

No point picking someone on the basis of his age and his first performance- one just needs to remember Ambati Rayudu. He slogged 221 runs against a weak Andhra attack, but got scores of 0 and 1 against a strong Mumbai attack, yet there were (and still are) a few who think he's good enough for the Indian team. In the Challenger series, his shot selection was terrible. Let RP Singh get a full season so that he can prove himself. If he bowls at express pace, the selectors may watch him, but their pace options should be restricted to those has-beens in the Indian side, with Gagandeep, Amit Bhandari, Avishkar Salvi, Irfan Pathan and SteamShip. The selectors don't need more medium-pacers. They need all-rounders and tearaway fast bowlers.

BTW, I dont even think its a very bold prediction that RP Singh will get a shot
for India sometime :-) He has been highly thought of for a while, he was India
U19's lead paceman a year ago (and the selectors are famously into taking
U19 players before they ever prove themselves at fc level nowadays), and he
has played a game or two for India-A etc. He also gets invited to bowl to the
"seniors" at pre-series nets regularly, along with some other top contenders.

It has been a very nice fc career start for him - but it is also skewed by the
fact that he has gotten to bowl on some pretty helpful pitches. That makes
a huge difference, in India very few pitches help pacemen - and when one does,
the batsmen are often clueless against it, and the pacemen have great
stats. (Gagandeep Singh is sort of an example of this, BTW - he plays his
home games at Mohali, and batsmen have all kinds of trouble against
pacemen there. There is quite a bit of a difference in his home and away
records in Ranjis. He is a good bowler, very aggressive, but from people
who have seen him he is not exactly express either).

RP Singh got to bowl on a helpful track against a weakish Assam side last
week (not all pitches in Kanpur are dead and lifeless - only the ones on
which India plays test matches against sides with decent fast bowlers :-)
This game was played at Kamla Park, the first 3 innings were Assam 184
allout (9 wickets to pacemen), UP 132 (9 wickets to pacemen, Yadav with
6/57), Assam 107 allout (8 wickets to pacemen). RP Singh had a wonderful
game, taking 5/58 and 5/35. But he will not find those kinds of conditions
very often in India, really. Hopefully he will learn to bowl well on the
non-helpful pitches too.

(BTW, there have been a few of these "pace friendly pitches" in domestics
this season - a good sign. And batsmen have had all kinds of trouble on
them. Hyderabad prepared a greentop and beat Maharashtra last week,
with veteran seamer NP Singh claiming 10-fer - in the same game Anupam
Sanclecha of Maharashtra, playing only his 2nd game, had 8 wickets in
the match. Maharashtra had collapsed to 83 allout on first innings).

c8w

 

[c8w]

By the way, has anyone seen Gagandeep Singh anywhere? How tall is the man? I had seen clips of a Duleep match and he's quite muscular. Hopefully he's built like a fast bowler.

Not seen him, but talked to people who have. Very aggressive (runs in hard,
is willing to bounce and sledge repeatedly), somewhat muscular. But, from
what I was told, not particularly fast - there are quicker bowlers in the domestic
circuit (even though he is aggressive like a fast guy). And I hear about 5'11" in
height.

Aggressive is a good thing, but can backfire if you go over-aggressive (and
especially if you dont have the pace to back it up). We'll find out soon I
suppose.

c8w