**Official** Indian Domestic Season 2013/14

[Arjun]

Services at 208/7, with Rishi Dhawan getting a wicket in his final over. Not a very impressive performance, against one of the weaker teams in the circuit. Parvez Rasool, on the other hand, has had a good game so far, with two wickets for 52 against the mighty Delhi- for whom Gautam Gambhir has scored a fifty, and Chand, just missed. Sehwag's poor run of form doesn't seem to end- he's out for 15.

The division of the state of AP has had contrasting, extreme fortunes for the two teams from there. Hyderabad are well on their way to a comprehensive win over Kerala, who were bowled out for a little over hundred. AP, on the other hand, are getting crushed by Ranji champions Karnataka, having been bowled out for a little less than hundred. Both matches likely to end quickly, with ten-wicket wins for each winning side. Robin Uthappa having a good game.

After Devdhar and Waghmode's big scores (Devdhar missed 150 by two), the Pathan brothers smashed Mumbai bowlers all around to take Baroda to 345/3. Disappointing to see Iqbal Abdulla and Dhawal Kulkarni plundered, with no wicket.

While Varun Aaron struggles with line and length, his taller rival Umesh Yadav has just taken five quick wickets to bowl out Rajasthan for a paltry 181. Hopefully Pankaj Singh will strike back with at least five of his own to win.

 

[Arjun]

Ashish Nehra getting spanked by J&K's top order. J&K chasing Delhi's 256, currently at 75/1 in 11 overs.

 

[karan316]

A very important year for the Pathan bros, if they fail to make a mark, it'll be difficult for them to get back into the team with the number of youngsters who are doing well.

 

[karan316]

The Mumbai Baroda match was heading for a close contest, Irfan's double wicket maiden on the flattest domestic wicket turned the game in Baroda's favour. He's having a good game so far, just hope there aren't more matches in Rajkot.

 

[karan316]

Joginder Sharma picks 5 wickets, the most consistent bowler in domestic arena for a really long time..(except the time when he was injured and out of action recently)

 

[Arjun]

Irfan is bowling again, which is a good sign. This is, however, a post-Tendulkar Mumbai lineup without Rahane and Rohit. Then again, Rajkot is not a bowler-friendly wicket, so that's good. I'm not too optimistic of his return to the side, because his fielding is suspect, but a good Hazare Trophy can get him back in the running for a place in the national side.

Rishi Dhawan, though, had a poor game. Only two wickets beyond ten overs, and out cheaply, against the weakest North Zone team. Parvez Rasool had a good game, but it wasn't noteworthy. Sumit Narwal had a very good game, but he's only medium pace, which won't work at the top level.

Two openers did well in this round. Robin Uthappa scored a 50 to take his team close to a win, and Gautam Gambhir's 50 at the top helped Delhi post a match-winning score. Meanwhile, Kedar Jadhav scores yet another rapid fifty. Pity it can't win the game for Maharashtra.

Abu Nechim, Assam's decently fast spearhead, has taken four wickets to restrict Tripura to a paltry 166. We'd like to see similar performances against the bigger teams Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand. You'd want the likes of Nechim, Aaron, Umesh and Suyal to grab plenty of wickets, not the likes of Joginder, Narwal, Dinda and Mithun. You'll need your faster bowlers in form, because they're more likely to survive at a higher level. Then again, we can't trust a limited-overs event, where random players are successful, while Ranji stalwarts struggle.

 

[Arjun]

Two tied games today, with points shared by UP, MP, Karnataka and Hyderabad. Robin Uthappa narrowly misses a fifty. He's in good form at the top of the order, and with Rohit Sharma's poor form at the top, he can return to the top of the order for India sooner than later. Vinay Kumar takes five wickets, and also narrowly misses a 50 (but is unbeaten), and is in good all-round form this season.

Tamil Nadu's turn to crush Andhra. We're looking at an ODI specialist in Yo Mahesh. Fifty ODs, 81 wickets, two five-fors (including this game), strike rate of 27, economy a bit high at 5.17, likely on a lifetime on flat decks.

 

[Arjun]

The way the tournament has progressed, Uthappa, Kedar and Yo Mahesh may be immediate ODI prospects. Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav and Abu Nechim need the whole tournament to get into form.

 

[Arjun]

Today was a sleepy day for the Hazare Trophy. Not too many games, and several abandoned. One result is Punjab defeating Delhi by four wickets, on the back of Yuvraj's near-century. Pity he bowled only two overs. Elsewhere, Parvez Rasool took two wickets, but he and several other top six batsmen for J&K were out for poor scores as J&K were defeated by Services, who have won their second game in this league. Now that's a surprise.

Can't help feeling Pankaj Singh should have been opening the bowling for India throughout the Asia Cup, while Varun Aaron gets adequate match practice here in these games, the way Abu Nechim and Yo Mahesh are. Nechim's still raw, as the lack of OD caps and less flattering figures suggest, while Yo Mahesh, with 81 wickets in 50 games at a strike rate under 30, should be in the running for a place in the ODI side. Or is he too slow? The exclusion of allegedly slow domestic stalwart Pankaj Singh for the fast and erratic Varun Aaron may give a hint.

 

[Arjun]

Robin Uthappa scores a century. Surely now he can return to te national side as opener? Irfan got one wicket in a tight spell of eight overs. Form decent, but not breathtaking. Rajasthan batting struggling again, now at 111/5.

Meanwhile, Vijay also has a good game so far, with TN at 141/1 against Hyderabad. Pragyan Ojha wicketless, though tight.

 

[Sachin95]

Guys whats happening with Pervez Rasool from Kashmir? (J&K) I remember he got called to the Indian squad but didn't play a single match..any details on him? I know hes still playing for J&K and is scoring decent runs and taking wickets

 

[Daemon]

Guys whats happening with Pervez Rasool from Kashmir? (J&K) I remember he got called to the Indian squad but didn't play a single match..any details on him? I know hes still playing for J&K and is scoring decent runs and taking wickets

Didn't have a great season with the ball. Was very solid with the bat though.

 

[G.I.Joe]

Guys whats happening with Pervez Rasool from Kashmir? (J&K) I remember he got called to the Indian squad but didn't play a single match..any details on him? I know hes still playing for J&K and is scoring decent runs and taking wickets

Won't play a game unless CSK dump Ashwin.

 

[Arjun]

Guys whats happening with Pervez Rasool from Kashmir? (J&K) I remember he got called to the Indian squad but didn't play a single match..any details on him? I know hes still playing for J&K and is scoring decent runs and taking wickets

Didn't have a great season with the ball. Was very solid with the bat though.

In the ODs, it's the opposite. Struggling with the bat, tight with the ball.

Won't play a game unless CSK dump Ashwin.

Rasool's picked for Sunrisers. Dropping Irfan for him would have been easy...until Irfan bowled eleven tight overs and scored 79 in Baroda's insipid chase of Gujarat's 233, losing by 70 runs, unless CSK runs the Indian team too.

 

[Arjun]

Another five for Vinay Kumar. Wonder what to make of it. Another wicketless game for Abdulla. That's a disappointment.

Vijay and Uthappa, two opening batsmen, leading the charts. One of them can open for India in ODIs, surely.

 

[Arjun]

Rajasthan's batting is a complete mess. Last checked, at 73/9. Third game, third slump. Now lost to Railways by eight wickets. Poor batting seems to have had an impact on Pankaj Singh's bowling, as he's gone for over twelve an over without a wicket here. Poor tournament for him so far, likely an outcome of Rajasthan's poor form.

Maharashtra area at 271/7, with a powerful score over 70 low down the order by Shrikant Mundhe. Mumbai's bowlers got at least a wicket each, while Nayar got two.

Century for Karnataka's T20 specialist Mayank Agarwal. OD struggler Manish Pandey gets a decent knock of 45 striking over 121, but fails to convert. Karnataka over 300, but not likely to finish 50 overs.

Rasool short of a fifty by a few runs. Hopefully he'll get enough wickets to stun Punjab, even as Services are the team that's behind serial upsets.

Against Himachal, Ishant Sharma got a solitary wicket. In the same tournament where Vinay Kumar got two five-fors. Something to think about, surely.

MP's Naman Ojha is in good form with the bat. Hopefully with gloves too, since none of Saha, Karthik and Patel seem competent behind the stumps right now.

 

[Arjun]

Second innings- Mumbai are in serious trouble in this tournament, on their way to their third loss. Things have gone horribly wrong since they slipped against Maharashtra in the Ranji QF. Without three of their top players (Rohit, Rahane, Zaheer), they are not winning much. Iqbal Abdulla finally gets a wicket, but also out for zero in their chase. 194/9.

Vinay Kumar gets two more in his impressive run, but the economy rate, over eight, is not so impressive. This is against Goa, who are still losing wickets regularly. Goa spinner Amit Yadav getting three. In good form in Ranji and Hazare trophies.

The first game was good for Umesh, who took five wickets for little. This one, though, has been poor, at an economy rate near seven, and no wickets. Disappointing, since he's the only reasonably good performer in that side.

Rishi Dhawan is having a poor tournament. Not a good sign for the country's single best swing bowling all-rounder who's a bowler first. In fact, all the all-rounders, except Irfan, are having a poor tournament. In other news, Vinay Kumar is doing the all-round role for Karnataka, leading the wickets tally with 16 in four games, and a batting average of 52.

Today's abandoned match: Tamil Nadu vs Kerala.

 

[Arjun]

Rajasthan and Pankaj Singh finally having a good game, crushing MP in their first innings. MP have been missing Ishwar Pandey, consigned to warming the ODI benches, though their top players, bar Naman Ojha, have been in poor form.

Rishi Dhawan just can't get it right in this tournament- misses his fifty by a few runs, and hopefully he'll pull back with an impressive bowling performance. Rasool, on the other hand, bowled eleven tight overs to take two. His batting form, though, is still poor.

Pragyan Ojha going wicketless in today's match, for plenty. Goa notched up 289, on the back of twin hundreds.

Tripura bowled out for one less than 200, with Dinda taking three wickets. Gives you a hint of how seriously to take this tournament. Then again, it's the weakest team in the entire circuit Bengal are playing. Even Services is stronger, despite being a part-timers' team, pulling off serial upsets. Will find the going tough against Punjab, who have put together 232/9, with 83 by Mandeep Singh.

Vidarbha couldn't bowl out UP, who finished strong at 268/6, but Umesh Yadav had a good game, taking two.

Meanwhile, Vinay Kumar leads the wickets tally, and may continue to lead. Can't keep him out of action in the domestic scene. If only the likes of Ishant, Umesh and Aaron (and also India's frontline spinners) were so regular in the scene. Not sure if he can play for India again, but surely, TN's Yo Mahesh is still very much a contender for an ODI spot. Not sure about Anureet Singh, who's only two seasons old, and only medium pace.

Likewise Vijay and Uthappa, both leading the runs tally this season. Both open the innings for their teams. Send one up at the top of the order, and let Rohit come down to five.

So whom would you pick for ODIs? Umesh Yadav, in good form lately, bowls with plenty of pace and gets good bounce, but likely to leak a lot of runs, and an unflattering OD record, or Yo Mahesh, with a formidable OD record, over fifty games, but unproven against quality opposition, only medium pace and likely to get caned on flats?

 

[Arjun]

The figures in this tournament are getting even less believable as it goes on. Now Sagun Kamat is leading the charts, followed by Serviceman Rajat Paliwal and Baroda's Kedar Devdhar. Even in the wickets chart, though mercifully topped by Vinay Kumar and Sid Kaul (much as that counts for little), you have one-season-old Anureet Singh and Rahil Shah, and yet another serviceman, Avishek Sinha, and has-been Joginder Sharma. None of these are anywhere close to India selection, even on the back of this. If you're trying to build India's ODI side, you're better off looking at a balance of Ranji and IPL figures than this event. Random nobodies are leading charts here. It's just a question of how well India's best players are performing, more than who's leading the charts. Uthappa still going strong, likewise Vijay and Vinay.

 

[brockley]

Arjun who are the leading spinners,since Ashwin and Jadeja have been awful on Overseas tours.