Indian domestic season 2005-06

[Arjun]

Great news for fans of Indian domestic cricket- ZEE Sports will be showing the Challenger Trophy. PROBLEM: Will all of us get that channel?

 

[honestbharani]

Well, I am getting and it means around 12 or 13 days of live cricket everyday, with the super series and the challenger trophy happening. Good news indeed.

 

[Arjun]

If you've been reading the papers, Ganguly has been ruled out of the Challenger Trophy with more or less the same problem as Sachin. The West Zone selection has been an all-start combination, but it seems Sachin, Agarkar, Zaheer and Irfan may miss the tie. Not to mention the selectors seem to have shut out all other keepers, by picking Parthiv again- I know this is a common grouse among fans, but there is a better keeper playing for Mumbai who's missing out.

 

[honestbharani]

If you've been reading the papers, Ganguly has been ruled out of the Challenger Trophy with more or less the same problem as Sachin. The West Zone selection has been an all-start combination, but it seems Sachin, Agarkar, Zaheer and Irfan may miss the tie. Not to mention the selectors seem to have shut out all other keepers, by picking Parthiv again- I know this is a common grouse among fans, but there is a better keeper playing for Mumbai who's missing out.

You cannot help it if they selectors are in love with him. But people seem to think he has improved his keeping a bit and that he should be given as many oppurtunities as possible to showcase that to the selectors.

 

[Arjun]

Comments on this West Zone selection?

• Jaffer
• Jadhav
• Kiran Powar
• Tendulkar (C)
• Mazumdar
• Irfan (LFM, VC)
• Rajesh Pawar (SLA)
• Ramesh Powar (OB)
• <Keeper>
• Zaheer (LFM)
• Lalit Patel (RFM)

Of course, we are missing the local Hadlee+Botham+Imran, but the national side should be the priority. Kiran Powar is a more seasoned pick than Gujarat's in-form Niraj Patel, while Rajesh Pawar has been scoring runs and taking wickets to play a major role in Baroda's fortunes going up. The keeper's spot is wide open. The selectors are interested in Baroda's freakish opener Satyajit Parab, but he's far from likely to make the national side on his batting, while his fielding is inadequate. Lalit Patel has been picked as a surprise element. And of course, nobody related to any BCCI official figures here.

 

[honestbharani]

I am interested about Mazumdar. Is he Amol Mazumdar? He was predicted to be the next Sanjay Manjrekar. what happened?

 

[Arjun]

You cannot help it if they selectors are in love with him. But people seem to think he has improved his keeping a bit and that he should be given as many oppurtunities as possible to showcase that to the selectors.

The selectors only think of three keepers, which isn't a good thing. There are so many specialist keepers in India who miss out. Mumbai's Vinayak Samant is the next best wicketkeeper after the now-retired Nayan Mongia and has kept to his team's spinners very well, but doesn't even make a West Zone selection- even his batting is very under-rated, and adds to his keeping very well. As for batting, only Dhoni's batting makes any difference, and also that of Pankaj Dharmani of Punjab- the others don't count.

 

[honestbharani]

What is up with Dharmani? I thought he should have made the Indian side as soon as Mongia retired or was forced out with all the match fixing drama.

 

[Arjun]

I am interested about Mazumdar. Is he Amol Mazumdar? He was predicted to be the next Sanjay Manjrekar. what happened?

Amol Mazumdar was a very consistent scorer for Mumbai for a very long time. He can hold one end up for a long time and build vital partnerships, and has the temperament to play a long innings. However, he's often missed out simply because he played for Mumbai (After all, Noel Who played for India once) and the Indian middle-order was often jam-packed and there was no place even on the bench. Now he's missed out on a West Zone selection, while some unknown relative of BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, who's played for Saurashtra and done nothing of note, made the team.

 

[Arjun]

What is up with Dharmani? I thought he should have made the Indian side as soon as Mongia retired or was forced out with all the match fixing drama.

Dharmani is a bit of a stylist (not so much as VVS Laxman) and bats in the middle-order. He is a regular wicketkeeper for Punjab and has been keeping for over ten years, but hardly got a look-in for India. He made the Indian team in 1996 only as a batsman, and he travelled to South Africa at the end of the year with the Indian team, but again, missed out on making the XI. His batting counts for Punjab, and he won a match in a tough spot when they played against Mumbai last year in the Ranji semifinal. What may go against him is that he's only been wicketkeeping in half the matches he's played and he's over 30.

 

[honestbharani]

Amol Mazumdar was a very consistent scorer for Mumbai for a very long time. He can hold one end up for a long time and build vital partnerships, and has the temperament to play a long innings. However, he's often missed out simply because he played for Mumbai (After all, Noel Who played for India once) and the Indian middle-order was often jam-packed and there was no place even on the bench. Now he's missed out on a West Zone selection, while some unknown relative of BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, who's played for Saurashtra and done nothing of note, made the team.

Well, classic BCCI there. And shame about Dharmani. HOw good was his keeping?

 

[Arjun]

Now let's look at this North Zone selection:

• Sehwag (C) (Reserve: Ravneet Ricky)
• Gambhir (Reserve: Shikhar Dhawan)
• Manhas
• Yuvraj
• Dinesh Mongia
• Dharmani (WK)
• Joginder Sharma (RMF-new?)
• Harbhajan (OB) (Reserve: Amit Mishra)
• Nehra (LFM-change) (Reserve: Gagandeep Singh)
• Bhandari (RMF-change)
• VR Singh (RFM-new)

 

[Arjun]

Well, classic BCCI there. And shame about Dharmani. HOw good was his keeping?

Look at this page to read more about Niranjan Shah junior. Anyway, I can't say much about Dharmani's keeping, except that Punjab haven't always had a problem bowling teams out recently- his keeping didn't make the news for the wrong reasons. That Himachal keeper is suspect- he used to be an opener for Haryana not too long ago, then he shifted to HP, and started keepign for them- one more Vikram Rathour.

 

[Arjun]

The South Zone squad has also been announced for the Duleep Trophy. Oh brother, one more sneaks in from a weaker team- no idea why that batsman from Goa was picked, when there are better batsmen around, who have performed against better teams. No place for Vidyut or Amit Dani (one from Goa worth picking) or young Gaurav Dhiman, and the only all-rounder they've picked is KS Sahabuddin, whose limited-overs record is a lot worse. Anil Kumble, Ramkumar and Hyderabad's Pragyan Ojha are the spinners. The selection is not too bad and VVS Laxman is the captain.

Now Ganguly, who's injured and will miss the Challenger series, will be replaced by Baroda's opener Satyajit Parab and Kaif will lead the side. Parab was from India-B ad that place will now be taken by Yusuf Pathan- that's a good thing.

 

[Arjun]

ONE day to go. Are YOU ready for the challenge?

 

[honestbharani]

I am, because I am gonna be seeing it.

 

[Arjun]

Here are two good articles from CricInfo

• Jazzing up dimestic cricket- Developments in the Punjab domestic cricket scene- Bindra's taking it very seriously.
• A lot at stake– Preview of the Challenger Trophy

I doubt if the Seniors will help themselves much by belting these teams around, unless they play very well. However, if the Seniors continue their current ODI form and those A and B teams play well, one may expect yet another upset this time. Seniors have not won the Challenger for four consecutive editions.

Sachin may be watched after returning from injury, but here are a few others who are also worth a watch-

• Vidyut– He used to be a left-arm spinner, but has not become a quick-scoring opening batsman, though he's also bowled very well for TN. Surprise selection, and he's one too many in the Senior side.
• Satyajit Parab– Replacing Saurav Ganguly, he's a new favourite among the selectors and he must reward their faith in him by scoring big and fast, and also step up in fielding and running between wickets.
• Zaheer– Dropped from the ODI side, he'll have to put together a few spells of hostile bowling and powerplay (not the ten overs) to prove a point.
• VR Singh– Agressive, forceful and very fast, he's a breath of fresh air in the scene.
• Ramesh Powar– The Indian team could do with a spinner who can also score runs, so he too has something to play for.
• Suresh Raina– Scores quick, is very effective on the field and can put together more than a few good overs as a backup bowler– a good alternative to the combination of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Yuvraj.
• Nadeem– Off-spinner from Jharkhand. Just 16 years old. What can he do?
• Gautam Gambhir– Needs to prove to the selectors yet again that he's right for ODI's. Quick scorer and very good on the field.
• Piyush Chawla– Young leggie from UP who can also score runs.
• Manoj Tewari- Another teenager, off-spinner (?) who can also bat (primary skill?).
• Yusuf Pathan– Older and taller than Irfan Pathan, he's a tall leggie like Anil Kumble and he hits the ball very hard. He's done well for Baroda in last year's Ranji and the selectors have been watching him keenly, looking for spin-bowling all-rounders. May fancy smashing younger brother all around the park, though Irfan also fancies attacking leggies.

 

[Pratters]

I do not like the concept of the Challenger series and I will give my reason for it. Basically it is the top one day players in the country separated into three teams. What is the motive of winning the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy? There is no State to represent or in fact not even a zone like in the Duleep Trophy. Even the Irani Trophy (Ranji Champs vs Rest of India) has a rest of India side. But it always proves a good season opener. And when the top players play in it, it is a case of trying to beat the Ranji Champions as a team and the Ranji Trophy trying to win some bragging points.

The Challenger Trophy serves just one motive - selection into the national side. A stage for players to prove a point to the selectors. How will team work function in such a scenario? It does not. The Zonal One dayers and State One day championships with the top players playing (in the zonal one dayers at least) should be good enough.

If there is such a 3 team break up needed, it would be better to divide the team on some criteria - age wise - India under 22, 22-27, over 27 or some thing.

Should a good inning or two in 4 matches mean you are propelled to national selection or should a failure in such a tournament mean a player is poor? More often than not no.

The common excuse is the top players are not avaiable for the other domestic competitions. Well the zonal one dayers if scheduled properly could easily have the top players available.

Sorry but I have never found any logic behing the Challenger Trophy than a short cut to national selection - a short cut which often proves a wrong cut.

 

[adharcric]

You're right, there could be a better alternative to the Challenger Series. Still, I think it's good that at least we have this, as it gives a platform for these players to make a case for national selection. The guys who get selected to play here have already played consistently well at the domestic level, so it's not entirely as if they're being selected on the basis of performance in just these 3 matches.

Here are my thoughts on the selected players:
India Seniors
Tendulkar: most important guy here, he'll be huge for india's success in the near future
Parab: decent opener, but he's 30 so highly doubt his case for selection
Yuvraj: crucial for long-term success along with Kaif, needs to dominate
Kaif: if he shows good captaincy here, i'm sure there'll be new speculation in the air ...
Venugopal: seems like a test batsman to me, but he shouldnt be forgotten just yet
Dhoni: getting better and better by the day, Chappell loves him and Dhoni should shine
Harbhajan: recent performance has been below par, and his anti-chappell comments mean that he might not be keeping up to fitness standards, so he better perform here
Kartik: he always seems to stink in ODIs, probably wont even be in the playing XI here
Pathan: after the brilliance vs. ZIM, he needs to dominate here and perform against real teams like SL and RSA, also solidify his all-rounder status with the bat
Agarkar: he has much more competition this time around, so he needs to perform
Zaheer: didnt get selected last time, but he's a big talent who must reach his potential
Vidyut: still young, will compete with Parab to open alongside SRT
JP Yadav: showed good signs in ZIM, needs to secure his place in the team and pressurize the selectors to keep out underperforming batsmen

 

[adharcric]

India A
Laxman: is out of favor in ODIs, and this might increase with guys like Raina coming onto the scene
Gambhir: needs to prove that he's better than Jadhav for the test spot and show that he is a good option in ODIs as well
Raina: big talent, solid in the field, needs to be given many more chances as guys like him and Kaif will really help India out
Badani: selection will be tough now, its unfortunate that Chappell wasnt there earlier
Patel: good batting prospect, but he'll have to outshine the numerous others to stand a chance
Jadhav: competing with Gambhir for a test spot, but it'll be a while till he has a chance to take it considering the Sehwag-Gambhir chemistry
Karthik: replacing Dhoni in ODIs is near impossible right now, so he just needs to defend his test spot
Powar: should be in the national team ahead of Harbhajan right now, wicket-taker and big hitter
RP Singh: another in the long list of left-arm seamers, needs to be properly groomed
Balaji: will compete with the likes of Nehra, Agarkar, Zaheer, RP Singh, etc.
Nadeem: 16-year old, don't worry about him just yet but it should be intriguing
VRV Singh: could be a gem for India, genuine quick and would help a lot alongside Pathan
Tewari: another young prospect, hasn't been exposed much, will be interesting to watch