Indian domestic season 2005-06

[chris.hinton]

India A won... a good result for them but they did have Laxman

who do you think will win the Ranji Trophy?

 

[adharcric]

Arjun, the brilliant Bowler Zaheer Khan gave away 12 runs in 4 balls to a newcomwe RP Singh. India seniors lost to India A. I think India 'A' should be the real Indian team.

OH and btw Can we compare Dhini & Karthic now ? Who faced better bowlers and who had came out better ?

Don't jump to conclusions off of one Challenger match. Dhoni is still the better choice for ODIs, as of now. Karthik is definitely good though.

Regarding Zaheer, Pathan and Agarkar, their bowling performance was pathetic. Pathan should be guaranteed a spot because he's been performing as of late on the international circuit. Zaheer is trash right now and needs to be left out again unless he bowls some fiery spells. Agarkar is nothing special with the ball but that big knock was a pleasant surprise, he may be a decent choice. RP Singh and VRV Singh are the top bowling prospects here. Balaji is garbage as well. Nehra can bowl awesome stuff, but his fitness is crucial. Powar is more impressive than Harbhajan and Kartik in all aspects, so he should be selected, but that might not happen. If I had to choose 6 bowlers, I'd go for:
4 out of Pathan, RP Singh, Nehra, Agarkar, VRV Singh
2 out of Harbhajan, Powar, Yadav

 

[honestbharani]

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.

I liked the look of Manoj Tiwari in that Twenty20 tournament. It will be interesting to see how he goes here. But great win for India A anyway.

 

[honestbharani]

Why can't JP Yadav bowl with a new ball? He's a swing bowler and a tricky one at that, but he's got a ball that's doing almost nothing! His success for Railways and Central has come as a new-ball bowler, so they should try that out.

His lack of pace would make him an easy target. Plus, with his style of bowling, he will be more effective when he doesn't need to have two close in catchers.

 

[Pratters]

OH and btw Can we compare Dhini & Karthic now ? Who faced better bowlers and who had came out better ?

We cannot make a stand for Karthik or Dhoni based on one domestic one day match.

 

[Arjun]

Not too long ago, every Indian 'pace' bowler was bowling at JP Yadav's pace. Even otherwise, if he can move the ball well, he can spring up a few surprises. Naved-Ul-Hasan, Abdul Razzaq, Maharoof, Lokuhettige, Mills and Oram have done rather well with the new ball without being outright quick. Besides, it can be quite effective, when there is a drastic difference in pace. He's a swing bowler, so he can do better when the ball is new, so it can be tried out.

 

[shankar]

Not too long ago, every Indian 'pace' bowler was bowling at JP Yadav's pace. Even otherwise, if he can move the ball well, he can spring up a few surprises. Naved-Ul-Hasan, Abdul Razzaq, Maharoof, Lokuhettige, Mills and Oram have done rather well with the new ball without being outright quick. Besides, it can be quite effective, when there is a drastic difference in pace. He's a swing bowler, so he can do better when the ball is new, so it can be tried out.

Every one of those bowlers you've listed are significantly faster than Yadav. Ronnie Irani, Gavin Larsen are bowlers who probably bowl at a comparable pace to him and nobody would ever consider giving them the new ball.

 

[Arjun]

India B's Sreesanth has been bowling some fast, aggressive stuff, and also got movement. May make the India-A side sooner than later. Got two wickets- the only two taken.

 

[adharcric]

What do you all think of this 14-man squad for the ODIs against Sri Lanka, as of now?
V Sehwag
S Tendulkar
R Dravid
M Kaif
Y Singh
Y Venugopal Rao
S Raina
MS Dhoni
JP Yadav
I Pathan
A Agarkar
RP Singh / A Nehra
VRV Singh / A Nehra
R Powar / H Singh

 

[honestbharani]

We cannot make a stand for Karthik or Dhoni based on one domestic one day match.

Funny, but some guys in our forum were willing to make a stand based on one ODI against Pakistan on the same issue.

 

[honestbharani]

What do you all think of this 14-man squad for the ODIs against Sri Lanka, as of now?
V Sehwag
S Tendulkar
R Dravid
M Kaif
Y Singh
Y Venugopal Rao
S Raina
MS Dhoni
JP Yadav
I Pathan
A Agarkar
RP Singh / A Nehra
VRV Singh / A Nehra
R Powar / H Singh

That side looks good, but can VRV Singh be relied upon to bowl well at any stage of the game?

 

[Arjun]

That side looks good, but can VRV Singh be relied upon to bowl well at any stage of the game?

Given the five seam options used so often in the Indian side, VR Singh is definitely worth a try. He's very aggressive and can generate a lot of pace. He's a good foil for Irfan's swing in the first 15 overs. It was strange to have him taking an old ball, given his style, while Balaji bowls better when the ball is old.

 

[Arjun]

What do you all think of this 14-man squad for the ODIs against Sri Lanka, as of now?

It's not going to win too many maches, given how similar it is to the current Indian side.

• Change Agarkar if you want a series victory. He often bowls rubbish at the wrong time.
• Keep VR Singh, RP Singh and maybe Nehra.
• Bring in Gautam Gambhir. He's a good fit in ODI's and a more reliable batsman than Yuvraj.
• Venugopal Rao seems an ODI misfit.
• Powar over Harbhajan. Sneak in a second spinner who can bat- maybe Rajesh Pawar or Yusuf Pathan.
• Maybe you can get in Amit Pagnis (for Sehwag) and Sanjay Bangar (for Nehra).

I must ask- Have you picked this team lookign at individual skills or how well they combine? Anyway, look at this combination which appears on the third page of this thread.

 

[Arjun]

Sreesanth got one to move away and Gambhir got trapped, couldn't take is bat out and edged to keeper.

 

[Jono]

I unfortunately don't have the opportunity to watch this since I live in Aus, but from the scorecards and what I've followed on Cricinfo, Gambhir has failed to impress. You would have thought this would have been the perfect opportunity for him to prove he can be a ODI batsman.

And Laxman can do no wrong Neither can Yadav, with the ball at least. (Who I am still yet to see ).

 

[chris.hinton]

Up

 

[Pratters]

A very good match going on. For people like Jono not getting access of the match, you can watch live internet streaming at www.willow.tv

 

[Arjun]

I unfortunately don't have the opportunity to watch this since I live in Aus, but from the scorecards and what I've followed on Cricinfo, Gambhir has failed to impress. You would have thought this would have been the perfect opportunity for him to prove he can be a ODI batsman.

And Laxman can do no wrong Neither can Yadav, with the ball at least. (Who I am still yet to see ).

He'll get one more chance. Besides, his team will only get three matches at most, so the series shouldn't be used to judge how good he is. It should be a workout for each team and show how well these players perform together. Taking that into consideration, he's not too bad. Yadav's not been too bad, but he's not going to get much out of an old ball. He's a swing bowler with an average pace in the 120's, and a very tricky one. You shouldn't miss Sreesanth.

Good to have you too posting here- why don't you talk much of the Indian domestic scene?

 

[Pratters]

why don't you talk much of the Indian domestic scene?

Because he doesnt get the opportunity to see that much of the Domestic cricket and he, I believe like me, likes to talk after seeing stuff much more than reading about them.

Jono will assure you I am quite right in this assessment of the guy.

 

[Arjun]

More on Sreesanth– he's not very tall or powerfully built, but has a fiery personality. He tries to unsettle the batsmen with pace, but can get a hint of movement which can catch them off guard. When he thinks he can get a wicket, he'll appeal furiously. If the umpire says yes, he'll look upward, then do a Shoaib Akhtar act, but if no, he'll bend on his knees and look down. Just as he did when he knew he got an edge from Yuvraj to the keeper, but the umpire truned him down. He even zapped one on Venugopal's pads and knocked down the stumps, but it was a no-ball!