***Official*** Indian Domestic Season 2007-08

[Arjun]

Ranji Final - Chopra and Bhatia have made over 80 each, and Praveen Kumar took three early wickets.

 

[JerseyGuy]

what's happening to Kaif, Raina, Gambhir and Chawla....India's future. All of them failing in this big match.

 

[Captain Cricket]

Who is Munaf Patel playing for?

 

[adharcric]

what's happening to Kaif, Raina, Gambhir and Chawla....India's future. All of them failing in this big match.

Do you expect them to do well in every match? Srivastava, Sangwan, Shukla and Kumar ... also India's future ... have done quite well. Let's see how the 2nd innings turn out.

Who is Munaf Patel playing for?

Maharashtra, but he'll have to wait until the inter-zonal Duleep Trophy (starts later this month), assuming he's fit and gets selected for West Zone.

 

[Jono]

Haha, I want Uttar Pradesh to win, but man I love Chopra.

Great fight back from Delhi, but I love the look of Kumar. An angry angry man.

Feel they didn't use him properly after he got his first 3 wickets. Should have given him more of a bowl against Chopra early. They took their foot off the pedal too quickly from what I saw of the highlights.

None the less UP in a great position at what is basically 1-80. Would love for Raina and Kaif to score in the 2nd innings. Particularly Kaif, he'll always be my boy, even if he doesn't play int'l cricket again.

 

[Arjun]

Lucky folks...I am living in India and yet can't watch the match on NEO...because the cable-op isn't providing it. There are only four sports channels on main feed, and one is Zee Sports, which often lies idle. Likewise Ten, with no action at that time. They say they'll only show NEO if thee's action. And there is. Not on Zee and Ten. They can't even provide NEO on the box, saying there are technical problems. Disappointing.

With one more Ranji victory for UP, the sooner Praveen Kumar returns to the national team, the better, and on form, may even make his Test debut.

 

[Jono]

How was Raina's knock?

UP really botched this up though. How is the pitch playing? Haven't seen UP's innings on highlights yet.

 

[Cevno]

We should have brought chopra to australia.
His patience is absolutely astounding.

 

[adharcric]

We should have brought chopra to australia.
His patience is absolutely astounding.

TBF, he would've replaced Sehwag, who has been alright so far. Jaffer is the real problem and he was someone who I thought had a compact technique against the new ball. Clearly, he doesn't. Jaffer is one bad series away from being dropped. Meanwhile, Karthik definitely deserves another chance but Pathan might have temporarily hurt his chances.

 

[Arjun]

Delhi wins. Easily. Gautam Gambhir stays unbeaten,with Shikhar Dhawan for company. It's good to see the last four crunch matches at both levels in Ranji ending in results.

 

[Arjun]

We should have brought chopra to australia.
His patience is absolutely astounding.

We said that about Chopra back then in 2003, and then he was gone. We then said the same about Jaffer, and he's on his way out. They need to stick to one. Chopra has the advantage of having played a lot of one-day cricket and fits in nicely there, unlike Jaffer. He's also a better fielder- one of the best for India at short-leg, a wicket-taking position. While he's more patient and technically more correct, Gambhir is a lot more aggressive and a better partnership-builder. Both are very similar, otherwise. But the people that matter need to pick two with one in reserve, and persist with them for a long time, rather than change them after a series.

The Ranji One Day Trophy, as far as I know has, regardless of level, teams playing against each other and there are five zonal leagues. This allows for quick competition and easy selection of zonal teams - it is a good system and should be used in the Ranji Trophy, in my opinion - albeit with some the changes.

They can apply a global points system, to make the event more competitve. A few upsets in East or North may end up affecting West or South toppers. This two-tier system has brought along some ill-effects, as there have been several draws being played out in Elite, so that teams stay there. Moreover, that annoying first-innings lead still is a priority, especially in Elite.

I personally see that the main problem with the current system is the low level of teams. If Sanjay Bangar is opening the bowling in a final, there is clearly not a high enough level.

That's unfair on Sanjay Bangar, who bowls with a brain, and uses conditions to good effect. He's done very well as a stock bowler, while India's best pacers often fatter to deceive, and the best batsmen shy away from deputising for a missing fifth (or even fourth) bowler.

The Plate teams are very competitive, and there have been several results in that league. While fans may mock Bangar, they still rate Parthiv Patel, who's scored runs against the same opposition, as a Test prospect, when they need a batsman who can bowl stocks and not another so-called wicketkeeper-batsman to open in Tests.

I know I say this a lot, but the key lies in making the zonal competitions into the premier competitions. The Duleep Trophy, for example, should consist of five (ten?) matches for each team rather than just two so talented players get more chance to play at a higher level - the benefits lie in several dimensions.

I fully agree on that. We should treat the Duleep and Deodhar trophies as the premier tournaments- held in the off-season for India so that national players get to play. These should be treated as feeders for national selection and run along the lines of the Australian FC tournaments, which have very few teams. A national player has to be good enough for a Zonal selection.

Everything that the scene should have- lush-green outfields, a few fast and bouncy pitches, large grounds without boundary ropes, national players in action- should happen here. The selection may end up being skewed, in favour of Elite players and individua performers, and that should be avoided.

Just looking through the statistics of last year's Ranji One Day Trophy, Gagandeep Singh took 13 wickets with an economy rate of 2.60! Unreal!

That's amazing, given that he's not much of a limited-overs bowler. He struggled in his first Challenger, taking no wicket. He's definitely improved a lot since then, but OD matches in the North should be considered with a pinch of salt. Their matches are often played in J&K, HP or Uttarakhand, often in hill-stations or lakesides, far removed from ODI-standard conditions, and very similar to those places in New Zealand, where the Indians played ODI's in 2002.

 

[Arjun]

Opening up the figures box, we find some players in the finals of Ranji among the top ten batsmen and bowlers. Gautam Gambhir and Akash Chopra are leading, although Gambhir missed a few matches. Cheteshwar Pujara from surprise package Saurashtra leads the list, but his team couldn't make the final. Badrinath continues to amass the runs, and so does limited-overs hero Mithun Manhas, strangely ignored for national selection, even in ODI's. Suresh Raina and Mohammed Kaif, long gone from the national team, have averaged close to 50 (Kaif averaged over) in this series. Is a comeback on the cards? Likely, considering fielding, but we'll have to watch the Duleep action.

The leading wicket-taker is Sudeep Tyagi, with over 40. Good for him, being his first season. Let's see how he does in Duleep and the next few seasons. He'll be a prospect (hopefully) at least two years later. Praveen Kumar, with 36 in six, who was on top in the 05-06 season, isn't far behind. He hasn't been among the runs for UP, though. Chawla also got wickets and runs, but his wickets came at over 31. A surprise package is Yusuf Pathan, with 26 wickets, who's also the leading run-scorer for his team. Pradeep Sangwan, another newcomer, had a great first season, shooting into the top ten.

Let's not forget Rajat Bhatia, who was one of the leading run-scorers in this season, and also bowled long stocks for Delhi and returned with good bowling figures.

 

[Manee]

The Plate teams are very competitive, and there have been several results in that league. While fans may mock Bangar, they still rate Parthiv Patel, who's scored runs against the same opposition, as a Test prospect, when they need a batsman who can bowl stocks and not another so-called wicketkeeper-batsman to open in Tests.

I don't mock Bangar, it is just that he is so far from an opening bowler that it is not funny. Last time I saw him bowling for India, he looked about 110kph with not much movement in the air or off the pitch. Furthermore, I rate Patel on the runs he made for India A, not Gujarat.

Thanks for giving my ideas the time of day. You clearly watch lots of Indian domestic cricket whereas I have had to go on reports for this past year (the only year in which I have been following it).

With the information about the standard of the Ranji One Day Trophy pitches, one wonders why they don't 'do an ICL' and use about three heavily refurbished grounds for the games rather than playing here, there and everywhere.

It is so silly that they do not give the Duleep Trophy more importance than the Ranji (and same with Deodhar and Ranji One Day). It gives the selectors a view of players at a high level of competition and reduces the number of teams which allows for much effort over pitches and outfields. If the Duleep Trophy was the main competition, there would be less debate of Gambhir's ability in unlimited overs cricket at a high level, because he would be playing in one.

If they stripped the Ranji Trophies of FC and List A status (like Grade Cricket), then maybe you could take statistics like Joginder Sharma's FC bowling average or Gagandeep Singh's List A economy rate at face value.

Moreover, that annoying first-innings lead still is a priority, especially in Elite.

It should be like Test cricket. A draw is a draw, a win is a win and a loss is a loss - no more, no less. The whole idea of points based on little intricate points of a performance is foolish in my eyes. If there are too many draws, then prepare more sporting pitches rather than differentiating draws.

You mentioned Mithun Manhas, but his average (50.01 in List A) is deceptive based on his 25 not outs. He only averages 34 runs per innings.

 

[Arjun]

I don't mock Bangar, it is just that he is so far from an opening bowler that it is not funny. Last time I saw him bowling for India, he looked about 110kph with not much movement in the air or off the pitch. Furthermore, I rate Patel on the runs he made for India A, not Gujarat.

The team doesn't need Bangar in particular as an opening bowler, but the more talented bowlers can learn a lot from what he's done. He's very much a thinking man's bowler, and does a lot at not too much pace. If he can do so much, the likes of Ishant, RP Singh, VRV Singh and Zaheer can do a lot more. In fact, this is one bowler who has all the basics right. Moreover, he's a frontline batsman for his team, and yet he's putting in a lot of effort with the ball. That's something the Indian batsmen can pick up as well- one of them needs to step up with the ball, when they can. Bangar may be a much-improwed bowler now, than he was in the early 2000's, though a lot may have to do with JP Yadav shifting to ICL.

You mentioned Mithun Manhas, but his average (50.01 in List A) is deceptive based on his 25 not outs. He only averages 34 runs per innings.

He's been around for some time, and bats in the middle-order, so not-outs will definitely be a factor. With List-A averages being so low in India, that may definitely be something to consider, since so manybatsmen average in the 30's even with a few not-outs, and a few, even less, and are still ODI prospects. We've now come across a few comments saying that Badri shouldn't play ODI's as his lower List-A average suggests he isn't suited to limited-overs cricket, and now we have one with this average.

If they stripped the Ranji Trophies of FC and List A status (like Grade Cricket), then maybe you could take statistics like Joginder Sharma's FC bowling average or Gagandeep Singh's List A economy rate at face value.

Thats' a tough call, but the progression should be all that is pre-Ranji, then Ranji/ROD, then Duleep/Deodhar, and possibly A-team or BPXI, finally the national team. While Ranji stats may not be convincing for a national call-up or recall, they can surely force a selection into Zonal or Reserve level. Joginder and Gagandeep, if not national, should have got in (and stayed in) reserve teams.

 

[Arjun]

You clearly watch lots of Indian domestic cricket

When I get to. With a packed schedule at school, I don't get time to go to B'bourne or 'Hede to watch a match, and NEO Sports, for some bizarre reason, doesn't come on my set or the box on top of it. I've repeatedly pestered the cable-ops to transmit it, but then, those excuses come, as I have mentioned a few times earlier in this thread.

Over to the Duleep now.

 

[Arjun]

The Central Zone team looks weak. With JP Yadav in ICL and the top four players- RP Singh, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla and Suresh Raina- all from UP- on national duty, we're seeing a second-string team here. Even East Zone look weak, and the return (?) of Ganguly wouldn't help matters much. They do have a strong bowling attack with Paul, Bose and the Mohantys.

England Lions have Panesar in their ranks, for some reason. He's a frontliner for England, being their top spinner, so seeing him in the reserves is a surprise. They look strong, but then again, we see Michael Yardy as captain and several unknown names. North have several youngsters, and Joginder gets yet another chance. Somehow, Gambhir is named captain of this team. They still look a strong unit.

South have more han a few youngsters as well. We see Sreesanth returning, and we'll also get to see Ojha in action. West have some old hands in their team, including Agarkar and Powar, though Baroda's Rajesh Pawar is named as a standby. Comments?

 

[Manee]

all that is pre-Ranji,

I am slightly concerned about this area. Is there a club cricket sector like in England or is it just games like office cricket - such as I have read about.

 

[Arjun]

Over 13 wickets have fallen in the North/South match. South Zone are all out for 157, with Vikramjeet Malik taking five, and Rajat Bhatia (for someone who's played more as a batsman for New Delhi) continues to impress with the ball, taking four. North have already lost their openers and middle-order mainstay Manhas.

In the Central/West match, we've seen Yusuf Pathan smash a century at well over a run a ball, with several hits to (and over) the fence. Wickets have been hard to come by there, and we saw a good opening stand by young Mumbai openers Kukreja and Rahane.

 

[Arjun]

Now North are dominating South in their Duleep match. North were all out for 299, and South are at 95 for two. South have something decent started out.

In that other match, Sanjay Bangar grabbed four wickets and Sanjib Sanyal, four more. The non-specialists seem to have a field day here. That was what could have been, let's now look at what can be. Mohammed Kaif is unbeaten on 96 as Central are at 237/5, in reply to West's 411 all out.

 

[Salamuddin]

Good to see Kaif making runs......IMO, India should never have dropped Kaif for ganguly...