***Official*** Indian Domestic Thread 2012/13

[Cevno]

But knowing Indian selectors we'll have Mithun, Dinda and Ishant in the next test. Maybe Unadkat too.

[Cevno]

Top Wicket takers this season.

Some start by Ankit Rajpoot to his career. Outperformed even Bhuvneshwar in the matches they played together and has best S/R and Average.

Ian Pont saying that Mohit Sharma should get a go in India and is being ignored for being from Haryana. Haven't seen him bowl so far but he did decently in that India A match.

[Cevno]

Most Runs.

Tamil Nadu batsman seem the glaring miss for some reason.

[Reevo]

Jadeja still in the top 10 despite missing most the season, damn.

Sid Kaul and Ishwar Pandey should really be the first names on the next India A tour, probably Sandeep Sharma if fit too. Kaul's been impressive in this semi-final, although it looks likely that Saurashtra will get through.

[Arjun]

Plenty of the top performers, notably bowlers, have played just one season- this one. A few have played a little more, but none of the stalwarts figure in this list. Hardly something from which you can pick near-future or current India players. You can, instead, assemble three India A teams with this bunch. But how will they do in the next season? Worth a watch. Already some players picked on their records in one season (Mithun, Rahul Sharma,.Unadkat) are struggling in Ranji itself.

The game-changers in the bowlers will be the ones with good strike rates, or at least strike rates under 50, as well as plenty of fives. Ishwar Pandey, Sandeep Sharma and Ankit Rajpoot, and to some extent Ajay Yadav from Jharkhand, are on top there, as also India-A player Shami Ahmed. If we look at absolute wickets, Pankaj Singh and Bhuv Kumar have done well and Awana (and guess who, Vinay Kumar again), reasonably well, despite relatively poor strike rates and fewer fives.

The whole Ranji season appears to have been played in New Zealand or North England. Look at how many seamers and batsmen-who-bowl-seam-up have done well here. Only four spinners- Nadeem, Ali Murtaza, Parvez Rassol and Karan Sharma have done well- if you extend the 'top' list- and even then, Nadeem's strike rate is poor, Rassol has had only this good season with the ball, Murtaza has played and bowled little (ten out of 15 wickets in one match out of six) while three games won't make Karan Sharma a prospect. Mishra, an old faithful, has been average, while Kartik, poor.

All-rounders, though, have done well. Abhishek Nayar has loaded his runs tally and chipped away or at least bowled steady. Definitely a better alternative than Jadeja, whose success as a bowler has been due to all the protection Dhoni has offered- the same Dhoni treated Nayar as a playing-XI waterboy. Bengal's LR Shukla has taken more wickets, and scored a few, but not chart-topping. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rishi Dhawan have done well too, primarily as bowlers, but have got more than a few wickets. J&K offie Parvez Rassol has got both runs and wickets, but is still a little raw- India would be served better by restoring Ashwin to full form than by giving Rassol a chance.

In the batting charts, only Paras Dogra, Amol Mazumdar, Rohit Sharma, Kaif and Mithun Manhas matter- as also Pujara, who did a lot in very little.

[Arjun]

Ranji XI:

• Jiwanjyot (leading run-scorer, 5x100)
• Jaffer (730 runs, 2x100+4x50)
• Mazumdar (868 runs, 5x100)
• Dogra (786 runs, 5x100)
• Manhas (742 runs, 5x100)
• Gautam (WK) (943 runs, 2x100, second-highest in tally)
• Parvez Rassol (OB) (33 wickets@avg 18, SR 42, also 594 runs, 2x100)
• Nadeem (SLA) (42 wickets @average 25, top five bowler)
• Shami Ahmed (RMF) (SR 44, 2x5WI, 2x10WM)
• Ishwar Pandey (RM)(leading wickets tally, 5x5, 1x10, strike rate 43)
• Siddharth Kaul (RFM) (second-highest in wickets tally, strike rate 46)

[Arjun]

Getting better, bhai log, three more!

[Daemon]

So many ridiculous bowling and batting averages..Ranji stats are probably the most misleading of all when looked at without context.

[Arjun]

Originally Posted by Cevno

Good ideas those.

Also, need to sort out the Pitches and the stupid rules that encourage draws. Mumbai And Saurashtra have prepared roads throughout and reached the Semi's.

Pathteic wickets prepared by home sides for the knock out matches too. Best ptich was at the neutral venue.

Pitches shouldn't be totally green that someone like Virat Kohli becomes a competitive bowler or 120k bowlers become menacing, nor do we want square turners. We'd love a mix, as well as a balanced wicket every now and then. We'd like seaming wickets in North, flat in West with a hint of turn, square turners down South, hard and bouncy in Central and a good balance in East.

As for the points system,

1. let's make it two for the leading team and one for the trailing team in case of a draw.
2. For an outright win, five for the winning team only.
3. For an innings/ten-wicket-200+run win, six points for the winning team and the losing team loses a point.

When the format of knockouts is abandoned and just a points table is used, you'll get a much clearer picture.

Originally Posted by morgieb

Just have the Duleep Trophy and scrap the Ranji's FC status.

Not quite. Let's cramp the Ranji Trophy by playing fewer matches and extend the Duleep Trophy. We don't want any manipulation by the power centres. We want the whole of India to get a chance.

[Arjun]

Originally Posted by Daemon

So many ridiculous bowling and batting averages..Ranji stats are probably the most misleading of all when looked at without context.

Rahane, Pujara, Jadeja, Murali Vijay, Mukund. one-season wonders Mithun and Dinda- and cricket fans' punching bag Rohit Sharma- almost an XI on Ranji records that are misleading.

So it is Mumbai vs Saurashtra. Hopefully Zaheer returns to full fitness to bowl them to a win. Zaheer-Agarkar-Kulkarni-Nayar-Ankeet is a good combo.

[Cevno]

Originally Posted by Arjun

Pitches shouldn't be totally green that someone like Virat Kohli becomes a competitive bowler or 120k bowlers become menacing, nor do we want square turners. We'd love a mix, as well as a balanced wicket every now and then. We'd like seaming wickets in North, flat in West with a hint of turn, square turners down South, hard and bouncy in Central and a good balance in East.

As for the points system,

1. let's make it two for the leading team and one for the trailing team in case of a draw.
2. For an outright win, five for the winning team only.
3. For an innings/ten-wicket-200+run win, six points for the winning team and the losing team loses a point.

When the format of knockouts is abandoned and just a points table is used, you'll get a much clearer picture.
Not quite. Let's cramp the Ranji Trophy by playing fewer matches and extend the Duleep Trophy. We don't want any manipulation by the power centres. We want the whole of India to get a chance.

Agree on the points system. It completely needs to change.

Mumbai reached the Quarters drawing game after game. Something similar with Saurashtra.

Kind of Ironic in a season where by and large the pitches have been better for bowlers and more competitive, the 2 Finalist are the 2 teams with Flattest wickets consistently.

Would have much rathered preferred a Punjab vs Services final. Ah well .

[Cevno]

Originally Posted by Arjun

Plenty of the top performers, notably bowlers, have played just one season- this one. A few have played a little more, but none of the stalwarts figure in this list. Hardly something from which you can pick near-future or current India players. You can, instead, assemble three India A teams with this bunch. But how will they do in the next season? Worth a watch. Already some players picked on their records in one season (Mithun, Rahul Sharma,.Unadkat) are struggling in Ranji itself.

Rahul Sharma never did well in FC. He is a IPL product.

And Unadkat was selected based on U19 out of nowhere.

Mithun had one good season, but never really impressed. Sudeep Tyagi was the one impressing. God knows what happened to him. Maybe Injuries?

[Arjun]

Final tomorrow. Hopefully Zaheer will turn up and win the game for Mumbai.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by Cevno

Rahul Sharma never did well in FC. He is a IPL product.

And Unadkat was selected based on U19 out of nowhere.

Mithun had one good season, but never really impressed. Sudeep Tyagi was the one impressing. God knows what happened to him. Maybe Injuries?

I think Unadkat was selected based on doing well for India A; he was selected for that based on Under 19 cricket though.

[Prince EWS]

Originally Posted by morgieb

Just have the Duleep Trophy and scrap the Ranji's FC status.

I'm a big fan of the Duleep Trophy but this is a bit extreme. We definitely need to see the Ranji shortened and the Duleep extended but the Ranji Trophy should still definitely be a standalone First Class competition AFAIC. The idea of having both the traditional regional setup and a more congested, smaller competition is awesome IMO, and it's the way forward for First Class cricket in a number of countries; they've just got the balance a bit off at the moment.