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***Official*** Indian Domestic Season 2014/15

brockley

International Captain
I rather Napolean whatsisname :happy:.
You guys don't take a break for christmas :-O,sacrilige :wacko:.
Only kidding enjoy your cricket tomrrow,any decent spinners there.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Ranji Trophy 2014-15 : 'Hard to produce spinners on greentops' - Harbhajan | Cricket News | Ranji Trophy | ESPN Cricinfo

Interesting comments from Harbhajan about green tops affecting Indian spinners in domestic cricket.
Harbhajan is talking sense here. This is something I had anticipated- an excess of greentops makes wobblers lead the wicket tally, only to get exposed on flatter surfaces. We've seen a few play for India, especially in ODIs. In this Ranji season, spinners hardly get a chance to bowl, because slow-medium seamers have bundled batting sides out cheaply- his former India teammate and Ranji rival Amit Mishra even missed an innings because wobblers like Mohit Sharma (who somehow ended up playing for India) and Joginder Sharma (who wouldn't be touched if he didn't score runs) did all the hard work with help. We want India's batsmen to be well-equipped to face bowlers on green-tops, but are we producing pace bowlers who can make it count on flat decks?

Even Murali Kartik lashed out at curators' tendencies to prepare greentops just to make Indian batsmen tougher against pace, or to breed real pace.

Bhajji also asks for five-day Ranji games, and batting/bowling points, but ideally, we'd rather have an all-India draw where the teams that have the most points fill it, not just top two or three of each group. Maybe even replace the knockouts with a super-six league, where the leading team wins the Trophy, with maximum points and NRR. It's so much better than pinching a lead. This will encourage more positive cricket.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Abhinav Mukund is leading the runs chart. He's played over 80 FC games by now. If the selectors are fed up with Dhawan, surely Mukund can open the Test innings with Vijay? Then again, Dhawan has played only 12 Tests so far, and that's not enough to decide how good he is for India. Even Vijay had poor figures in his first 12 Tests, and since the Test series at home against the Aussies, he's been one of India's best Test batsmen.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Mukund is next in line, yeah. I am not sure if the door should close in Dhawan just yet, though. He is a player who can at least play his strokes and make the runs. Mukund will get his chances, I am sure.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Last time, Mumbai won from a difficult position. I'm not sure they played so well then, so it's a fall for UP, who fielded a strong side against Mumbai.

Today, one bit of news is that Pankaj Singh has chipped the top three of Vidarbha's batting order. He still has it in him. That other bloke, Ishwar Pandey, is still missing. He must not have recovered completely from his injury.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
I'm not much of a fan of Munaf Patel's slowed-down bowling these days, and his form has been poor at the start of the tournament, but he's raised the right concerns in this interview. Except that most of the bowlers in the list, including Munaf himself, have struggled with fitness and athleticism, and one (RP Singh) seems to have let his reputation and seniority get to his head (one painful incidence of him throwing his weight around in a game). The last line of this interview is one of the best things a cricketer has ever spoken.
 
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Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Yuvraj Singh definitely has a point to prove. He's leading the runs chart by a fair distance, with 433 runs, at a three-figure average and a strike rate of 70. Nice way to respond to the selectors' snub.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Yuvraj on his way to a bigger score. He's past 150. Elsewhere, Mukund made a 50 and Pankaj Singh took five again. And it is very cold and foggy in the North, so games have been held up for long.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Yuvraj is leading the tally, but that is one of the flattest decks we've seen, for Sheldon Jackson to come this close. Punjab's bowlers are green-top, grey-sky, windy-day wonders. Put them on a flat deck and they're almost as feeble as Saurashtra's. Yuvraj, though, needed a good run in the Ranji Trophy, and it's good for him. Mukund is a Test prospect with 80 FC caps, so seeing him in the top three, nearly 100 ahead of the next bloke, isn't surprising.

Shaz Thakur was famous for his tendency to bowl wides repeatedly, but seems to do something right this time. Most of the bowlers in this bunch are young, and it's early days, but I won't be surprised if Pankaj Singh finishes with decent figures only for his team to miss the quarters, or even sink, and Vinay Kumar heads the tally again with his team looking good enough for the finals. Pandey is injured so he's missed two games. Some built up Jazz Bumrah as a national prospect- and he's not in the picture this time.
 
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Niall

International Coach
I have only seen Dhawan bowl in t20 and I wasn't impressed as I don't think he has the pace to really worry top class batting especially in the long format, but he does seem to take wickets in the Ranji, is their any hope for him or is he another benefiting from the type of pitches Harbhajan moaned about?
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
I have only seen Dhawan bowl in t20 and I wasn't impressed as I don't think he has the pace to really worry top class batting especially in the long format, but he does seem to take wickets in the Ranji, is their any hope for him or is he another benefiting from the type of pitches Harbhajan moaned about?
I'm not sure IPL is really a yardstick to judge his ability, since IPL captains, coaches and franchise owners have wafer-thin patience with lesser-known Indian domestic players. Maybe he too is a green-top bully, much like some other North Zone seamers such as Mohit Sharma, Awana, Sandeep Sharma, Sid Kaul and Vik Malik. An action change can definitely add some pace, and he seems to hold his line rather well. This bloke is also one of the leading run-scorers for his State side. A series of India A tours can help him a lot, the way they helped another product of the Ranji scene, Ishwar Pandey.
 

Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
I still believe in Pankaj.
Yeah he bowled some rubbish in his second test iirc but there were a lot of encouraging spells as well. I'd have him ahead of Shami and Aaron atm.
Seriously. Pankaj is ready for Test cricket, unlike those two. Had some dropped catches off his bowling, which didn't do him much good. He's more consistent in line and length than Shami, and seems much fitter and longer-lasting than Aaron. Besides, Umesh Yadav is already there for pace, and Pankaj will form a decent unit with Umesh and Bucky.
 

OverratedSanity

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Pankaj was fine on debut, but the ****s dropped a catch early on, he didn't get a clear lbw against bell and then got taken for runs when England were already on top. Was crap in the next test, but if anyone deserves another go it's him.

Should come in for one of shami or Aaron imo.
 

Spark

Global Moderator
Is he in the squad?

Re: those bowling stats. Having pitches that were way too seamer-friendly is a big part of why our batting stocks are so ****ed IMO. Would be well-advised to not repeat our mistakes.
 
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Arjun

Cricketer Of The Year
Seeing many bowlers who've done well in Ranji and SMAT struggle in IPL has become common. Sid Kaul is one example. He was one of the best bowlers in the 2012-13 Ranji season, and was even tipped as an India prospect. In the IPL, his ineptitude on anything flat was exposed, and he struggled to retain his place in the side that picked him. Young and short, Mumbai's Dhawal Kulkarni has often done well in Ranji, but hasn't performed as well in the IPL. Even the two best seam bowlers in the domestic scene, Pankaj and Pandey, have struggled in the IPL, even to hold their places. An exception has been Sandeep Sharma, but his success is often confined to the North, and he's played little outside. An odd case is Mohit Sharma- dire, medium-slow bowler with nothing special about him, having good IPL figures and Ranji records, but dire when in an India uniform.
 

cnerd123

likes this
Mohit was bowling 130s and swinging it last time I saw him. Also has a very nice slower ball. I'd have him in our WC squad tbh.

Also I think Ranji performances will convert to Test performances better than IPL. IPL shouldn't even be a factor for the Test side.
 

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