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

[Arjun]

Unsurprisingly, that Gujarat-Haryana match ended in its fourth session itself. Surprisingly, with a nine-wicket win for Gujarat. Anyway, Haryana are safe and will get to compete next year in Group B. Can't say the same of both of Odisha and Saurashtra- one of these two is going down. With Uttar Pradesh.

Rishi Dhawan, the all-rounder who gobbles up plenty of wickets, is on the watch list of many fans. Critics, however, point out that he plays in Group C and there's a gulf between that and international cricket. Guess what, whether he plays for India or not, he can't get out of Group C action until he gets out of Himachal. They've failed to qualify for the quarters once more, with only two wins in eight, and another draw, which seems likely, will leave them stuck here. If Rishi is serious about playing for India, the sooner he packs his bags for Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh or even nearby Punjab, the better.

It will be a while before Swarupam from Assam becomes a national prospect, but his team is in prime form. They've been on top of their group, with plenty of wins. A promotion is assured, and they can also cause a few upsets along the way if they keep their form going.

Madhya Pradesh, though missing pace spearhead Ishwar Pandey, are still doing well, and have a chance of making the quarters, with a win against Bengal likely. Mumbai may miss out on a berth since they're struggling to take 20 Karnataka wickets, while Baroda is under the Tamil Nadu hammer. While Baroda can continue to pose a challenge one season later with their has-beens, it will be a lot tougher for Mumbai, who have to live up to their reputation as multiple Ranji champions, but with little or no experience. When a wicketkeeper opens their batting, you know what state they're in.

Punjab, defeated by Delhi, have had a reversal in fortunes, as they are now out of the quarters. Gujarat and Vidarbha have sneaked up.

 

[Arjun]

It's not Uttar Pradesh, but Jammu & Kashmir, who go down. UP won their last league game against Railways to avoid relegation, while the matches J&K lost have definitely been a factor.

Saurashtra go down. Odisha survive to stay in the middle group.

Hanuma Vihari's 264 could do nothing to help Hyderabad get back into the top or middle tier, but it definitely dented HP's chances of making the quarters.

Mumbai pulled off a draw that somehow kept them a whisker ahead of MP, who couldn't force the win against Bengal. So it's Karnataka, TN and Mumbai from Group A, with Delhi, Vidarbha and Gujarat from Group B, and promoted Group C teams Andhra and Assam. Let's hope Assam survives the next season, unlike J&K.

 

[Arjun]

We thought Mumbai is under pressure again. They seem to have almost turned it around, though Delhi have a slender lead of 10 runs. This will certainly have a result. Mumbai have been up and down drastically, while Delhi have been the team in form, and while Mumbai has two players in the top ten batting/bowling charts, Delhi has none.

Siva Kumar ran through Maharashtra to roll them over for 91, only for his team, Andhra, to be tripped at 138. Another very competitive game on. With five days of play, these can end up in results.

The other two games, involving South Zone powerhouses TN and KA, are not so emphatic. Karnataka crushed Assam with a score of 452, but it remains to be seen if they can take the remaining 17 wickets in three days. Gopal has begun well with the ball. It will be harder for TN to take 20 Vidarbha wickets after posting 403.

Robin Uthappa is now in the top five run-scorers list, although the top three of these five are out of action. In the bowling charts, Pankaj Singh is now going further down, overtaken by Rishi Dhawan, Siva Kumar, Swarupam and Basanth Mohanty, and more.

 

[Arjun]

Karnataka win and proceed to the final. Mumbai started off well in their chase of 445, but their soft bottom five left them over a hundred runs short. Shaz Thakur, who took 8 wickets, leads the wickets tally, but expect Vinay Kumar or Aravind to overtake him in the final.

The other semi is a sleepy one, with TN pinching a first-innings lead. It's 549 against 454. It will be an all-South final, but clearly one bowling attack is clearly stronger than the other. Karnataka may have another consecutive Ranji title now, unless TN run through their batting.

Robin Uthappa is on top with 912 runs. It's a late surge for him, for long behind Jackson and Dogra. Hopefully this will have him playing for India again, at least in ODIs.

 

[Arjun]

The Wankhede pitch seems to offer excessive bounce. Deliveries by Karnataka's swing/seam quartet which would be innocuous on flat decks seem to have stifled TN's batsmen a great deal, with high bounce, beating bat often, and also getting a few edges. Batting on Day 1, though, was poor, and on Day 2, TN's seamers didn't bowl particularly well, and I saw some wide full-tosses that didn't look like taking a wicket.

 

[Pratters]

Didn't watch the game so far but KL Rahul is absolute class. So, good, this player.

 

[Arjun]

Indeed. Was rushed into Tests too early, but after a couple of Futures/Reserves tours, and possibly one season after this, he can also join the pool for Test prospects.

Now Karun Nair is coming close to his 250. Not sure it is worth it, though. They need to roll over TN quickly and grab the trophy with an outright win, unless they're trying to keep their bowlers fresh.

 

[Arjun]

Demolition. Karnataka at 618/7, with Nair scoring 310 and Rahul out on 188. Hopefully this doesn't end up being negative cricket by the time the game finishes, since the pitch is now batting-friendly.

 

[Arjun]

At one point of time, Karnataka was annihilating its Southern rival. Now, they're just going through the motions, playing negative cricket while trying to hold on to a first-innings lead and let players achieve personal milestones.

 

[Pratters]

Dire stuff from Karnataka.

 

[Arjun]

It may be time to re-think the idea of five-day knockout games, if they're getting abused this way. In fact, knockouts should actually be phased out in favour of a super league format, with the league toppers winning the title.

 

[Arjun]

Irani Trophy on. Here's what I've noticed so far. Shaz Thakur has sprayed the ball all around, without much pace, and seemed to get some purchase from a seamer-friendly wicket. Plenty of his deliveries were smashed, carved and edged to the boundary.

Varun Aaron, though, bowled with pace and power, chipping three wickets. Accuracy, though, hasn't been up to the mark, which is typical of a bloke who has been in and out of active cricket. Then again, much of the runs scored off him were not particularly confident, and he also had the mighty, top-scoring Uthappa in a tight spot before getting him out. Web favourite all-rounder Rishi Dhawan was the slowest of the bunch, but bowled tight, in the right areas, and was rewarded with a wicket, but punished at least once for overstepping- one cost him, and his team, a wicket. Ojha started off well, and flighted plenty of deliveries. Jayant Yadav just finished one over and got hit for nine runs, including two swept fours.

Limited-overs specialist Mayank Agarwal scored a fifty at FC strike rate. The others haven't even reached that. Right now, triple-centurion from the finals, Karun Nair, is scoring quickly.

 

[karan316]

I like the Karnataka team, but I do feel that lack of good turning wickets have benefited them more than any other team. Their pace battery is ideal for wickets with a hint of purchase. Teams relying on their spinners to win games have found it really difficult. Would love to see them tested on a square turner against some spin heavy teams.

 

[Arjun]

Varun Aaron has ripped through the strong (even without Rahul, they're strong) Karnataka XI, with six wickets, including two in an over. He made the batsmen play a lot, and cramped them when he got it tight. Good show. Again, he can get better only when he's getting enough action, which is difficult, given how often his team gets eliminated at the group stage- but there's some hope in ODs. That was a very smooth, swift clean-up of the lower order, who had runs between them.

Once upon a time, after India U-19 won a World Cup, Ian Chappell said Unmukt Chand should be rushed into the national side sooner than later. Bloke's out for a first-ball zero off ageing, slow, green-top bully Vinay Kumar. Rest Of India at 20/1.

Karnataka, for all practical purposes, play in a temperate region. Unsurprisingly, that's also the one place where the Indian team always struggles to win, so it's also unsurprising that their seamers thrive on the conditions there.

 

[karan316]

I don't get the team selection for the ROI side, I mean this is not the strongest ROI side, a few deserving players are clearly missing.

Chand and Jiwanjot are odd selections. Mukund and Shreyas Iyer were better options.

Naman Ojha over Dinesh Karthik is just baffling. Karthik has been the best in this domestic season when it comes to wicket keepers.

Jayant Yadav over Jalaj Saxena is another shocking selection.

And no Pankaj Singh or Praveen Kumar?

I hope the selectors are not trying to gift wrap the Irani Trophy to give it to the Karnataka team. This is more of a ROI-B side.

 

[Arjun]

I don't get the team selection for the ROI side, I mean this is not the strongest ROI side, a few deserving players are clearly missing.

Chand and Jiwanjot are odd selections. Mukund and Shreyas Iyer were better options.

Naman Ojha over Dinesh Karthik is just baffling. Karthik has been the best in this domestic season when it comes to wicket keepers.

Jayant Yadav over Jalaj Saxena is another shocking selection.

And no Pankaj Singh or Praveen Kumar?

I hope the selectors are not trying to gift wrap the Irani Trophy to give it to the Karnataka team. This is more of a ROI-B side.

Chand is a howler of a selection, and Jiwanjot was picked more for promise than performance. Although at least four openers did well, it seems they've opted for as many Group A/B players as possible, but then, Andhra got promoted, and we don't see Bharath there.

Ojha was competing hard with Karthik, and even got ahead for a while, until his team failed to make the quarters, which is when Karthik's form surged. Likely Karthik's wicketkeeping, which was poor in his last few international appearances, was a factor. Not much to separate the two, except for the teams they represent.

Jalaj Saxena is an overused part-time bowler with a poor season. Jayant Yadav, on the other hand, was not only one of the top 10 bowlers this season, in very few games, but also scored more than a few runs, taking the load off Rishi Dhawan. In fact, Jay was the better all-rounder this season.

Pankaj Singh is definitely unlucky. Bloke plays for a team that has struggled this time around, and couldn't figure in the top ten wickets tally, while a dire bowler like Shaz Thakur, who lacks pace, lacks bounce and lacks accuracy, gets plenty because his team moves further ahead. While Pujara isn't really unlucky, he could have played in place of Kedar Jadhav, who's more of an ODI specialist, coming off a poor season. Yet, he's batted smartly and is getting plenty, at a good strike rate.

Even then, it's not really the best Rest Of India XI, when the Indian frontline team players are not even available- should have had Dhawan opening, Rohit Sharma in the middle-order, Dhoni as wicketkeeper and possibly Bhuvneshwar as all-rounder.

 

[Arjun]

Rest Of India have pinched the lead, and are five runs ahead with a wicket in hand. Now Aaron is frustrating the bowlers with 20 valuable runs, and plenty of quick ones coming off Gopal. The leggie has taken three wickets in ten overs, but gone for over four an over, and bowled only a single maiden. Sting in the tail end, indeed, and also a sign that this pitch has become easier to bat on.

 

[karan316]

Chand is a howler of a selection, and Jiwanjot was picked more for promise than performance. Although at least four openers did well, it seems they've opted for as many Group A/B players as possible, but then, Andhra got promoted, and we don't see Bharath there.

Ojha was competing hard with Karthik, and even got ahead for a while, until his team failed to make the quarters, which is when Karthik's form surged. Likely Karthik's wicketkeeping, which was poor in his last few international appearances, was a factor. Not much to separate the two, except for the teams they represent.

Jalaj Saxena is an overused part-time bowler with a poor season. Jayant Yadav, on the other hand, was not only one of the top 10 bowlers this season, in very few games, but also scored more than a few runs, taking the load off Rishi Dhawan. In fact, Jay was the better all-rounder this season.

Pankaj Singh is definitely unlucky. Bloke plays for a team that has struggled this time around, and couldn't figure in the top ten wickets tally, while a dire bowler like Shaz Thakur, who lacks pace, lacks bounce and lacks accuracy, gets plenty because his team moves further ahead. While Pujara isn't really unlucky, he could have played in place of Kedar Jadhav, who's more of an ODI specialist, coming off a poor season. Yet, he's batted smartly and is getting plenty, at a good strike rate.

Even then, it's not really the best Rest Of India XI, when the Indian frontline team players are not even available- should have had Dhawan opening, Rohit Sharma in the middle-order, Dhoni as wicketkeeper and possibly Bhuvneshwar as all-rounder.

I agree with some of your points. And regardless of unavailability of some of the players, the team selection has been horrible.

I would have gone with Karthik over Ojha because of his experience and also the fact that he has been ignored in recent past for no reason. Ojha is anyways an average keeper. Praveen Kumar, Rishi Dhawan, Pankaj and Aaron(along with Jayant Yadav as the 5th bowler) would have formed a deadly combination against this Karnataka line up.

And the batting lineup is pretty ordinary tbh, you might see these guys score in the second innings when the pitch has flattened, but overall, there could have been better selections.

 

[karan316]

How did i miss this out, Pragyan Ojha is also in the ROI side, how and why? I seriously feel that the selectors are trying to be too generous to the Karnataka team. This is utter nonsense.

 

[Arjun]

Pragyan Ojha has the single best overall FC figures for a spinner, and most of the spinners who performed (Swapnil, Swarup, Malolan, Rahil) are only a season or two old.

Rishi Dhawan bowled utter rubbish after the pitch stopped helping him. So many wide deliveries! Clearly, if he has to be India-ready, the sooner he moves out of non-performing HP, the better.

Good to see Manish Pandey back in form. Not often mentioned as an India prospect, he's got amazing FC figures. His batting style, though, is a little too edgy, and he needs to work on taking more singles.

Can't say I'd be too happy seeing a team with four slow-medium seam-up bowlers win this game, against a team with a decent bowling attack with at least one bloke bowling at serious pace- just because their batting is hollow in the top six itself, with the likes of Chappell's Boy and JJ inexplicably picked.