Build-up to Indian Domestic Season 2009-10

[Arjun]

This pitch has a lot of bounce, and we saw several short deliveries and bouncers, even from slower bowlers like Bangar and Ganapathy. RP Singh was largely ineffective, until he got a wicket, even with a bad decision. His next wicket was a yorker, on the toes, leg-before. The top order batsmen have failed in each first innings, but the all-rounders and tailenders have done well here. Except for Bangar, every all-rounder has done reasonably well here. Praveen Kumar played that explosive knock from nine and then took four top-order wickets. Jakati did well to take middle-order wickets, and was good on the field, and is yet to bat. Ganapathy, a frontline batsman, was average with the ball but enough to support the top seamers, and is staying steady here. The spinners, Chawla and Ashwin, got scores over 50 (Chawla missed a century because he ran out of partners) at a quick rate, but their bowling was ineffective here. Vinay Kumar took five wickets, and then hit some shots off Bangar and RP Singh, though at present, seems to be going for a big shot very often.

 

[Arjun]

Five for Praveen Kumar. He got an away-going delivery to catch an edge by Ganapathy, possibly the only false shot he has played, apart from a slip catching chance dropped by- guess who- Kaif. The Central Zone fielding was a tad shoddy in the last session, notably with Pankaj Singh and at times with RP Singh fumbling, even though young Chawla and old Bangar did a lot better.

This game is loaded with all-rounders. Now Goa's spinner Jakati has come in to bat. Ganapathy was largely compact and correct, though unspectacular. Vinay Kumar, on the other hand, was largely risky and tried to go over the top often initially, but then played a lot more carefully later on and started running singles. This is surely a huge hint for the selections for the home series against South Africa.

Back to Praveen, he was described as someone who will always try to trick the batsman into getting out, even at his reduced pace. If he can improve his fielding, he will be a very useful player for India in all three forms of the game.

 

[Arjun]

Day Three begins, and Vinay Kumar is dismissed. RP Singh seems adept at cleaning up tailenders, though a lot slower this time around. He bowled wicket-taking yorkers that snared Vinay Kumar today and one yesterday to one of Gautam/Ashwin. He was also the fastest on show, at a maximum of 134k. Eventually, Chawla picked up the last wicket of Mithun, who slogged but in full control.

Central got off to a bad start, with Jalaj Saxena getting out cheaply again, and Bangar following a little too quickly, then Kaif played a T20-ish bit of 14, with one four and one six, then Tanmay was out spooning a return catch to Ashwin. Vinay and Mithun bowled well, Mithun being the faster of the two and also a lot less lucky- catches were missed or dropped, byes were conceded and he suffered misfields. Ganapathy, even slower, yet steady as a frontline bowler, did a decent job, but his bouncers were smashed even by Raina. He didn't get a fair try as a batsman, but is trying hard as a seam-up bowler, and will come useful in home Tests as a reserve.

 

[honestbharani]

Is cricinfo covering this game?

 

[Arjun]

They are not covering this game or that other (GRRR ) but detailed scores will come here.

 

[Arjun]

Chawla and Kumar stitch another chunky partnership of 64. Chawla has largely looked a correct batsman, and played a whole array of strokes worthy of an India #6. Kumar, on the other hand, was his usual berserk self, but played a few neat shots, only to throw away his wicket at 40 by spooning a catch off Ashwin. The offie did well, taking five on a seaming wicket. Earlier, Raina played a good hand to reach a 50, making up for his disappointing show in the first dig. Vinay took just two, but was largely impressive on the field, possibly the only good fielder among the seamers, apart from Bangar- the rest were largely dreadful.

 

[Arjun]

In the other semifinal, it's a colossal farce to the tune of 769 runs. Clearly, the West Zone batsmen are competing for places in the national team and not for a win, and their captain, Wasim Jaffer, is facilitating it. We saw Pujara, Patel, Sharma, Jadeja and Kulkarni get fifties, while Powar got a century and Nayar, a 250. Clearly, there's little or no scope for a win now, unless North bat very badly or crumble under pressure, and they were at 36/3 at stumps, day two.

 

[Arjun]

In the televised match, play ended early, and Central took one wicket (guess the name) at fourteen, as an edge off RP Singh to Raina. Right after, Arun Karthik scored 33 at a good strike rate, and is still unbeaten. The bowlers had decent pace, hit the deck hard and got some movement, but at times, were hindered by the fielding and field placings.

In that other end-of-day-updated match, the farce continued, with Jaffer not enforcing the follow-on but batting again. What is he thinking? Virat Kohli and Rajat Bhatia scored over 50 each, while Pathan and Jadeja took three wickets each. Pathan went for over four and a half an over, but got his wickets in fewer overs and cleaned up the tail, unlike in the Central/East match. Munaf and Dhawal, on the other hand, took two wickets between them (both by Munaf) and sent down as many as 16 no-balls together. In West's second innings, Awana took the first wicket, of Rahane, for zero.

 

[Arjun]

South Zone won surprisingly easily. The Central fielding let them down, and Badri, Pandey and Ashwin scored rapid fifties. Chawla could not replicate fellow spinner Ashwin's success with the ball and was carted around easily. None of the bowlers stood out from this match. South battled the first-innings deficit and won. It was a more interesting match than that other game in Rajkot, where Rohit smashed a rapid century and Pujara, a little slower, while Jadeja scored a 50. Irfan was out for zero, but that innings appears to be a continuation of the farce that was the Duleep semi.

 

[Arjun]

Another scheduling blunder has the Duleep Trophy final overlap with the first Test against South Africa, as well as the tour match. This means the West Zone/South Zone match will lose a lot- West will lose Rohit Sharma, Pujara, Nayar and Parthiv Patel, while South Zone will lose more than half their side- left with Jakati, Uthappa, Arun Karthik, the wicketkeeper and Ganapathy. Will South Zone have the reserves? It seems an easy win for West Zone now.

 

[Arjun]

Duleep final is on Neo Cricket. Already Irfan has bowled two deliveries that have injured the wicketkeepers- first the regular, Shah, then the filler, Pathak. He's got three of the four wickets to fall, and has used the new ball to good effect. Dhawal Kulkarni took the other, but his no-ball problem still persists. The batsmen were largely guilty of playing loose shots, and numbers three and four, got several lucky breaks. Dinesh Karthik finished 50, but looked largely streaky, and kept rushing at Ramesh Powar.

If you live in Hyderabad, you can catch all five days on Neo Cricket, but not in the grounds- the ground is cleared completely of spectators, for security reasons.

 

[Sir Alex]

Another scheduling blunder has the Duleep Trophy final overlap with the first Test against South Africa, as well as the tour match. This means the West Zone/South Zone match will lose a lot- West will lose Rohit Sharma, Pujara, Nayar and Parthiv Patel, while South Zone will lose more than half their side- left with Jakati, Uthappa, Arun Karthik, the wicketkeeper and Ganapathy. Will South Zone have the reserves? It seems an easy win for West Zone now.

well, Zonal matches have no more appeal than Board XI games... unlike Ranji matches where state related fanship comes into place. So a player turning up for South Zone or BP XI makes no difference to me.

 

[Sir Alex]

Haha Rohit Sharma batting at No.4 ahead of Pujara. Pujara at No.6. Dhawan at No.7. Oh wait Rohit is the captain.

 

[honestbharani]

And DK comes up with another good knock.. I think he is another Gautam Gambhir. He has all the talent but needs a bit of a rough mentality to go on and make big scores at the international level and keep doing it. Hopefully that will come with time. This is not the first time he has responded well to being dropped. And hopefully the next run he does get in the side, he can do his talent full justice and cement a spot in the squad, if not in the starting eleven almost everytime.

 

[Arjun]

Haha Rohit Sharma batting at No.4 ahead of Pujara. Pujara at No.6. Dhawan at No.7. Oh wait Rohit is the captain.

It's a two-day match, with different batting and fielding XIs. The funny thing is that the top-scorer is Abhishek Nayar, who's not a specialist batsman, and not even in the running for a place in the Test or ODI side. They've had as many as eight batsmen here. Results from these matches may be taken with a pinch of salt.

 

[Arjun]

The match started off well, but eventually got tame. Irfan Pathan took two early wickets with some good swing bowling, snaring both openers cheaply, though Aniruddha played a loose shot to get out. The pitch eventually became flatter, with Karthik, Ganesh Sathish and Gautam putting up chunky scores. Sathish finished his 50, while Gautam narrowly missed his, but the highlight was Karthik. He started off scratchy and streaky, but got settled, and had a good encounter with the smart Ramesh Powar. Not shy of a battle, he was willing to take on the spinners, who had a hard time here. Powar was the better spinner, far and away, and was unlucky not to get a wicket, while Jadeja somehow got two. Jadeja's fielding, however, was hardly exemplary, dropping a catch which could have made a difference. With five bowlers already in the team, not surprisingly, Yusuf Pathan got just two overs.

Elsewhere, VVS Laxman complained that India's spin stocks are drying up, and the reserves are not promising enough. That's a fair point, but spin has often been on the backburner in Indian selections lately. We see just one spinner in the XI and one in reserve when India travels abroad. Now, the selection of the spinners itself is a contentious issue. Proven performers such as Ramesh Powar, Kartik and Mishra are often left out, while rookies barely three seasons old, like Ojha and Jadeja, seem to be regulars in the Indian team. The captaincy of teams with spinners is also a key factor- the Indian team's bowling changes, field placings and the fielding itself make it a lot harder for the spinners, and in domestic matches, with teams keen merely on innings leads or just closing out the match. The emergence of part-time spinners as regular options makes the spin stocks merely look dry, but the best spinners in India simply don't get rewarded.

 

[Arjun]

Irfan took five, and South Zone finished at 400. Some good rear-guard action from Alfred Absolem saved them, but the highlight was the Karthik dismissal. Dhawal bowled short once, and got a false shot. He then bowled one that rose high up, Karthik gloved it straight up, and a fielder came in behind the keeper and took the catch. That's the one good thing he's done in the game, where his performance, full of no-balls, was well below par. When West came out to bat, they lost two quick wickets to medium-pacer Ganapathy, who bowled in the right areas and made it tough for them. His accuracy has been exemplary, and if you don't look at the pace (regularly in the 110k range), he has been quite productive. Indian pace selections should look beyond pace, at other aspects, as well as value addition, and then work on the missing pace aspect on the best bowlers.

Meanwhile, Yusuf Pathan has stuck it out so far, with wickets falling around, and scored 62 till now, with seven fours and a six. Not a single false shot played, he's taken it easy and played proper shots. He needs a big hundred to make up for the lack of wickets, though that was beyond his control.

 

[Arjun]

Yusuf Pathan hit Ganapathy for an easy six with a straight drive. He's in fantastic batting form in this match. Clean and easy. One false shot was a short delivery that squared him up, and took an edge, which bounced a few times to the boundary. Meanwhile, Jadeja, after hitting two fours, tried to drive Aravind in the off-side, but with no foot movement, playing away from his body, edged a catch to second slip.

Meanwhile, Ganapathy is bowling very smart, steady medium-pace, exerting pressure even at 115k.

 

[Arjun]

West started at 42/0 after Day Three. The pitch was flat, and all four bowlers were taken for plenty. The only wicket fell in the first innings was taken by part-timer Aniruddha- that was Harshad, the opener. The other opener, Pathak, scored a very fast century, while Wasim Jaffer added some stability in the middle order. Once he was gone, to a dreadful umpiring decision, things became very unsteady, even as some big hits from Yusuf took the team total ahead quickly. The South Zone bowlers and fielders were all over Bhavin Thakker, out for zero, and Ravi Jadeja, out for one, both playing out as many as 45 deliveries together.

The pitch appears flat, West batting has depth, while South bowling lacks it. Their fielding has been far from exemplary, except Arun Karthik and Ganapathy.

 

[Craig]

West Zone 6/456 needing another 80 runs to win. Yusuf Pathan has clubbed his was to 144*, whilst Pinal Shah is proving some back up to the hitting, even if he is being bit of a stone waller.

If West Zone get the runs, will this be a record in Indian FC cricket?