Indian domestic season 2005-06

[honestbharani]

North Zone have won the Deodhar Trophy by defeating East Zone. Ganguly scored a duck and didn't bowl.


In a thriller, South Zone defeated WEst Zone by ONE run. South had a great opening stand after being put into bat, with Dinesh Kaarthick scoring 66 off 44 balls (8 fours and 2 sixes) and Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan scoring 56 off 44 balls. After a mini collapse inthe middle order, Badani got them to a big score of 296 with a good 68*... West lost the plot but were saved by "The Almighty" AA who scored 76 off 46 balls to take them to the doorsteps of victory but in the end failed by one run. South's performance is even more creditable because West had Zaheer and Powar apart from AA in their ranks.

 

[Sanz]

Ganguyl is still losing finals, even in domestic games.

 

[adharcric]

Ganguyl is still losing finals, even in domestic games.

the man is the epitome of individualism, he'll maintain his traditions regardless of critcism from others

 

[honestbharani]

I am not sure if East was in the running for winning the title. You guys must remember that the Deodhar trophy is played in the league format. There is no finals as such.

 

[Arjun]

Now everyone's forgotten about the remainder of the Ranji-OD series. Railways blazed their way to the quarters with their captain Sanjay Bangar leading the way with bat and bal. He took three wickets for 25 in seven overs, as Gujarat were bowled out for 148. Bangar then smashed 85 off 64, with five sixes, and thus dominated the match. National recall, maybe?

In another pre-quarter, Karnataka defeated Haryana by 5 wickets. Leading the way for them was Bharat Chipli, who scored 90, and one-time India contender Thilak Naidu, who scored 58, and they helped their team recover from 58/4 to a victory, chasing 191. For Haryana, Sunny Singh top-scored with 95, but none of the batsmen got big scores, and the players who should have performed, had a disappointing outing– Joginder Sharma scored one run batting at eight, and his six overs went for 37, while Sachin Rana, their surprise performer in the Ranji Trophy, had a forgettable match with nothing important to show.

 

[adharcric]

Perhaps we've all lost a little interest in the domestic scene because
a) not much exciting is going on there
b) plenty of the top prospects we've been promoting at this level are more or less getting into the national scheme of things: jaffer, raina, rao, munaf, vrv, nabi, powar, chawla. earlier, we used to spend our time bagging the selectors for not picking so-and-so promising players at the national level .. that opportunity has diminished a bit. granted guys like joginder, mishra, uthappa, dhawan and a plethora of others could be important for Team India, the high-impact guys who deserved a call-up have gotten it, for the most part

 

[Arjun]

I must admit, the ROD series isn't very exciting, given that it's played at the wrong time (finals in the middle of March), in the wrong places (college grounds), in the wrong format (the old format, pre-D/N), so it doesn't prepare our domestic players for ODI's. Not to mention, lack of promotion and coverage.

The Uthappas, Dhawans, Chiplis, AJ's (he's the young batsman from Bengal), Chawlas and Pujaras may have been performing well, but quite clearly, there is no place for them even on the bench. The scene needs the likes of Joginder, Rana, Sodhi, Pravin Kumar, Yusuf Pathan, JP Yadav and Bangar to perform, since there's an open vacancy in the Indian team, especially in ODI's. That said, it's a good thing they're giving chances to Munaf, VR Singh, Abid Nabi and Sreesanth, so they're doing half the job right.

 

[adharcric]

Honestly, I don't think the selectors will look to medium-pacers much from now on. They seem to have realized that pace is essential and this might become a bit of an obsession now. Maybe Nehra might find a place if he improves fitness, but the likes of Balaji, Gagandeep, Paul I don't think they have a good chance.

As for guys like Yadav, Bangar, Joginder and Pravin, they'll have to bowl with some pace to get in to the team. I'm not sure there's really a vacancy in the one-day team for them. Pathan is the "all-rounder", we have plenty more promising bowlers and plenty more promising batsmen as well. So for any of them to stand a chance, they'd have to set the domestic scene on fire, especially in the Challenger Series.

 

[Arjun]

Frankly, you'd have to hunt very hard to find express pacers in India, and luckily, you find a few to pick now. Not too long ago, we found the famous excuse that pace isn't everything, so these medium-pacers are good enough, as long as they swing the ball, or seam it.

The same group change their stand when we find the likes of Bangar or Joginder getting a national call-up, and brand them as "too slow" to lead an attack. An evenly-balanced attack will do just as well, with some slower bowlers complementing the faster ones with a different style. JP Yadav dominated last season, but hardly got a chance at the top level– he was used as a bits-and-pieces bowler and batted below Agarkar, who still can't bat, and Kaif, who's not the fastest scorer around in the final overs. Bangar was also treated very harshly, and that last match just proves how useful he can be. Joginder may have to add some power to his batting to be considered again. We don't know much about Pravin, but he's played a major role in Uttar Pradesh winning the Ranji Trophy this year– he's got better batting and bowling figures than Munaf Patel. That said, Munaf himself is a VERY HARD hitter of the ball, but hasn't been making too many big scores.

What does the Indian team need? Not another Mohammed Kaif clone, surely not in the playing XI. Not another medium-pacer, except as backup. Maybe a Test opener, just to keep him active. The one player they can use is one like Justin Kemp or Shahid Afridi– a sock bowler who scores runs in chunks and can hit the ball a long way. That's where the likes of Yadav, Bangar, Pravin, Yusuf Pathan and even Munaf Patel can get a look-in. Maybe a spinner who can also score runs, so Ramesh Powar comes in. You can't expect Irfan to deliver all the time, so you need some backup. The South Africans have Boucher, then Kemp, then Pollock. For India, it can be Dhoni, Irfan and this other contender, especially Munaf after the top five batsmen. Nothing very wrong with that. A clear vacancy for one of them.

 

[chris.hinton]

who is the weakest team in India is it Jammu and Kashmir?

 

[Arjun]

who is the weakest team in India is it Jammu and Kashmir?

It could be Services. They're actually relatively old part-timers taking time off from their tough (that's a MAJOR understatement, when you're on a mission) job to play. That said, East Zone is full of weak teams, since cricket there is not well-developed, and extras from other teams often shift there.

 

[Arjun]

Semi-final draw:

16 Mar QF2: Baroda v Jharkhand @Kanpur
16 Mar QF3: Bengal v Punjab @Kanpur
17 Mar QF1: Karnataka v Uttar Pradesh @Kanpur
17 Mar QF4: Railways v Tamil Nadu @Kanpur

Expect more massive run-fests, since they'll be played in college grounds.

 

[adharcric]

who is the weakest team in India is it Jammu and Kashmir?

IMO, it's more about meaningless teams than weak teams. J&K have Abid Nabi, a genuine national pace prospect, so they are important. Services have .. Yashpal Singh is the only guy I can think of. Other teams like MP, Orissa, Bihar, etc have no contribution right now.

 

[adharcric]

Semi-final draw:

16 Mar QF2: Baroda v Jharkhand @Kanpur
16 Mar QF3: Bengal v Punjab @Kanpur
17 Mar QF1: Karnataka v Uttar Pradesh @Kanpur
17 Mar QF4: Railways v Tamil Nadu @Kanpur

Expect more massive run-fests, since they'll be played in college grounds.

I'm looking for:
a) VR Singh to blast Ganguly with pace
b) Raina, Dhiman & Uthappa on display together

couldnt care less about the rest

 

[marc71178]

Now everyone's forgotten about the remainder of the Ranji-OD series. Railways blazed their way to the quarters with their captain Sanjay Bangar leading the way with bat and bal. He took three wickets for 25 in seven overs, as Gujarat were bowled out for 148. Bangar then smashed 85 off 64, with five sixes, and thus dominated the match. National recall, maybe?

Is your new tactic to recall about 5 players so that India have 16 playing?

 

[TIF]

IMO, it's more about meaningless teams than weak teams. J&K have Abid Nabi, a genuine national pace prospect, so they are important. Services have .. Yashpal Singh is the only guy I can think of. Other teams like MP, Orissa, Bihar, etc have no contribution right now.

Orissa, has 2 national team players in SS Das and Debashish Mohanty and MP, has Yogesh Golwalkar, who was a national team contender only 1-2 years ago. SS Das, since he was dropped from the Indian team for his "Super slow" batting, has improved his batting strike-rate tremendously and was found scoring at over a run-a-ball in domestic ODIs in the last season, but then couldnt come back due to emergence of other openers like Gautam Gambhir, Dheeraj Jadhav and Shikhar Dhawan at that time.

Bihar, doesnt have a team and the players from Bihar, play for the Jharkhand team in Domestic cricket and the closest Bihar came to have a player was MS Dhoni, but then when Bihar got separated, MS Dhoni became a Jharkhand-ian.

Only teams not to have any national team contender are Tripura and Goa. Even Assam has Abu Nechim Ahmad, J&K have Abid Nabi and Himachal have Sangram Singh. Only Tripura and Goa are the 2 teams not to have national team contenders alongwith probably Services.

 

[adharcric]

Precisely why Duleep, Deodhar and especially Challenger Trophy cricket is so much more meaningful than Ranji Trophy. At least the promising players get tested against top competition. Can't wait till the Challenger Series, not much going on till then I presume.

 

[Arjun]

The Ranji/ROD events test out everyone, so you can broaden your frame as selector. Then, the best of the lot can get into Deodhar and Duleep teams, and finally, the senior and reserve teams get picked. Every level counts, or else, we would find extras from West Zone in the Indian team ahead of MS Dhoni, while average specialists would make the North Zone side ahead of Joginder sharma, while UP's Pravin Kumar wouldn't even get a look-in.

 

[chris.hinton]

Is your new tactic to recall about 5 players so that India have 16 playing?

why do you have to act like a snob to everyone

 

[Arjun]

Railways won their quarter against TN by– guess what– ONE run. Yadav finally had something to show this time, with two wickets for 42 and a score over 50 (although a slow one, with one six) in this match. Bangar, bowling first-change, was taken for 58 runs but picked up a middle-order wicket, and gave Railways a smashing start, scoring 21 off 16, even as his partner Amit Pagnis got past 50. For TN, the bowlers were short of expectations while among the batsmen, Hemang Badani scored 70. Must have been one eventful match, and it's a pity it wasn't televised.

In the battle of the tykes, Uttar Pradesh crushed Karnataka by 8 (or 7?) wickets, with seamers Srivastava and Pravin Kumar taking five wickets between them. This time, Kumar didn't open the batting (and didn't get to bat at all) but decent chunks by SK Shukla and Jyoti Prasad Yadav took UP to the next stage.