*Official* Indian Domestic Season 2004/2005

[c8w]

Hopeflly Yusuf Pathan will outperform him with bat and ball. Baroda needs its younger players to perform more, not the has-beens and Mumbai extras. Yusuf can bat quite well, though his bowling has been weak so far.

Personally Iam hoping Pawar outperforms Yusuf - I think he is the better longterm
prospect by far :-) (As for "Bombay extras", BTW, Baroda now has *three* of
them - Zaheer Khan, Rajesh Pawar, and Kiran Powar. Kiran Powar is the brother
of Ramesh Powar).

Rajesh Pawar is a left-arm spinner, and useful batsman - he was an India U19
captain a few years ago. Had trouble breaking into the Bombay side
consistently - Bahutule and Kulkarni were both test spinners, and Bombay often
went with 3 pacemen (Kuruvilla, Mhambrey, Agarkar etc were all around). When
someone got injured one season, Pawar got a full year of Ranjis - and ended up
with over 30 wickets, one of the top wickettakers of the Ranji season overall,
including a 7-fer in the Ranji finals against Hyderabad (including Azhar and
VVS Laxman in those days). But then the next year both Kulkarni and
Bahutule were around, Pawar went thru a period of bad form, and was
dropped after only 1 or 2 games. Then Ramesh Powar arrived - he was an
offspinner (to complement Bahutule's legspin and Kulkarni's Left Arm Orthodox,
which Rajesh would be competing with), and Ramesh Powar could also bat
very very well. So *he* became the 3rd spinner, and Rajesh Pawar was 4th.

Finally he moved to Baroda last year - and didnt have a great season. But he
basically won 2 points for Baroda in the first match this this year - Maharashtra
was about 450/4 chasing 550 for the 2 points on first innings, when Pawar
took 3 wickets in a spell and gave Baroda the first-innings lead (on a very
very flat track, he ended up with 5/70 or so off almost 50 overs). Last week
Baroda played at Mohali against PUnjab, a fast bowlers pitch where the
spinners did little for either side, and Pawar was quite ineffective. But he
did make 40+ with the bat on first innings (out of 155 allout) - he is a
quite useful batsman down the order sometimes.

Overall, if he gets an extended run and performs to potential, I think he is
a better player than Yusuf Pathan in general - especially with the ball. If
Baroda gets its stars back, they should IMHO go with 3 pacemen and 1
spinner - with Pawar being the spinner. With Irfan Pathan and Pawar their
tail will be stronger in terms of batting too. That will be a fine side - and it
will be up to the Baroda batting to carry the team as far as it will go (their
best hope in this regard is for Kiran Powar to regain the form he has shown
the past 3 years in first-class cricket - after leaving Bombay, Kiran Powar
has played for Goa and Assam, and averaged nearly 60 in Ranji cricket
over a 3-year stretch, which is why Baroda recruited him to join them
this season).

c8w

 

[Arjun]

Personally Iam hoping Pawar outperforms Yusuf - I think he is the better longterm
prospect by far :-) (As for "Bombay extras", BTW, Baroda now has *three* of
them - Zaheer Khan, Rajesh Pawar, and Kiran Powar. Kiran Powar is the brother
of Ramesh Powar).....for Kiran Powar to regain the form he has shown
the past 3 years in first-class cricket - after leaving Bombay, Kiran Powar
has played for Goa and Assam, and averaged nearly 60 in Ranji cricket
over a 3-year stretch, which is why Baroda recruited him to join them
this season).

Good analysis. Agree totally. However, Pawar must bowl like a strike bowler to improve, or at least create chances for Baroda to win the trophy.

The reason I mentioned Yusuf Pathan is that he is Irfan K Pathan's brother, and both were all-rounders and prolific batsmen as juniors. When Yusuf started his FC career playing for Baroda, he got a high score of 92 and stayed not out, with 8 fours and a six. His bowling is not good enough for a West Zone team spot, but his batting will be a good example for Irfan. That Baroda lineup is brittle and lacks power. He and Irfan can provide the power the team needs. If both do full justice to their batting potential, take advantage of their team's weakness as a batting lineup and bat for power-packed centuries and 50's, they can go further and challenge Mumbai, especially if Zaheer plays.

Irfan has no chance of improving as a batsman playing for India, but he can improve if he plays for Baroda. He can take a leaf out of the efforts of his brother and Haryana's Joginder Sharma and guide his team to victories, not just with the ball, but also the bat.

 

[Arjun]

How would this Baroda XI perform?

SS Parab
CC Williams
JJ Martin
KR Powar
RK Solanki/SA Gaikwad
IK Pathan
YK Pathan/RB Patel
RV Pawar
NR Mongia (not sure if he'll like it here)
IS Pathan/RB Patel
Zaheer Khan

Good to see that the ageing trio of Arothe, Buch and Bhoite are replaced, and hopefully the younger set and Mumbai extras will perform better.

 

[Arjun]

Also, BTW, I disagree entirely with your "test match pitch" characterization -
you do mean Bombay 2001 (rather than 2002) I presume? That is, the pitch
for the match against Australia, which ended in 3 days with Australia
winning easily? IMHO that was one of the best pitches produced in India,
it had pace and bounce and turn - our batsmen just couldnt handle it, is
all. The Australians handled it just fine. The only really awful pitch (and it
was a really awful one) that Bombay has produced in memory, IMHO, was
the latest one for the test against Australia.

Exactly that last one, and those pitches in NZ prepared for the Indians. Mumbai2002 was the pitch that was prepared for the West Indians and was terrible.

Bombay does *not* have enough runs in Morris, Powar, Bahutule, Agarkar and
Samant IMHO - the problem with Bombay at the moment is a certain fragility
in the batting. This was true 2 years ago (btu the tail mentioned above saved
them repeatedly and they won) - last year the batting clicked well. But this
year the batting is not doing well yet, and the tail isnt the answer either.
Partly because Powar hasnt played much (and hasnt been quite as brilliantly
successful with the bat so far this year), and because Samant's batting
has deteriorated quite a bit I think, he isnt *that* useful witht he bat anymore.
And, of course, Robin Morris is not even in the side - I think he's injured, but
he hasnt played a single Ranji game for Bombay this year so far (missed all
3 to date).

Vinit Indulkar springs to mind- his batting average is not something you'd want in a top-6. They need Sachin (Indian Domestic cricket needs him) and some new young batsmen too. Bhavin Thakkar wasn't up to the mark.

Wilkin Mota was branded an all-rounder by the Times of India article on the Mumbai squad. He'll be a player to watch.

opener Vinayak Mane came down with malaria, and they ended
up replacing him at the last minute at opener with Abhijit Shetye! Shetye isnt
awful, but he is a *wicketkeeper*, who is only a stodgy batsman - he was in
the side as a backup keeper, and they had just not included a backup
opener in the 14, and were caught short-handed at the last minute when Mane
went down. This move failed spectacularly, as Shetye fell for single digits
in both innings and Bombay failed to take the first innings lead. This sort of
silly pick is not going to work against better teams when the knockouts
come around (if they do). It is a great help if the bowlers can bat (and
Powar, Bahutule and Agarkar all can) - but you ought not to rely on it
for every single match IMHO.

This mistake is made by EVERY FC side in India- Ibrahim Khaleel opens for Hyderabad, you'll find the Vidharba keeper opening, Vikram Rathore was opener and keeper for HP and recently, Bengal opened with Deep Dasgupta. Totally counter-productive for both skills.

 

[Arjun]

Very aggressive (runs in hard,
is willing to bounce and sledge repeatedly), somewhat muscular. About 5'11" in
height.

If he sledges, he shouldn't get a match against Australia. Irfan and Zaheer and West Indian quick Tino Best have sledged Aussies and returned with terrible bowling figures. If he's muscular, it's a good thing, so he'll get more bounce. Decent height too. The last thing the pace attack needs is another Harvinder Singh. By the way, how do you get so much information about the domestic scene?

 

[ashwat_cf]

Interviews with Maharashtra Players

Hey Guys,

I recently happened to Interview Dheeraj Jadhav and Paras Mhambrey when the Maharashtra team visited Hyderabad. Hrishikesh Kanitkar was also interviewed by my colleague.

Dheeraj Jadhav --> http://www.cricketfundas.com/djadhavinterview.html

Paras Mhambrey --> http://www.cricketfundas.com/mhambreyinterview.html

Hrishikesh Kanitkar --> http://www.cricketfundas.com/kanitkarinterview.html

I also happened to meet the other young Maharashtra Players. They were quite good and friendly. You can check out the profiles of the other Maharashtra players within 3 days only on Cricketfundas.com

 

[Arjun]

Hey Guys,

I recently happened to Interview Dheeraj Jadhav and Paras Mhambrey when the Maharashtra team visited Hyderabad. Hrishikesh Kanitkar was also interviewed by my colleague.

Dheeraj Jadhav --> http://www.cricketfundas.com/djadhavinterview.html

Paras Mhambrey --> http://www.cricketfundas.com/mhambreyinterview.html

Hrishikesh Kanitkar --> http://www.cricketfundas.com/kanitkarinterview.html

I also happened to meet the other young Maharashtra Players. They were quite good and friendly. You can check out the profiles of the other Maharashtra players within 3 days only on Cricketfundas.com

Good interview. Keep up the good work. We would like to read more about the happeneings there than just scoresheets. What's your opinion of Ranjit Khirid?

The local DoorDarshan channels could do their bit by covering these matches. OR better yet, DD Sports should, since they're better equipped, as they have been in covering international matches. Why not show them instead of old reruns of gymnastics and athletics from Belarus and Bulgaria??

Is it feasible to install speedguns at key venues?

 

[Arjun]

It's a batsman's day out in some venues. Gujarat, after losing an early wicket, are 186/1. Mumbai lost Vinayak Mane early, but Wasim Jaffer got yet another century and Vinit Indulkar also got more than a few- currently they're at 254/1. TN are at 288/3, with Vidyut, Sharath, Badani and Badrinath getting more than 50. Punjab have also got off to a good start at 167/0, but why are they persisting with Reetinder Singh Sodhi as an opener? He's no opener by any stretch of imagination! He's more useful as a batting all-rounder than as an opening batsman!

Not so smooth for Delhi at 193/6. Sarandeep has more work to do as a batsman and he now has Vijay Dahiya for company. Before Punjab got off to that emphatic start, they rolled over Maharashtra for a meagre 123, with Sodhi, Uniyal and VR Singh sharing the wickets. They're not missing Gagandeep much. Karnataka also dismissed AP for 233, with former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi getting 5. Baroda too had a good day with the ball, as Rakesh Patel took 5 and Rajesh Pawar, 4, as they dismissed Hyderabad for just 170.

 

[Arjun]

The coach and chairman of selectors should send Irfan Pathan back to Baroda with orders to score runs at a quick pace, not only to brush off the competition for the national side, but also to save the Baroda batting lineup from further collapses- the current Baroda lineup isn't scoring too many! He's definitely better than the entire top-6.

 

[Arjun]

Looks like somebody's reading this thread and forwarding our comments to the Punjab Ranji side! Now, Sodhi made a 270-run opening stand with Ravneet, and both got centuries. He didn't stop there- he made his 100 into a 250! Almost all Punjab batsmen have run riot there, as they made 566 at the end of the day's play. Hopefully he'll finish a full season and keep up his good form with bat and ball. The new coach is indeed doing a good job here, and their chances of winning the title are getting better. I only hope the national selectors don't pick him as an opener for the national team!

 

[V Reddy]

The coach and chairman of selectors should send Irfan Pathan back to Baroda with orders to score runs at a quick pace, not only to brush off the competition for the national side, but also to save the Baroda batting lineup from further collapses- the current Baroda lineup isn't scoring too many! He's definitely better than the entire top-6.

But the pitch in Hyderabad has certainly been lively this season though . 4 scores of below 200 in the Hyderabad Vs Maharashtra match and now it is going along on the same lines in Hyderabad Vs Baroda match too. Well imo it is better to be on this side than flat tracks. The one thing surprising for me is that the Hyderabad seam attack is ruling supreme against attacks like Mah and Baroda . Things looking on target for the second outright win of the season after a loss in the first match .

 

[Arjun]

But the pitch in Hyderabad has certainly been lively this season though . 4 scores of below 200 in the Hyderabad Vs Maharashtra match and now it is going along on the same lines in Hyderabad Vs Baroda match too. Well imo it is better to be on this side than flat tracks. The one thing surprising for me is that the Hyderabad seam attack is ruling supreme against attacks like Mah and Baroda . Things looking on target for the second outright win of the season after a loss in the first match .

The same Baroda lineup got rolled over by Gagandeep and Uniyal, who guided Punjab to victory against them, not too long ago. If you look at their figures or the batsmen in action, then look at Irfan Pathan in action, you'll know that talentwise, he's a more effective batsman than all of their top 6. Satyajit Parab doesn't move his feet much, and slashes outside off-stump quite often. Connor Williams can't hit the ball. Jacob Martin, given his scoring rate, makes Rahul Dravid look an aggressive player. Rishikesh Parab and Kiran Powar are just average, while the youngsters are very raw. Yusuf Khan Pathan, Irfan's brother, has shown some promise with that innings of 92*, but has not kept up his good form.

 

[chris.hinton]

Who going to win the League then?

 

[viktor]

Mumbai are pretty good, but Punjab is a real chance IMO. they are playing really well

 

[chris.hinton]

Is it better crowds this year?

 

[Deja moo]

Sadly, crowds are never good for Domestic cricket matches other than the Challenger cup. I just hope that the situation improves if the sports channels who bid for telecast rights of India matches live upto their claims of doing a good job with the domestic scene too.

 

[Arjun]

Is it better crowds this year?

If Ranji matches are going to be held in places like Roshanara, where nobody except the members, with all their spending power, are allowed, there will always be a problem of getting crowds. It's a good thing that matches for Delhi in Delhi are being played in the Jamia Milia ground.

OVerall, the people are not aware of domestic cricket and don't find it interesting, even the most diehard Indian fans. That can be seen in this forum- hardly anyone posts here, though there are so many India fans. Moreover, while tickets for international matches, particularly ODI's in major venues, are very expensive, tickets for domestic matches are free. In a way, it's a good thing.

The only way crowds will be drawn is if interest in domestic cricket is generated. That can happen with the help of television channels. The matches need clear coverage, quality commentary, presentations and discussions and laso a highlights package- the local state-owned channel doesn't believe in highlights! Subhash Chandra, head of a major sattelite channel network (not sure if I can take the name here) bid for telecast of all cricket matches played in India, including the domestic ones. The channel has not yet been started, but that's what they promised, and that would be fresh relief from DD's (the TV channel) coverage.

The print media have to highlight crucial mtches, selections, players and strategies, and cover it with as much enthusiasm as they cover the international matches...well...not so much, but enough to get the reader's attention.

 

[Arjun]

Punjab won their match within the third day. Good bowling from Navdeep Singh and company. Very good all-round performance by Sodhi. They're definitely on course to challenge Mumbai.

 

[Arjun]

Just as Joginder Sharma got picked as an all-rounder, the effect spread, not only to Sodhi, but also to a match held in Bengal. On a track where Murtaza Lodhgar, an in-form spinner from Bengal went for over 160 runs and the illustrious strike bowlers Bahutule and Kulkarni failed to pick up a wicket, this man takes 7 wickets for just 55 runs and also scores a 50 in 80 balls. So much for just another bits-and-pieces player. PICK RAMESH POWAR! Still, that will keep the threat from the North at bay.

 

[Arjun]

Mumbai win again; this time Ramesh Powar powers them to the win, with a 50 and 10 wickets, worthy of a Man-of-the-Match award. Just as many of us had written Baroda off, Rishikesh Parab and Mumbai extra Rajesh Pawar put up a very disciplined, intelligent batting display to guide them to a win that couldn't have been. Haryana have a very good chance of winning their match against Services.