Chandan Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Next Three Teams Mumbai Can a new captain and new selection committee change Mumbai's fortunes? That is the challenge Wasim Jaffer and Padmakar Shivalkar, newly-appointed captain and chairman of the selection committee, face after Mumbai's attempt to defend the crown ended on a dismal note last season. There's still hope. The return of Sairaj Bahutule, who was the captain when Mumbai won the title in 2003-04, augurs well as his all-round and leadership skills will prove to be an inspiration to the youngsters. Bahutule, who decided to head back home after three seasons with Maharashtra, replaced Nilesh Kulkarni, the left-arm spinner, who was brought in at the *** end of the season last year but wasn't effective. The key thing for Mumbai is that the nucleus of Jaffer, Amol Muzumdar, Bahutule, Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar rise to the occasion and bond well with the youth brigade led by Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Dhawal Kulkarni and Sahil Kukreja. On paper it's a rich blend of youth and experience and it's just a matter of putting it all together as a team. Praveen Amre has been given another go as the coach after fingers were pointed at him last year about certain selections and to his credit he owned up responsibility. But if Mumbai need to bounce back they need to work as a team. That's their biggest challenge. What they did last season Not much. To qualify for the semi-finals Mumbai needed to beat Saurashtra with an outright win. Muzumdar scored a century in his 100th Ranji game but Mumbai lost out on the first innings lead. Mumbai could've avoided this precarious state had their bowlers broken the stiff resistance of a resolute Himachal Pradesh, who recovered despite following on and robbed Mumbai of a much-needed win. In the previous game Mumbai had recorded a dramatic last-ball victory over Rajasthan. Going into the final over Mumbai needed three wickets, Rajasthan had to get nine runs. Murtuza Hussain, a medium-pacer in only his second first-class game, picked two wickets while a run-out accounted for the third. In the absence of Jaffer, who played only two games and a below par Rohit, Muzumdar took on the additional responsibility of leading the batting well, ending with a tally of 502 at 62, the only Mumbai player to breach the 500-mark. Meanwhile Powar, with 24 wickets, was the highest for Mumbai. Men to watch With advertisements for the vacancies in the Indian middle-order certain in the near future Rohit will be anticipating a call-up based on the talent and skills he's displayed in the ODIs and Twenty20 playing for India. This season he needs to carry that forward in to the longer version. Then there is the senior bunch of Jaffer, Agarkar, Muzumdar and Powar, desperate to prove that their stock is still strong. What's good for Mumbai is the seniors can definitely expect stiff competition from the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Kukreja, Nayar, Dhaval Kulkarni and Rohan Raje. Mumbai Squad Gujarat One of the more modest teams on the Ranji circuit, Gujarat were knocked off the Super League after the 2006-07 season and had to fight it out amongst the less fashionable teams. The relegation didn't appear to further scar the morale of the team as they stormed through the Plate League last season to emerge the champions, beating Railways by a whisker in Mumbai. Led by Parthiv Patel, the most recognisable face in the side, the team thrived on the consistency shown by players like Nilesh Modi, Niraj Patel, Mohnish Parmar, Ashraf Makda and the captain himself. They hammered their way into the semi-finals with four wins on the trot, including two innings victories. Now back in elite company, Gujarat's true test will be against the imposing sides in Group A like Mumbai, Delhi and Punjab. They kick off their campaign this season against association neighbours Saurashtra. The players, fortunately, have financial rewards to play for this season, with the Gujarat Cricket Association recently announcing an incentive scheme. The president, Narhari Amin, said the reward money will be staggered from the first match to the last in order to encourage better performances. Most importantly, they stand to earn a booty of Rs 47 lakh for a Ranji title victory, in addition to the BCCI's reward of Rs 60 lakh. With lucrative Twenty20 leagues attracting players like magnets, schemes like this might set a precedent for other states to reward its players better and more importantly, retain them. What they did last season Gujarat had the home advantage in their first two games and strolled to victory in both. Modi and Niraj managed big hundreds while Parmar sealed the victory against Assam with a five-wicket haul. They crushed Tripura by an innings thanks to centuries by Parthiv and Bhavik Thaker and a seven-wicket haul by Makda. They went on to hammer Services by an innings and 193 runs and the chief wrecker was Parmar who finished with 11 in the match. After a few anxious moments, they brushed past Vidharbha in Valsad before suffering their first and only blip, losing to Kerala. They sank Madhya Pradesh by 159 runs in the semi-finals before meeting Railways in the summit clash. Railways managed 260 after opting to bat first at the Brabourne Stadium and Gujarat, led by Modi's 107, edged ahead with a lead of 20. A combined effort by Gujarat's bowlers restricted the opposition to 169, leaving the team a target of 150. It appeared as if Railways fell short by at least 100 runs with Gujarat coasting at 124 for 4. Sanjay Bangar and Murali Kartik threatened to pull off a remarkable turnaround and after a slew of wickets, it was anybody's game at 143 for 9. Siddarth Trivedi and Jay Desai hung around and scraped the seven needed to end Gujarat's fledging season in style. Men to watch Parthiv proved why he has been on the fringes of an India comeback, topping the Plate run charts with 615 runs at 51.25 - perfect way to end the dream season both as a plater and captain. Parmar was impressive against Australia A in Bangalore as his four-wicket haul in Bangalore forced the visitors to follow on. His 37 wickets in the Plate League was just one behind the leader Bangar. Niraj and Trivedi were part of the Rajasthan Royals' victorious campaign in the Indian Premier League. Trivedi, a nippy medium pacer, too won the praise of his captain Shane Warne. Gujarat Squad Saurashtra At the start of the previous season, an observer pointed out, "nothing much has changed in Saurashtra in the last 15 years." As it turned out, he spoke to soon. Traditionally one of the lesser-known teams in the circuit, they were the surprise semi-finalists in the Super League, finishing unbeaten in the league phase before losing to Uttar Pradesh. Saurashtra have proved they aren't pushovers any more and they have the added home advantage for all seven league games. Jaydev Shah will continue to lead the squad, which contains two new faces in Sheldon Jackson and Mohsin Dodia. Their season opener is against Plate winners Gujarat. What they did last season After gaining first-innings points against Himachal Pradesh, Saurashtra only just managed to hang on against Delhi. Cheteshwar Pujara's 148 was a face-saving effort in an improbable chase of 327 and the team secured a tight draw after losing nine wickets. Pujara's match-winning effort came a game later as Saurashtra strolled past Rajasthan by 200 runs in Jaipur. In Chennai, they were made to sweat against Tamil Nadu after being asked to follow on but fortunately the batting didn't collapse twice. Sandeep Jobanputra, the left-arm quick, starred in a thriller in Mysore with a six-wicket haul, a fifty and a crucial caught-and-bowled in the climactic stages to help his team home by three runs. The team was on a high and an eight-wicket win against Maharashtra propelled them to the top of the points table. They needed just a draw against Mumbai to secure a spot in the final four and their 'marathon man' Shithanshu Kotak did everything to ensure that, batting more than 12 hours for his unbeaten 168 and in the end, had the pleasure of knocking out the defending Ranji champions. The purple patch ended in Vadodara where nobody, barring Mohammad Kaif, managed to make sense of the sporting pitch. The result - achieved in just two days - could have gone either way, but Saurashtra walked away with their heads held high. Men to watch Pujara was the centre of Saurashtra's success and his aggregate of 807 at 73.76 placed him at the top of the run charts across both leagues. Rather oddly, he never featured in a single game for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, but he shrugged off the setback and reminded everybody of his prowess recently, slamming two triple-centuries in a week during the Under-22 CK Nayudu Trophy. Ravindra Jadeja wasn't a roaring success last season but his name has featured in high-profile series like the U-19 World Cup and the IPL. His aggressive batting in the middle order and left-arm spin make him an exciting prospect. Saurashtra Squad Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Next Three Teams Karnataka It was a pretty average last season for Karnataka. They finished seventh on the points table in the 15-team Super League competition. They had a new coach in Vijay Bharadwaj, who took over the reins just ten days before the competition. This year Karnataka have the advantage of playing all their games at home - Bangalore and Mysore - and Bharadwaj has had more time to spend with the team. They started the preparation in July and concentrated on playing matches - they played five tournaments - instead of spending too much time in camps. Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid will be available for a few games in the middle of the season. They have a new captain in Robin Uthappa. The official announcement came on October 29 but Uthappa was sounded out pretty early in the season and has been working with the coach. "Robin [uthappa] and I have sat together and given each member in the team a role to play," Bharadwaj said. "Last season I took over just ten days just before the tournament. Obviously I didn't have great interaction with the team and didn't want to fiddle around too much in the middle of the games. Now, I know them in and out and I have been part of the side, which won six national titles. So I know what it takes to win. This is the process of building a side and we won't be putting major pressure on the youngsters." What they did last season They had two wins, two losses and drew the rest. The batting led them down - only twice did they cross 400 in an innings and incidentally, they won both games. Only one batsman, KB Pawan, aggregated more than 400 runs. The bowling was much better. The seamer Vinay Kumar, with 40 wickets, was the highest wicket-taker of the competition at the end of the league stage. Sunil Joshi took 34 but KP Appanna, the other left-arm spinner, succumbed to the season-two blues, picking only five wickets from four games. Men to watch Robin Uthappa, the new captain. He was the man of the series in the recently concluded Challenger series and should lead Karnataka's batting. Having been out of the Indian team, he has obvious reasons to prove himself. Sunil Joshi, the veteran, will still lead the spin attack. Ganesh Satish is the dark horse; he has been named in the squad after scoring five centuries on the trot in the Under-22 competition. Karnataka Squad Baroda If you measure a team's success in terms of consistency Baroda will pip many heavyweights as they've made to the semi-finals for the last three seasons. Despite the absence of the likes of Irfan Pathan, Baroda still managed to run Delhi close last year before Gautam Gambhir's match-winning century robbed them of a berth in the finals. The lack of a good paceman proved a deterrent but the spin duo of Yusuf Pathan and Rajesh Pawar led the bowling admirably. But with the inclusion of Munaf Patel, who quit Maharashtra to return to his home state, and Sri Lanka's Dilhara Fernando, Baroda's bowling line-up will be bolstered. Also, Irfan is likely to play more games than last season if he doesn't feature in the Test series against England. If the batsmen can stand up to the occasion in the fashion they did last season, Baroda stand a healthy chance of making it at least to the knockout stage for the fourth straight year. What they did last season Two outright wins in the first three games declared their positive intent. This included a closely-fought away contest against Uttar Pradesh. Chasing a tempting 274, UP failed on a turning track where Yusuf and Pawar picked four and three wickets respectively to win the contest. After taking first-innings lead against Punjab, they lost their way following on against Andhra Pradesh. Next, against Orissa, once again Baroda they lost the initiative conceding the first-innings lead but owing to their clean sheet made it to the last four. Baroda's progress into the knockouts was due to these four batsmen: Rakesh Solanki (645 at 64), Connor Williams (547 at 54), Yusuf (441 at 44) and Pinal Shah (437 at 48). Yusuf proved he was an allrounder with a tally of 26 victims with his off spin that came at 29. Pawar was the second highest wicket-taker with a tally of 22 at 36. Men to watch Yusuf remains the key with both the bat and ball. He proved he can be a quick learner by playing a significant role during the IPL where Shane Warne's leadership inspired him at Rajasthan Royals. Hyderabad Last season Hyderabad were wiped out by the exodus to IPL. They had to play with an almost new team, full of youngsters, and finished 12th on the points table. It was treated as a platform to build new talent and gauge their potential. A few positives came out in the form of the aggressive opener Ravi Teja and emergence of the teenaged left-arm spinner Lalith Mohan, who played three games. Pragyan Ojha took 24 wickets and Ashwin Yadav and SM Shoaib showed some promise with their mediumpace bowling. Kanwaljeet Singh, the head coach this year, is pleased with the improvements in the batting in the pre-season tournaments. Abhinav Kumar has been among runs and a new talent in the 17-year old Akshath Reddy, an opening batsman, has been unearthed. "The batting was a worry last season but they have done well so far consistently getting 300-plus in the pre-season games," Kanwaljeet said. What they did last season Only once did Hyderabad cross 350. They hung in on the edge to draw the initial games against Bengal and Baroda but collapsed in the second innings against Debasis Mohanty to lose the game on the final day against Orissa. A first-innings collapse against the spinners Piyush Chawla and Praveen Gupta lost them the game against Uttar Pradesh. But considering the state of disarray that IPL had left them, one win and three draws was not a bad result. Men to watch Ravi Teja, an aggressive opening batsman, who top scored for Hyderabad with 653 runs at 59.36. His duel with Irfan Pathan in the game against Baroda last season was entertaining to watch. He drove, cut, and pulled Pathan well. Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner, who got dropped from the Test squad without getting a chance, will be the man with lots to prove to the selectors. Hyderabad Squad Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Next Three Teams Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu was among the worst-hit teams when players defected to the ICL in droves and not surprisingly, the current set-up is just a shadow of the team of title contenders in the late 1990s. After narrowly avoiding relegation during the 2006-07 season, they performed only marginally better last season, with one outright win and four draws. Fortunately, they have a couple of players knocking on the doors of national selection and the challenge now will be to click as a team and regain lost glory. The fact the team is in transition is something their coach WV Raman acknowledges and he knows the rebuilding process requires more time and self-belief. An early defeat last season exposed the weaknesses in the top order but fortunately, it didn't take too long for the batsmen to realise their potential. M Vijay regained his touch after a slow start, Abhinav Mukund was a find at the top of the order in his debut season and S Badrinath contributed heavily with the bat and crucially, his availability through the season helped Tamil Nadu stay afloat. The bowling, however, suffered a setback with the loss of promising offspinner R Ashwin mid-way through the season to injury. Badrinath, however, will miss the opening three games as he's part of the Indian Test squad against Australia. Dinesh Karthik will lead in his absence. An important addition to the squad is L Balaji, who was forced out of the last two seasons with a career-threatening back injury. He will be expected to spearhead the bowling attack. Tamil Nadu will play five of their six games away from home, but Raman feels in the disadvantage may not count for much. The team has been training hard since the start of October and they even headed to Punjab to play a couple of practice games to escape the Chennai rains. Aside from the routine nets, the squad has attended workshops on the mental aspect of the game. What they did last season They began with a draw against Maharashtra but fell short of obtaining a first-innings lead. Inept batting cost them the match against Mumbai, which was over inside three days but the situation eased out with high-scoring draws against Karnataka and Saurashtra, managing first-innings points in both games. They finally registered their first victory of the season, easing past Himachal Pradesh by 180 runs and gained points in a rain-affected draw against Rajasthan. However, they fell off the mark against stronger opposition as Delhi, the eventual champions, losing by eight wickets. Looking at the positives of the season, Raman was satisfied with the batting but wasn't happy with the state of the pitches. "We managed to put the runs on the board and maintain the intensity," Raman told Cricinfo. "The bowling was alright but some of the pitches weren't result-oriented and didn't have enough bounce. Also, the weather in Chennai robbed us of crucial points on a few occasions and that affected our chances of qualifying." Men to watch M Vijay has been one of the unsung heroes in the domestic circuit and his season tally of 582 runs was enough to convince the selectors to pitchfork him into the India A side. He was the leading run-scorer in the Tests against New Zealand A recently a well as the second-highest run-getter in the Challenger Trophy. Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament and a stand-out feature of his performance was his economy-rate in all three games. According to Raman, the season will be very crucial for Karthik to fight his way back in to the Indian side. Balaji will be watched keenly and this season will determine whether he has the ability to sustain himself in the longer version of the game. His recovery has been very gradual and Raman expects him to get better and better. TamilNadu Squad Rajasthan With an average age of 25, lacking star batsmen and a new signing in former India batsman Venugopal Rao, Rajasthan are a side in transition. Three losses from four games last season was hardly the ideal start but there was no lack of positivity in this side, when you spoke to the players, coach, and support staff. That's a trait the side is going to need aplenty to stay afloat in the Super League another season. With the likes of Robin Bist and Manish Sharma, in their early 20s, Nikhil Doru and Rohit Jhalani, closer to 30, and veteran Gagan Khoda, at 34, Rajasthan is a mixed bag. What they need to do is find a happy medium. Rajasthan's bane last season was an inability to put up big totals. They went past 300 only twice all season, and their best of 393 came halfway through the tournament. "Last season I got some good runs, but I didn't make a hundred," Bist, one of the positives from 2007-08, told Cricinfo. "We've been training hard in the off-season and we're all keen to take our form further this season. We need to bat better and put up more runs. We've got a new captain and we're looking forward to learning from him." What they did last season Rajasthan finished second-last on the list, winning just one match. They started poorly and then, in a humdinger at Jhalawar, lost three wickets in a manic final over, when they required nine runs to beat Mumbai for their first win of the season. They finally managed a win over HP in the final round. Vineet Saxena, 27, was Rajasthan's highest run-scorer last season with 566 at 47.16, with two hundreds and two fifties. Coming in second was the promising Bist, 21, with 415 at 37.72, with a best of 99 against Karnakata in Mysore. Bist made his first-class debut last season, starting off with a patient second-innings 69 in a loss against Delhi. But there were no hundreds from any other batsmen and that's an issue that needs sorting out. Pankaj Singh, who was called up to India's Test side in Australia but didn't play a game, took 26 wickets at 23.96. Next best was right-arm medium-pacer Sumit Mathur's 20 at 23.55. Mohammad Aslam, the veteran left-arm spinner, came in third with 17. Robin Bist: ""Last season I got some good runs, but I didn't make a hundred" © Nishant Ratnakar/ Bangalore Mirror Men to watch Bist, as Rajasthan's coach KP Bhaskar identified last season, is one to watch out for. In his first season, Bist impressed with his shot-making and composure and the side expects more from him. Like Bist, Saxena will be relied to score heavily. Mishra is another exciting prospect, who needs to work on curbing his enthusiasm. He got to fifties, but didn't always convert. Pankaj will lead the attack. Rajasthan Squad Maharashtra Last year they played 14 debutants with an eye on the future. The build-up continues: the new captain, Nikhil Paradkar, has played only three matches and will be fourth captain in four years. Venugopal Rao, who moved to Maharashtra last year decided to shift to Rajasthan and Sairaj Bahutule, another senior, relocated to Mumbai, his home town, after spending three seasons with Maharashtra. Hrishikesh Kanitkar, the longest-serving local player and former captain, is the Madhya Pradesh captain now. And Chandrakant Pandit, after serving as director of coaching for three years, stepped down after Maharashtra failed to reach the knock-out stage last season. Still, Ajay Shirke, the Maharashtra Cricket Association president, is optimistic that grooming youth is the right path to success. Yogesh Takawale, who played for the Mumbai Indians during the IPL but fared badly during the Challenger Series and then in the four practice games (18 runs with bat) during the pre-season training sessions, has been dropped. Mun Mangela, the Mumbai pacer who moved to Maharashtra this season, has been dropped on disciplinary grounds. What they did last season Two outright victories in their first three games including a bonus point and then three crucial points against Mumbai on the basis of first-innings lead surprisingly put Maharashtra as joint leaders of their group along with Delhi. Going into the fourth game, they wouldn't have imagined what followed; they hurtled to three successive defeats against Delhi, Saurashtra and Karnataka. Not one Maharashtra batsmen could score more than 500, with Harshad Khadiwale topping the run charts with 468 while both Rao and Takawale made 419. Samad Fallah, the left-arm medium pacer, was the highest wicket-taker with 20 wickets at 23 and Bahutule was close on his heels with 19 at 26. Men to watch Khadiwale will once again remain the key in the batting and despite his inexperience Paradkar will have to lead from the front. As far as the bowling goes there is no experienced hand to inspire the rest of the bunch. So Shaun Williams, the director of coaching, has his job cut out. It will also be a good challenge for Enamul Haque jnr, the Bangladesh import who will be playing his first season as a guest player. Maharashtra Squad . Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Last Three Teams Uttar Pradesh The enigma boys are at it again. Champions one season, just about avoiding the relegation the next, and almost winning the Ranji Trophy in the next. It took a superlative rearguard from Delhi to deny Uttar Pradesh the title last year, but it will take a few more consistent seasons for UP to genuinely make a transition from being backwaters to powerhouses. Their contribution to the national teams - RP Singh, Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and RP Singh - is an endorsement to the cricketing revolution in the state, and despite the state. Their captain, Mohammad Kaif, too, has been a close outsider to the Indian team. Like Delhi, they have a coach who has just retired as a player - Gyanendra Pandey. They would want to start off with a big win in their first game, against Andhra in Meerut, because after that their star players will be available to them sporadically, as this season clashes with big international matches - the England one-dayers start from November 14. As the case has been for the last three years, no one knows what to expect from them. In those widely varied results, the personnel had not changed drastically. What they did last season Their last season was not dissimilar to their championship season. In 2005-06, they had four points from four matches, and were sitting pretty at the bottom of the table. Last season, they had eight from four, and again they were at the bottom of the table. Like in 2005-06, three big wins followed, and they were through to the semi-finals. In the semi-final, they got a green top in Vadodara, which worked to their favour. Sudeep Tyagi, their new pace sensation, and Praveen Kumar, their seasoned pro, combined well to shot Saurashtra out for 127 and 113. Kaif helped them to marginally more than that. They had a superb start to their final, too, at the Wankhede. After having scored 342, they had Delhi down to 36 for 4. Delhi recovered, but UP still managed a 52-run lead, only to squander it through some irresponsible batting in the second innings. A Gautam Gambhir special followed in a chase of 230 runs to stop the dramatic turnaround at its last step. Kaif was their leading run-getter with 687 at 57.25, followed by Raina with 683. They were Nos 4 and 5 on the overall run-getters' list. But it was Tyagi who made the main difference, with 41 wickets at 21.63, in his debut season. Praveen, who was available for only six matches, made his contribution with 36 wickets at 16 apiece. Men to watch As usual there are lots to watch out for, depending on their availability and form. Tyagi is one of the lesser known ones: after a promising debut season, when it came to taking himself to the next level - the zonal games, or the IPL money and fame, he got injured. He played a match against Australia A, which might suggest he is fit again, but it will be interesting to see if he finds the form that form that made him such a success last year. RP Singh, who has now become a frequent flier with the Indian team, might not be available for long. Raina would want to make Test claims, Chawla would want his place in the ODI side back, and Praveen would look to cement his place in the ODI side. Uttar Pradesh Squad Punjab Punjab clearly are yet to recover from the ICL exodus that saw 12 players defect to the unofficial league as they just about managed to avoid the relegation to Plate with an outright victory in their final league encounter. And to think they were the runners-up only three years back. Inthikab Alam was the coach then but subsequently, though, Punjab have had two more coaches. Arun Kumar, former Punjab wicket-keeper, will be the third coach in as many years and he replaces Gurcharan Singh who failed to provide any sort of impetus to a weakened team. Kumar's familiarity with the players was the main reason behind his appointment, which probably might help in the team bonding. That and the presence of Yuvraj Singh, who is part of the squad for the first two games at least, should help Punjab start on a positive note in a tough season where they play a solitary home game. What they did last season Despite having home advantage in five games Punjab won just one game in a must-win situation against Orissa. Uday Kaul's two fighting centuries in the initial half of the season had gained first-innings points against Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Against UP, VRV Singh played a pivotal role with a seven-wicket haul in the first innings, which denied the visitors the lead. But even if the batsmen managed decent, if not huge, totals Punjab's bowling failed to show any consistency. VRV only played four games and peaked in two of them; Manpreet Gony was more of harmless trundler and Gagandeep Singh toiled hard but sometimes without much luck. The bowling clicked against Orissa, reducing them to 50 for 4, but the batsmen failed miserably to hand over the advantage. However, VRV snatched it right back with a superb five-wicket haul to set up an easy target to chase. As for the performers Uday Kaul was the only batsman to cross the 500-mark (503). VRV Singh, in and out due to his injury concerns, managed to still bag the maximum wickets, 15, with Gagandeep and Manpreet sharing the second spot with 13. Men to watch With VRV still recuperating from his ankle injury and not expected to play at least in the first half Gagandeep and Gony will be the strike bowlers. Not to forget Siddarth Kaul, who even if green, has a good enough pace to trouble the bat. He showed that during the Under-19 World Cup final against South Africa. India needed two wickets, their opponent needed 16 runs off the last over and Kaul cleaned them up without much trouble. Punjab Squad Andhra A sixth place last year despite the loss of Venugopal Rao and Syed Sahabuddin showed Andhra are no pushovers. They have gone in for more new blood this season: four new players and a new coach in MV Narasimha Rao have been recruited. And Rao is confident that his young bunch can do more damage this season. "We have many guys from Under-22 division, our fast bowling looks good with P Vijaykumar, Kalyankrishna, Israel Raju and Sharat Babu. Our batting too is in good hands with Hemal Watekar and the two young talent in AG Pradeep, and B Sumanth." They have a tough start against Uttar Pradesh but as Rao says, and as the recent history shows, Andhra could give a good fight to any team on their day. The spin department is a worry, though, as Andhra have lost the services of Shankara Rao, the left-arm orthodox who picked 20 wickets last year, this season due to a accident. They will look to M Suresh, the legspinning allrounder to do the job. What they did last season Watekar, the opener, hit two hundreds to get Andhra off to a comfortable draw against Punjab and his opening partner Prasad Reddy reprised that effort to earn another draw against Uttar Pradesh. They won their next game against Orissa but suffered heartbreak against Hyderabad in a low-scoring thriller . They went on to draw against Baroda and beat Bengal but that loss against Hyderabad proved crucial in the final-four ranking. Men to watch Watch out for the openers, Watekar and Reddy, who amassed 909 runs between themselves last season. Kalyankrishna and Vijaykumar, who grabbed 20 and 21 wickets respectively, will lead the bowling attack. Andhra Squad Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 3, 2008 Author Share Posted November 3, 2008 Mumbai v Rajasthan, Ranji Trophy Super League, Mumbai Bahutule returns to bolster 'balanced' Mumbai The preview by Nagraj Gollapudi in Mumbai November 2, 2008 Dar gaaye tere se, Pankaj. Khod ke rakh diya (They got scared of you, it's all grazed). Gagan Khoda pointed out to his Rajasthan team-mate Pankaj Singh about the grass being shaved off the pitch, now a brown and barren patch. The previous day, Pankaj, the Rajasthan spearhead, had announced Wasim Jaffer and Rohit Sharma as his prime targets, thereby setting the tone the for season-opener that starts tomorrow at the Brabourne Stadium. Though Rajasthan have lost to Mumbai in the last two years, both outright defeats, the visitors are not willing to confer the 'favourites' tag on their opponents. A team mostly comprising youngsters led by a new captain, Venugopal Rao, Rajasthan are well behind Mumbai in terms of experience and star value. Only Rao and Gagan Khoda have played for India whereas Mumbai have five players in the squad who have a national cap in at least one form of the game. Still, Rajasthan believe they can put up a fight. Rao, who joined the team this season after quitting Maharashtra, felt the onus was on the batsmen to rise to the occasion and support the bowlers. Rao said his team was riding on the confidence of a fighting performance against Australia in the tour game a month ago. In the two-day game, the Australians were restricted to a small total of 218 with left-arm spinner Gajendra Singh picking up a five-for. Though the main batsmen - Khoda, Robin Bist and Rao - got starts, Rajasthan were bundled out for a paltry 122. Rajasthan would say it was just the first game of the new season, the inexperience of many players remains a concern. Mumbai, in contrast, are spoilt for choice. As a mark of confidence, they have already announced their 12, leaving out Ankit Chavan, Hiken Shah and Rohan Raje. More importantly, the return of Sairaj Bahutule has added the much-required balance to the lower middle-order which struggled in his absence after he moved to Maharashtra three years ago. Bahutule said it was "fantastic" to be back to represent his home state and is hungry to prove his worth once again. According to him, a huge advantage Mumbai have this season is the "balance" in the set-up. "Balance remains the strong point with Rohit [sharma], Sahil [Kukreja] and Abhishek [Nair] who have developed in the last few years into key players," Bahutule after the training on Sunday. More than his bowling, Sairaj Bahutule is a big asset in the lower middle-order © AFP Praveen Amre, the Mumbai coach, felt Bahutule's return is definitely a boost for Mumbai who failed to defend the title last year when they found it hard to notch victories convincingly. "Sai (Bahutule) comes as a package who can control situations with both the bat and ball," Amre said. Mumbai fans will have strong memories of the numerous fightbacks marshalled by the pair of Bahutule and Ramesh Powar after the collapse of the top order during the 2002-03 season. It was only because of their spirited all-round display that Paras Mhambrey went on to lift the Ranji crown that season. The presence of Wasim Jaffer at the top is another big positive for the batting line-up which will miss the services of Rohit Sharma in the middle order as he's expected to join the Indian team for the ODI series starting on November 14 against England. Jaffer has always had a huge appetite for runs and that will only help the likes of youngsters like Kukreja and Nayar, who are moving ahead on the learning curve. Kukreja was the second-highest run-getter behind Amol Muzumdar, whom Jaffer replaced as captain this season. Mumbai return to the Brabourne Stadium after more than a decade and Ajit Agarkar has good memories of the pitch on which he bagged six wickets in the formidable 311-victory over Maharashtra during the league phase. "The pitch is similar in nature. It was seaming then," Agarkar said. Agarkar, who had a hernia operation, will share the new ball with Dhaval Kulkarni, who came into prominence during the IPL for the Mumbai Indians. But with the wicket likely to aid spin from the second day, the slow bowlers could play a more prominent role in forcing a result. When asked whether Vivek Yadav, the leg spinner, will be handed a debut, Rao gave a positive wink. Mumbai: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Sahil Kukreja, Rohit Sharma, Amol Muzumdar, Abhishek Nair, Ajit Agarkar, Vinayak Samant (wk), Sairaj Bahutule, Ramesh Powar, Dhaval Kulkarni Rajasthan: Venugopal Rao (capt), Shubhanshu Vijay, Vineet Saxena, Robin Bist, Nikhil Doru, Gagan Khoda, Shailender Gehlot, Vikrant Yadav (wk), Gajendra Singh, Pankaj Singh, Sumit Mathur, Vivek Yadav. Also showing (Super League) Delhi v Punjab Where: Delhi Key players: Aakash Chopra and Ashish Nehra (Delhi); Yuvraj Singh and Manpreet Gony (Punjab) Captains: Aakash Chopra (Delhi); Pankaj Dharmani (Punjab) Maharashtra v Tamil Nadu Where: Nasik Key players: M Vijay and R Ashwin (TN); Harshad Khadiwale and Enamul Haque jnr (Maharashtra) Captains: Dinesh Karthik (TN); Nikhil Paradkar (Maharashtra) Karnataka v Railways Where:Bangalore Key players: Robin Uthappa and Sunil Joshi (Karnataka); Sanjay Bangar and Yere Gowd (Railways) Captains: Robin Uthappa (Karnataka); Sanjay Bangar (Railways) Uttar Pradesh v Andhra Where: Meerut Key players: Suresh Raina and Praveen Kumar (UP); Hemal Watekar and Prasad Reddy (Andhra) Captains: Mohammad Kaif (UP); Gnaneshwara Rao (Andhra) Orissa v Hyderabad Where: Cuttack Key players: Ravi Teja and Pragyan Ojha (Hyderabad); Debasis Mohanty and Halhadar Das Captains: Shiv Sundar Das (Orissa); Arjun Yadav (Hyderabad) Saurashtra v Gujarat Where: Rajkot Key players: Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja (Gujarat); Parthiv Patel and Mohnish Parmar (Saurashtra) Captains: Parthiv Patel (Gujarat); Jaydev Shah (Saurashtra) Link to comment
Mr. Wicket Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Balanced Mumbai my ass. We've removed one of our best players under pressure, a brilliant all rounder capable of playing explosive match changing knocks under pressure for a has been leggie. If you're gonna pick Bahutule, dump Malvi for him or better yet, let him sit on the sidelines and earn his way back into the side. Link to comment
Guest HariSampath Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Excellent thread ! btw, Chandan, is this all your compilation or writeups from any links ? Looks like you have compiled it painstakingly. Nice to know FC cricket is alive and kicking. I always make it a point to attend 2-3 FC games in Chennai and catch up with young players from Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Speaking of TN team, they should do well this season, and make it through to last stages. Men to watch M Vijay has been one of the unsung heroes in the domestic circuit and his season tally of 582 runs was enough to convince the selectors to pitchfork him into the India A side. He was the leading run-scorer in the Tests against New Zealand A recently a well as the second-highest run-getter in the Challenger Trophy. Ashwin was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament and a stand-out feature of his performance was his economy-rate in all three games. According to Raman, the season will be very crucial for Karthik to fight his way back in to the Indian side. Balaji will be watched keenly and this season will determine whether he has the ability to sustain himself in the longer version of the game. His recovery has been very gradual and Raman expects him to get better and better. Murali Vijay , who did very well last season, played for India A and also was 2nd top scorer in Challenger's trophy, has started off with a brilliant unbeaten 200 yesterday. I had been speaking of Ravi Ashwin too for quite a while on ICF. I seriously believe he is going play for India very soon, he was the top wicket taker in Challenger trophy I think. Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 4, 2008 Author Share Posted November 4, 2008 ROUND ONE, DAY 1 Delhi v Punjab, Ranji Trophy Super League, Delhi, 1st day Sohal century props Punjab The Bulletin by Sidharth Monga November 3, 2008 Punjab 237 for 5 (Sohal 110, Nanda 2-36, Sangwan 2-56) v Delhi Scorecard Ashish Nehra made a satisfactory return after missing the last season for defending champions Delhi © Getty Images On a typically testing day, Delhi's perseverance and a special century by Punjab's Sunny Sohal made sure neither team ended with a clear advantage, though a resolute sixth-wicket partnership put Punjab in a position to push for a big first-innings score. Yuvraj Singh endured a six-ball duck, while Ashish Nehra made a satisfactory return to first-class cricket having missed the whole of the previous season. Delhi began their title defence by putting Punjab in on a Roshanara track that usually provides assistance to the pace bowlers in the first hour of the match. Nehra used that assistance, getting the ball to consistently move away from the left-hand opening batsmen. However, luck deserted him for the first seven overs, during which he kept beating both Karan Goel and Ravi Inder Singh. In the third over of the day, Nehra made Ravi Inder play and miss at three successive deliveries. He finally got his breakthrough in the seventh over of the innings, when Ravi Inder played all over a straight and fast delivery. Delhi's pace bowlers were unfortunate throughout the day: as many as eight catches fell short of the slip cordon. Nehra looked fit enough to bowl 21 overs in the day and, on another day, he could have bowled worse and yet ended with better figures than 21-7-66-1. The day, though, belonged to Sohal, the diminutive 20-year-old right-hand batsman in his second first-class season. He came in ahead of Yuvraj and took complete control of the game. He cover-drove and square-drove with ease, and also dominated the strike. When he came in to bat, in the eighth over, Goel had already scored 15 off 23 balls. By the end of the 25th over, Sohal had reached 35 off 63, while Goel had 32 off 69. An inspirational burst from Pradeep Sangwan pulled Delhi back into the game just before lunch. Sangwan first bowled an accurate short one straight at Goel's face, who fended it to Virat Kohli at third slip. Then came the most anticipated phase of play for the match: Yuvraj's batting, which lasted only one over. Apart from eight minutes between 11.50 am and 11.58, the first day of the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Punjab at the Roshanara Club was rather soporific. The man responsible for those rare minutes of excitement was a certain Yuvraj Singh, who lasted all of six balls for his duck in Punjab's first innings. Gone in eight minutes Yuvraj got a bouncer first up from Sangwan, which he easily ducked under. They were followed up by five accurate deliveries, the last of which he played at with hard hands, and guided to Shikhar Dhawan at first slip. Post lunch, Sohal took control of the game again. He was aggressive, not missing out on any scoring opportunities. He put together two important partnerships with Pankaj Dharmani and Uday Kaul for the fourth and fifth wickets. Of the 47 scored for the fifth wicket, Sohal made 29, while he contributed 33 out of 37 for the fifth wicket. There were no nerves when he neared his first first-class hundred. He moved from 72 to 100 in 28 balls, and reached his century with an aerial flick towards mid-on, where Amit Bhandari's misfield allowed the ball to go to the boundary. During that phase, Chetanya Nanda kept one end tied up, and Nehra bowled an inspired spell. He went round the wicket to trouble Dharmani with the ones that held their line. During that spell, Nehra bowled five overs and stayed wicketless. Nanda's accuracy worked, though, when Dharmani went to cut him, but played it on to his stumps for want of room. Soon after reaching his century, Sohal stepped out to Nanda in the fifth over after tea, but couldn't connect properly. When he got out, he had scored 110 out of Punjab's 176. After Sohal's dismissal, it seemed Delhi might fight back, but Kaul and Ankur Kakkar, both left-hand batsmen, batted patiently, while Delhi looked a bit flat. Flamboyance was replaced by solidity, as both batsmen played safely to stumps. Although the two added only 61 in 20.1 overs, Kakkar displayed some aggression by pulling Sangwan for a four and a six in the penultimate over of the day. How they were out Ravi Inder Singh b Nehra 2 (17 for 1) Plays across the line to a Nehra delivery and is beaten for pace. The stumps are splayed Karan Goel c Kohli b Sangwan 37 (80 for2) Gets a good bouncer from Sangwan, and fends it to Kohli at third slip Yuvraj Singh c Dhawan b Sangwan 0 (92 for 3) Yuvraj half-steers and half-fends a straight delivery from Sangwan to Dhawan at first slip Pankaj Dharmani b Nanda 16 (139 for4) Looks to open the face, but there isn't enough room, and plays it on Sunny Sohal c Sangwan b Nanda 110 (176 for 5) Steps out and looks to hit Nanda over the infield, but gets too close to the pitch of the ball and holes out to Sangwan at mid-on. Mumbai v Rajasthan, Ranji Trophy Super League, Brabourne Stadium, 1st day Menaria ensures honours remain even The Bulletin by Nagraj Gollapudi November 3, 2008 Mumbai 293 for 8 (Rahane 73, Rohit 62, Jaffer 60, Menaria 3-7) v Rajasthan Scorecard Rohit Sharma scored 62 as Mumbai made 293 for 8 on the first day against Rajasthan © AFP Rajasthan's 18-year-old debutant Ashok Menaria caught Mumbai off guard on the opening day of the new season. Primarily a batsman who normally comes in as a change bowler, Menaria took three wickets for just seven runs, including two in his first over at the Brabourne Stadium on Monday. His left-arm spin fetched him the prized scalp of Rohit Sharma (62) and all-rounders Sairaj Bahutule (0) and Ajit Agarkar (22). Rajasthan fought well to restrict Mumbai, whose innings was powered by a 106-run fourth-wicket stand between Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma, both of whom scored half-centuries. However, Ashok Menaria, a part-time left-arm slow bowler making his debut, took 3-1-7-3 to keep the honours even on the first day. With the pitch suited to batting, Wasim Jaffer, Mumbai's new captain, had no hesitation about his decision at the toss. Jaffer's start with the bat, though, wasn't as convincing: on 13, he fished at a Sumit Mathur delivery that seamed away but the ball eluded the slips. In the next over Jaffer shook off his rustiness with a fluent forward punch off Pankaj Singh. Sahil Kukreja, his opening partner, departed soon with a flashy pull off Mathur that went straight to square-leg. Rahane thwarted Rajasthan's progress, getting off the mark with consecutive boundaries off Vikrant Yadav on the off side. Though the pitch was hard and offered enough bounce, the lack of any movement - in the air or off the pitch - helped the batsmen. Rajasthan's fast bowlers kept it simple and bowled a consistent line and length, waiting for the batsmen to commit the mistake. Soon after getting to his half-century, Jaffer tried to glide one down the leg side off Mathur but the ball took a faint edge and travelled behind to Nikhil Doru. In came Amol Muzumdar, Mumbai's captain last season and the team's senior-most player. He was immediately rattled by the pace and slight movement from Vikrant Yadav, and edged one to Doru. Rohit was then lucky to not fall for a duck. Mathur's first ball pitched on the seam and moved away and Rohit was squared up. The next ball darted in and he did well to bring his bat down in time. The third moved away and Rohit's streaky drive raced to the third-man boundary. Rohit, though, overcame the early nerves. Rahane had set an aggressive tone with two boundaries in the first over after lunch, and Rohit helped himself to some easy servings and took particular fancy to Gajendra Singh's ineffective slow left-arm spin, hitting three fours in a row. Rahane reached his half-century with a confident charge to Gajendra past the long-on boundary. A few balls later, Rohit, too, went past 50 with a square drive off the back foot for another four. Mumbai's hopes of a big total were jolted when Rohit went for a paddle sweep; the resultant edge deflected off the keeper's gloves to Venugopal Rao in the slips. Two balls later Sairaj Bahutule, returning to the Mumbai team after three seasons with Maharashtra, was dismissed going for a rash drive. Rahane, too, fell in a moment of impatience as he played across to a straight one from Pankaj that trapped him plumb in front. Luckily for Mumbai cameos from Ramesh Powar and Ajit Agarkar ensured they didn't crumble easily. Jaffer admitted that Mumbai would have been happy with more wickets in the bag, but he expected them to take control soon. "The wicket is spinning and if we can get anywhere near 350 we've the bowlers to do the job," he said after the day's play. TN vs Maharashtra ,Ranji Trophy Super League, Nasik, 1st day Tamil Nadu 377 for 0 (Vijay 202*, Mukund 164*) v Maharashtra Scorecard M Vijay and Abhinav Mukund ground Maharashtra's bowlers into the dust on the first day of the new season © Cricinfo Ltd Tamil Nadu's openers gave their team a perfect start to the new season, rattling off 377 runs in an unbroken stand at the Golf Club Ground in Nasik. M Vijay continued to build on his impressive showing in the Challenger Trophy, where he finished as the second-highest run-getter, scoring an unbeaten 202. Abhinav Mukund contributed 164, and the pair need 88 more to break the record for the opening stand in the Ranji Trophy - set by Raman Lamba and Ravi Sehgal against Himachal Pradesh in 1994-95. Tamil Nadu's runs came at a healthy run-rate of 4.18; Vijay hit 23 fours and five sixes, and Mukund 19 fours and two sixes. They also exposed the limitations of an opponent relying heavily on a group of untested home grown bowlers and an import from Bangladesh with 32 Test wickets under his belt. Enamul Haque jnr, Maharashtra's recruit from Bangladesh, had a disappointing start, conceding 114 in 25 overs. Effortless shots In fact left-arm spinner Enamul Haque Jr. after being shown some respect in his initial spells was collared as Vijay and Abhinav stepped out of the crease and effortlessly lifted the ball for mighty sixes. Nothing could disturb their powers of concentration for six hours and 16 minutes or inhibit their stroke play. The pair added 377 runs, sufficient enough to bring nightmares to the young captain Nikhil Paradkar and his team. There was not a single appeal which deserved any serious attention. The opening stand between the right-left combination erased a couple of records held by two different pairs for Tamil Nadu. First to go down was the 329-run opening stand between K. Srinath and Sadagopan Ramesh made against Kerala at Tirunelveli. Once this 13-year-old record was beaten, Vijay and Mukund breezed past Tamil Nadu’s best for all wickets — 356 for the sixth between W.V. Raman and Arjan Kripal Singh against Goa at Panaji two decades ago. Raman, now the coach of the Tamil Nadu team, greeted the pair for its performance. More than competent Vijay and Mukund proved more than competent as they dealt with the new ball in the first hour, with the left-handed Mukund demonstrating positive intent punching the ball hard for a few boundaries square of the wicket. Circumspect for a while, Vijay came into his own 40 minutes after the first ball was bowled. He cover drove, glanced and followed it up with an extra cover drive off right-arm medium-pacer Aditya Dole. Once before lunch Vijay edged Haque but the ball travelled swiftly between the wicketkeeper and first slip and it was not until some 90 minutes before close that there was an instance of another genuine edge. This time Mukund edged Dole to third man for a boundary. These were the only blemishes in an otherwise near flawless batting performance executed by the Tamil Nadu openers. Vijay and Mukund said they were happy to own the record and played session by session. “We know each other’s games well and have an excellent rapport. The wicket was flat and we played our natural game. The fact that we scored runs in all the three sessions showed that we were able to maintain the tempo,†said Mukund. Karnataka vs Railways, Ranji Trophy Super League, Bangalore, 1st day Karnataka 264 for 6 (Uthappa 131, Pawan 54, Kartik 3-65) v Railways Scorecard At the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, newly-appointed captain Robin Uthappa led from the front for Karnataka, making 131 in a solid batting effort against Railways. Uthappa, the leading run-scorer in India Blue's triumph in the Challenger Trophy, chose to bat and vindicated his decision by putting on 157 for the first wicket with KB Pawan. However, as the afternoon ebbed away so did Uthappa’s partners as Pawan’s(54) uppish slog-sweep off Murali Kartik (three for 65) offered Railways a glimmer of hope. Starts frittered away Debutant Ganesh Satish, Thilak Naidu and Bharath Chipli got their starts but failed to cash in while C. Raghu fell for a blob. Uthappa too perished while attempting to pull, a shot that caused his downfall in the recent matches against Australia ‘A’ and in the Challenger Trophy. Earlier, it was all smiles and sunshine for Uthappa (131, 212b, 20x4) as he and Pawan tucked into the Railways’ seam attack which got its length awry. Pawan cover drove Railways skipper Sanjay Bangar while Uthappa flicked and glided Harvinder Singh to rustle up the early runs. Pawan enjoyed a close shave when he was on 24 as an edge did not carry to first slip. Pawan then opted to play second fiddle as Uthappa upped the tempo with shots that hugged the carpet. He swept fine and rocked back to late cut Kartik. The left-arm spinner, however, did cause a few heartburns to Pawan. Though Pawan did repeatedly drive leg-spinner Karan Sharma through the ‘V’ to get to his fifty (54, 137b, 7x4), he could not resist the slog-sweep against Kartik and succumbed. Uthappa, meanwhile, got his hundred with a late cut off Karan though a back strain seemed to visibly tire him. He eventually fell to the lone uppish shot he played as Anurit Singh exulted at square leg and the rest of the batsmen fell to a mix of prods and impulsive shots. Kartik, who bowled for a large part from the BEML end switched over to the Pavilion end and found better purchase as a few deliveries spun and bounced to catch the batsman off-guard. Gujarat vs Saurashtra, Ranji Trophy Super League, Rajkot, 1st day Gujarat 304 for 4 (Sunny 90*, Thaker 73*) v Saurashtra Scorecard A 144-run stand for the fifth wicket between Bhavik Thaker and Sunny Patel helped Gujarat, winners of the Plate League last season, to a comfortable 304 for 4 against 2007-08 Super League semi-finalists Saurashtra in Rajkot. Sunny scored 90 in that stand, with 17 fours in his unbeaten run-a-ball innings. At the other end, Thaker pushed to 73 off 147 balls, and both batsmen will look to score centuries and help their team to a big score on Tuesday. Nilesh Modi and Parthiv Patel, the leading run-getters in Gujarat's Plate League success, failed to build on their starts after their team was asked to bat. Sandeep Jobanputra struck early for the hosts, getting Priyank Kirit Panchal for 4. Modi and Parthiv then put on 71 before Parthiv was out after a brisk 42 . Modi too scored 42 but, while Parthiv needed only 50 deliveries, Modi took 155. Niraj Patel made 36 but his dismissal left Gujarat in a spot of bother at 160 for 4. Thaker and Sunny, though, seized the advantage for their side. Hyderabad vs Orissa, Ranji Trophy Super League, Cuttak, 1st day Hyderabad 228 for 7 (Pai 78, Teja 71) v Orissa Scorecard The opening day’s script unfolded as envisaged by Orissa in its Elite Ranji Trophy group A league match against Hyderabad till two individuals took upon themselves the onerous task of changing it at the Barabati Stadium on Monday. The visiting team extricated itself from 58 for three to end the day at a healthy 228 for five in 89.2 overs, thanks to opener Dwaraka Ravi Teja’s 71 and middle-order bat S. Anoop Pai’s responsible 78. These invaluable knocks, perhaps, saved Hyderabad from a disastrous beginning to the season. Orissa skipper Shib Sundar Das put the opposition in on a pitch that assisted seam bowling. Veteran Debasis Mohanty caught Tirumalsetti Suman leg before off the first ball and then had debutant Doddapaneni Rushi Raj’s off-stump cartwheeling when the left-hander shouldered arms to a superb incoming delivery that pitched and moved sharply. Mohantys bowl well With two Mohantys, Debasis and last year’s new find, Basant, moving the ball so well, it looked like Hyderabad would be routed for a paltry total. It was not to be as captain N. Arjun Yadav, surviving a confident shout off the first ball, and Teja produced 34 runs for the third wicket before Yadav drove a low ball back to left-arm pacer Preetamjit Das.Teja and Arjun Yadav made a brief recovery, but Yadav was caught and bowled for 9 by left-arm medium-pacer Preetamjit Das. S. Anoop Rai joined Teja and the two showed enormous patience in the face of some inspired seam bowling to go into the lunch at 97 for three in 33 overs. After the two lifted Hyderabad’s total past 100 in 33.3 overs, Teja reached his 10th half century in 14 first class matches. Two runs later, wicketkeeper Haladhar Das reprieved Teja off Basant. Teja was lbw to Preetamjit, who finished the day with 2 for 41 off 14 overs. Teja made 71, which included eight fours and a six. Wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar chipped in with an unbeaten 48, but Hyderabad lost Pai, who made a 240-ball 78, in the final over of the day to Basanth Mohanty. With the stress more on caution than exuberance, the two added 79 runs for the fourth wicket in 29.5 overs that steadied the fortunes of Hyderabad. Teja finally fell leg-before to Das after a well-made 71 (8x4, 1x6). He and Pai added 79 runs in 29.5 overs. Then, Pai and wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar continued the good work, taking the team to 167 for four in 60 overs at tea. Soon, Pai reached his third half-century in nine matches and the team’s total went past 200 in 73.5 overs. The second new ball, taken at 84.4 overs, brought success to the home side as Pai failed to read Basant’s delivery that hastened off the pitch and was caught in front. Pai’s 78 (8x4, 1x6) had come at the right time for Hyderabad. He and Kumar added 91 runs for the fifth wicket in 39.1 overs. Orissa’s fielding was sloppy, to say the least. All the good work down by the bowlers was nullified by the shoddy work on the field. Andhra vs UP, Ranji Trophy Super League, Meerut, 1st day Andhra 222 for 4 (Reddy 89*) v Uttar Pradesh Scorecard It wasn't the kind of start former champions Uttar Pradesh were looking at against Andhra at the Bhamshah Ground IN meerut on Monday. The visitors made full use of perfect batting conditions to seize the initiative on the opening day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group ‘B’ Super League match, reaching 222 for 4 at close. UP’s star bowlers Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla remained wicket-less, as Andhra batsmen negotiated them with ease. Right-hand opener Prasad Reddy was ruthless. Though left-arm orthodox spinner Praveen Gupta struck two vital blows before lunch, UP bowlers found themselves struggling for wickets. Opener Hemal Watekar (34, 4x7) miscued Gupta’s slow delivery and gave a simple catch to Praveen Kumar. A.S.K. Verma (7) then gave a regulation catch to stumper Amir Khan off Gupta. Much was expected of the UP bowlers after lunch, but Reddy and B. Sumanth (26) kept them at bay. Chawla, despite changing his bowling end, couldn’t get the vital breakthrough. Reddy was especially harsh on Chawla — bowling short before tea — pulling the leggie on a number of occasions in the square-leg region. Reddy remained unbeaten on 89, with 12 hits to the fence. A.G. Pradeep (35) was giving him company when stumps were drawn. Young seamer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar generated some enthusiasm, striking twice. What was of immense concern for the UP team on the inaugural day was the below-par performance by last season’s highest wicket-taker Sudeep Tyagi. He bowled 14 overs but remained wicketless. LNP Reddy played anchor for Andhra against Uttar Pradesh with a slow, unbeaten 89 to guide his team to 222 for 4 on the first day in Meerut. Opener Hemal Watekar was the only batsman to score at a strike-rate of over 50 as Andhra went at a rate of 2.41 per over. Watekar was the first out, for 34 in an opening stand of 39, to left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta. ASK Varma scored only 7, caught behind off Gupta, and Bodapati Sumanth's 93-ball 26 was ended when he was caught off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Captain Y Gnaneswara Rao was also out for 7; he put on 58 with Reddy. AG Pradeep then made an unbeaten 35 as he and Reddy helped his team to 222 for 4. Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 4, 2008 Author Share Posted November 4, 2008 Rohit Sharma is ready for the long haul Taus Rizvi Sunday, November 02, 2008 03:53 IST Rohit Sharma is itching to prove that he can be as effective in Tests as in ODIs MUMBAI: Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma has excelled in the ODI and Twenty20 formats but is desperate to prove his worth in the longer version of the game as well. The youngster was included in the Test squad against Sri Lanka but didn’t make it to the playing XI. He was subsequently dropped from the Rest of India squad in the Irani Trophy due to a dip in his ODI form. With the Ranji Trophy season starting from Monday, the 21-year-old has got another chance to prove it to himself and his critics that he is a genuine performer in the longer format too. In Round I, Mumbai face Rajasthan at the Brabourne Stadium. “Everyone knows this season is very important and there have been high expectations from us after we failed to make the semifinals last season. Players are all geared up. “Personally, I feel the opening match of a fresh season is always very important. It sets up the tone for the performances ahead as a cricketer. I scored a century recently against Australia A. I have played well in the shorter format and now I want to prove my worth in the longer format of the game too,†he told DNA. Though he made an impact in the ICC World Twenty20 in South Africa followed by the CB Series in Australia, the youngster struggled in the Ranji Trophy, scoring just 191 runs in five matches. “Last year was a forgettable one for me in Ranji. But I managed to do well in Australia. These stages are there in a cricketer’s life… I don’t want to ponder over it and just focus on what I have to do. I did well in my debut Ranji season but now must do even better than that,†he added. The Team India No.6 slot will be empty once Sourav Ganguly retires at the end of the ongoing series versus Australia and there are quite a few aspirants eyeing that spot. Sharma, however, is not thinking on those lines. “Ranji Trophy is a big platform for everyone and people follow it very closely. My focus right now is to get those big scores that will help my team,†he added. The stylish batsman have been playing shorter version quite often lately, so will it be difficult for him to shift gears? “It not easy or difficult. It is up to an individual how he takes it. With lots of cricket being played these days one needs to be ready for any format. I don’t have a problem with adjusting because I believe it is more a mental thing physical.†Sharma praised Wasim Jaffer who will be making his debut as a skipper for Mumbai. “I have played under him because he is leading the IOC side. He is a cool and calm customer like Dhoni,†he added. Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 5, 2008 Author Share Posted November 5, 2008 ROUND ONE, DAY 2 Delhi v Punjab, Ranji Trophy Super League, Delhi, 2nd day Delhi openers upstage Kaul Delhi 142 for 0 (Chopra 67*, Dhawan 64*) trail Punjab 391 (U Kaul 95, Kakkar 56, Sangwan 4-102) by 249 runs IN CONTROL: Shikhar Dhawan, in the company of Aakash Chopra, gave a sound start to Delhi’s innings against Punjab. Scorecard Uday Kaul is not your quintessential brash, flamboyant 20-year-old. He bats quite the way he looks, unassuming. Not for him are the flamboyant drives and the dismissive hooks. Talented and technically sound, Kaul produced an innings, which can be best described old school, of 95 to help Punjab post 391 against Delhi in their Ranji Trophy match at the Roshanara Club here on Tuesday. And though the Delhi opening pair of Aakash Chopra (67*) and Shikhar Dhawan (64*) made that total look much smaller by stumps with an unbeaten 142-run stand, Kaul's effort was just as valuable. Kaul, unbeaten on 28, started the day with the same kind of confidence he had finished the last. Hardly troubled by the bowlers, Kaul went about the task of building his innings with purpose. Equally comfortable on either side, he found the gaps with ease. But, every now and then, just when one thought Kaul was only a grafter, the 'keeper batsman would produce a shot of genuine quality. Kaul built a 102-run stand with his overnight partner Ankur Kakkar (56) and had put Punjab in a position of dominance in the game, when, Kakkar fell to a brilliant catch by Puneet Bisht behind the wicket. Delhi were in to the Punjab tail and on the lookout for a swift end to the innings. New man Gagandeep Singh obliged them with a catch to skipper Aakash Chopra off Ashish Nehra after the addition of just one run to the total. Punjab had lost two wickets for a run, and a mini collapse looked on the cards. But Kaul had other ideas. He continued with his knock, unperturbed. If Kaul's knock was all about perseverance, his dismissal was quite the opposite. He had just driven Bhandari past mid-off to reach 95, when, for the first time in his 235-ball knock, rashness took over reason. He fell off the next ball, caught behind trying a shot that never was on. If Kaul is about wearing the opposition bowlers down, Shikhar Dhawan is all about destroying them. The young Delhi opener had a great last season, both domestically and in the IPL, and looked in prime touch in his first Ranji outing. The stylish southpaw hit nine breathtaking fours in his knock and, together with his skipper brought Delhi right back in the match. Once both Dhawan and Chopra had set their eye in, they began to find the boundaries regularly. Delhi's batting is as good as any in the country, and judging by the way they have started, Punjab's bowlers could be in for a long, hard day. Mumbai v Rajasthan, Ranji Trophy Super League, Brabourne Stadium,2nd day Kulkarni and Powar put Mumbai on top Mumbai 307 and 30 for 2 (Mathur 2-10) lead Rajasthan 204 (Saxena 76, Kulkarni 5-40, Powar 5-44) by 133 runs Scorecard Ramesh Powar took his first five-for since his 5 for 68 early last season against Tamil Nadu Five-wicket hauls from Ramesh Powar and debutant Dhawal Kulkarni helped Mumbai gain a sizeable first-innings lead at the Brabourne Stadium, placing their team in a position from where they can now aim for an outright victory. Although Rajasthan did well to earn two wickets in Mumbai's second innings late in the day, the hosts finished 133 ahead at stumps. Rajasthan got off to a positive start in the morning after Mumbai, resuming on 293 for 8, folded for 307. In reply, Rajasthan suffered a jolt when Kulkarni bagged two wickets in two overs when he had Shubhanshu Vijay and Nikhil Doru caught in the slips by Sahil Kukreja in identical fashion. Kulkarni maintained an off-stump line, trying to make best use of the new ball, and both batsmen fell to reckless shots. After Kulkarni's double-strike, Venugopal Rao and Vineet Saxena progressed calmly. However, Powar's introduction at the Churchgate End worked in Mumbai's favour. Rao, who was connecting with ease against the fast bowlers, seemed flustered against Powar's offspin and the bounce he got off the pitch. In a careless moment, Rao went for the slog-sweep, and was caught well by Agarkar at long leg. His fell a few overs before lunch, and Powar struck twice in an over after the break. Ashok Menaria's unconvincing prod resulted in only an edge that was caught easily by keeper Vinayak Samant. Five balls later, Robin Bist, the last specialist batsman, played all over a simple offbreak and Ajinkya Rahane picked an easy bat-pad offering at silly point. Powar bowled an unchanged spell of 20-3-44-5, his best figures in the past year. His previous five-for came in an away game against Tamil Nadu last season. At the other end Kulkarni bowled with purpose - pitching it fuller and trying to move the ball in. He smartly mixed it up with the shorter ones that would lift suddenly. His best dismissal was that of Gagan Khoda, Rajasthan's senior-most batsman. Khoda had hit two fluent cover drives for four off Kulkarni in the third over after the lunch. But Kulkarni, who impressed for Mumbai Indians during the IPL, sensed his opponent's aggressive approach; he pitched one on length and moved it slightly away and Khoda, who had already committed to the stroke, could only nick one to Wasim Jaffer at first slip. Mumbai were frustrated by the final-wicket pair of Saxena and Gajendra Singh, who added 52. Saxena used his feet well especially against spin and cleared the infield frequently to pick some easy runs. He was the solitary batsman to play his shots and didn't allow the bowlers to get on top. Jaffer had to go to Kulkarni to deliver the breakthrough. The bowler, in his fourth spell, ended Saxena's resistance, becoming only the seventh Mumbai bowler to bag a five-for on debut. Hormasji Vajifdar, Eknath Solkar, Suru Nayak, Balwinder Sandhu, Amit Dani and Manish Patel had achieved the feat in the past. TN vs Maharashtra ,Ranji Trophy Super League, Nasik, 2nd day Mukund triple-ton puts Tamil Nadu in command Maharashtra 154 for 1 (Shrikhande 64*, Bhosale 42*) trail Tamil Nadu 648 for 3 dec for 0 (Mukund 300*, Vijay 243) by 494 runs Scorecard Abhinav Mukund became the third Tamil Nadu batsman to score a triple-century© Cricinfo Ltd Made to sweat on the field for nearly ten hours, Maharashtra showed no signs of being intimidated by a huge Tamil Nadu total of 648 and a versatile attack. Offered a chance to prove their mettle Harshad Khadiwale (41) and debutants Rohan Bhosale (batting 42) and Ameya Shrikande (batting 64) demonstrated their wherewithal for close to three hours and came out with flying colours at the old golf course ground here on Tuesday in the Ranji Trophy super league. The Tamil Nadu batsmen dominated the proceedings for nearly half of the second day. Tamil Nadu skipper Dinesh Karthik brought an end to his team’s run-scoring spree soon after left-hander Abhinav Mukund completed his triple century 40 minutes after lunch. Attacking strokes Fluent and attacking strokes from the blade of Murali Vijay and Mukund marked the first hour with the right-hander punching the ball straight down the ground and the left-hander matching his partner shot for shot. The second new ball made no impact on the settled opening pair which unfortunately failed to beat the first-wicket record in the national championship by three runs. Vijay’s intended cover drive resulted in a nick and debutant wicketkeeper Rohit Motwani, who had earlier put down Mukund, held his maiden victim in a first-class match and Raman Lamba and Ravi Sehgal’s 464-run first-wicket record in the Ranji Trophy survived. However, Vijay (243, 329b, 28x4, 5x6) and Mukund (300, 383b, 33x4, 5x6) went past the 400-plus club. Vidyut’s cameo Tamil Nadu advanced in the pre-lunch session mainly due to Mukund’s contribution. But the team had another star in S. Vidyut who played a cameo in the third-wicket stand of 95, with a 43-ball 59, which contained six fours and three majestic sixes. Looking at a declaration post lunch, Tamil Nadu amassed 195 runs in the first session. “Karthik told me he would give me an hour to bat after lunch and that I should try to make the most of it. I was a bit tired, but I was able to raise the bar. There are players like Virat Kohli who have played for India, so one has to constantly raise the bar,” said Mukund. When Maharashtra batted, Khadiwale played some superb shots in front of the wicket and looked set to make a big score. But Balaji, after change of ends, produced the breakthrough. Thereafter, left-hander Bhosale and Shrikande showed remarkable poise to deny further gains for Tamil Nadu. The pair also had 13 boundary strokes and brought the much-needed cheer to the Maharashtra camp with an undefeated stand of 107 runs for the second wicket. Karnataka vs Railways, Ranji Trophy Super League, Bangalore, 2nd day Railways 110 for 4 (Bangar 53*) trail Karnataka 365 (Uthappa 131, Pandey 64, Pawan 54, Kartik 5-83) by 255 runs Scorecard CAPTAIN’S KNOCK: Railways’ Sanjay Bangar came up with an unbeaten half-century on the second day of the Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka in Bangalore on Tuesday. Bangalore: Karnataka found resilience in debutant Manish Pandey’s bat and hope in its spinners as the host wrested the initiative against Railways in the Ranji Trophy super league Group ‘B’ cricket match in progress at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here. At the second day’s close on Tuesday, Railways scored 110 for four in reply to Karnataka’s 365. Railways skipper Sanjay Bangar remained unbeaten on 53 in an afternoon dominated by tweakers who ruffled pads while the batsmen stayed tentative. Bangar opened his account with a streaky slash and immediately cut seamer N.C. Aiyappa as he moved into his run-making stride along with southpaw Amit Pagnis. The openers crafted a 60-run partnership with Pagnis sweeping debutant off-spinner Sunil Raju for some quick runs. Raghu strikes However, off-spinner C. Raghu came on from the BEML End and trapped Pagnis. Next man Karan Sharma offered no shot to one that spun in as Raghu flung his hands skywards and then clenched his fist safe in the knowledge that he had his second victim. Bangar, meanwhile, broke the shackles, driving Sunil Joshi and lofting Raghu. A 49-run third-wicket partnership was stitched with Harshad Rawle who cut Raju before the spinner struck and in the day’s last over Joshi scalped Sanjib Sanyal to leave Railways on the crossroads. Earlier, resuming at 264 for six, Karnataka found sustenance in Pandey, who lost Joshi early but found an ideal foil in Raju (25). Manish (64, 146b, 6x4, 1x6) after largely offering the pad to a negative line, pulled with authority. He found relief in the same shot off Murali Kartik to usher in his fifty. The left-arm spinner, however, scalped Manish on the stroke of lunch and finished with five wickets. Gujarat vs Saurashtra, Ranji Trophy Super League, Rajkot, 2nd day Saurashtra 8 for 4 (Trivedi 4-7) trail Gujarat 581 for 6 dec (Thaker 192, Timil 104*) by 573 runs Scorecard With just two days into the season, Gujarat, a team promoted from the Plate League, have showed they are no pushovers. In a devastating five-over spell, Siddharth Trivedi took 4 for 7 to leave last year's semi-finalists Saurashtra in shambles after his team amassed a commanding 581 for 6 declared in Rajkot. Resuming on 304 for 4, Gujarat lost Sunny Patel, on 90, in the first over of the day, but a 200-run stand between Timil Patel and overnight batsmen Bhavin Thaker put the visitors in command. Thaker converted his 73 to 192, and Timil Patel scored his maiden first-class century. Mohnish Parmar made a 23-ball 39 as Gujarat sought quick runs before their declaration. Hyderabad vs Orissa, Ranji Trophy Super League, Cuttak, 2nd day Orissa 150 for 3 (SS Das 75*, Shinde 2-16) trail Hyderabad 296 (Kumar 99*, Preetamjit 3-59, DS Mohanty 3-63, B Mohanty 3-81) by 146 runs Scorecard Wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar became the first Hyderabad batsman to score 99 not out in the Ranji Trophy, but his team's total of 296 looked inadequate as Orissa finished the day 145 behind and with seven wickets in hand. Orissa skipper Shib Sundar Das produced a disciplined unbeaten 75 to lead his team’s fightback against Hyderabad on the second day of the four-day Elite group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy match on Tuesday. Playing in his 150th game, the opener helped Orissa end the day at 150 for three in reply to Hyderabad’s 296. The visitor, which resumed at 228 for five, folded up below 300. Wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar made an unbeaten 99 (193b, 13x4), his career-best. Sparkling start Orissa began its chase in a sparkling manner with Bikas Swarup Pati showing early aggression, striking two boundaries in M.P. Arjun’s first over. The openers added 86, Das being the dominant partner with 43 compared to Pati’s 37. Pati was the first to leave, trying to sweep off-spinner Amol Shinde and getting trapped in front. At the other end, Das was confidence-personified. Tight defence and occasional boundaries marked his more than four-hour vigil in which he faced 154 balls. All his nine fours were sweetly timed and he is well on course to score his 24th first class hundred. Despite losing Niranjan Behera (8) and Payas Ranjan Sinha (14) cheaply, Das kept going. Except for a chance at silly point off Shinde, Das’s innings was flawless. Hyderabad skipper N. Arjun Yadav rotated his bowlers in a bid to remove Das but all his efforts went in vain. Basant strikes Earlier, in a dramatic start to the day’s play, Basant Mohanty had Shinde caught behind and off the next ball had M.P. Arjun shouldering arms to an incoming delivery. Ojha helped Abhinav add 53 for the eighth wicket. Andhra vs UP, Ranji Trophy Super League, Meerut, 2nd day Uttar Pradesh 76 for 2 trail Andhra 349 (Pradeep 102*, Reddy 94, B Kumar 5-58) by 273 runs Scorecard LNP Reddy missed a century by six runs, adding five to his overnight 89, but AG Pradeep pushed on from an unbeaten 35 to score his first first-class century. Resuming on 222 for 4, Praveen Kumar struck in quick succession to leave Andhra at 238 for 6. However, a 107-run stand between M Suresh (46) and Pradeep made sure they weren't bowled out cheaply. Bhuvneshwar Kumar then took three wickets in the space of four runs, and it became a hat-trick of ducks for the final three batsmen when No. 11 DP Vijaykumar was run out. Uttar Pradesh lost two wickets in reply, including that of Suresh Raina. Tanmay Srivastava and Mohammad Kaif were unbeaten in the 20s at stumps. Link to comment
Sachinism Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 Rohit Sharma scored a 100 in one session whoa great stuff Dhawal Kulkarni is doing an awesome job 5 in the 1st innings and already 2 in the 2nd innings so many good performances to list Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 6, 2008 Author Share Posted November 6, 2008 ROUND ONE, DAY 3 Delhi v Punjab, Ranji Trophy Super League, Delhi, 3rd day Delhi find a saviour in Bhatia Arjun Sen New Delhi Delhi 434 for 8 (Bhatia 99, Chopra 76, Bisht 76, Dhawan 72, Manhas 58) lead Punjab 391 by 43 runs Scorecard EVERY TEAM has the stars, the big names, precociously talented players who have the innate ability to make the sport look ridiculously simple, remarkably elementary But, often, a team, no matter how big on star-value, has to fall back on the foot soldier: the grafters rather than the gifted. With the likes of Aakash Chopra, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Mithun Manhas, the Delhi batting line-up is undoubtedly one of the best. When the top four fire, Delhi go on to score big, when their shots pierce the field and race to the fence, Delhi are on a roll. But what when the shots find the fielders, the edges go to hand, instead of falling short, what when things don't go to plan? The man for such situations is Delhi's utility man, Rajat Bhatia. And that is exactly the kind of situation they found themselves in on the third morning of their Ranji Trophy match against Punjab at the Roshanara Club. The hosts, resuming on 142/0, lost four wickets within 17 runs and were precariously placed at 172/4 after 11 overs of hostile fast bowling from Punjab. However, they fought back through a 150-run stand between two of the lesser-celebrated batsmen in the team, Bhatia (99) and Puneet Bisht (76). They ended the day on 434/8, a lead of 43, and three points seemingly in the bag. But it looked like a very different story for Delhi when MS Gony trapped Chopra in front off the third over of the morning. Chopra's partner Shikhar Dhawan fell two overs later, caught at slip off Gagandeep Singh. Bad turned worse when Yuvraj Singh brilliantly caught Virat Kohli at second slip for 6. With Aditya Jain going in the following over, Delhi found themselves tottering at 172/4. The Punjab bowlers were well and truly on top, and hadn't it been for a counterattacking 48-ball 58 from Mithun Manhas, Gony and Co. might well have driven home the advantage. Once Manhas went, lbw to Siddharth Kaul, the responsibility of leading the fightback fell on Bhatia. And, like so many times in the past, Bhatia answered his team's call. He took his time to consolidate and then, once had set his eye in, took the shots out of his armoury. He found the boundaries with the least bit of effort, and ran hard between the wickets. The Punjab bowlers tried everything - including Yuvraj Singh's left-arm spin - but fell short. The pair grew in confidence with time. With his bowlers not looking like taking a wicket, Punjab skipper Pankaj Dharmani wasted little time in asking for the new ball. But it took a spinner in Sarabjit Ladda to break the stand when he trapped Bhatia just one run short of a ton. Delhi had taken the lead by the time Bhatia fell, and though Bisht and Sangwan fell off consecutive deliveries, the hosts had done enough to assume a position from where losing seems to be out of the question. And they know who to thank. Mumbai v Rajasthan, Ranji Trophy Super League, Brabourne Stadium,3rd day Rohit century puts Mumbai on brink of victory The Bulletin by Nagraj Gollapudi November 5, 2008 Rajasthan 204 and 63 for 4 (Kulkarni 2-16) trail Mumbai 307and 305 for 7 dec (Rohit 128, Kukreja 83, Pankaj 4-83) by 346 runs Scorecard Rohit Sharma scored his hundred in one session Rohit Sharma cracked a century in one session to put Mumbai in pole position for chasing 409, Rajasthan tottered at 63 for 4 at stumps on day three. With a cushioning first-innings lead of 103, Mumbai extended it further on the back of Rohit and Sahil Kukreja's 171-run stand and declared at tea. It was a slow beginning for Mumbai in the morning as Rajasthan delivered four maidens in the first half hour. This included the wicket-maiden from Pankaj Singh, who forced Amol Muzumdar to edge an easy catch to slip. But Rohit broke the shackles, cover-driving and pulling his way to three fours in Pankaj's third over. His aggression rubbed off on Kukreja, who came up with a wristy on-drive for his first four. In Pankaj's next over Rohit came up with the shot of the day: the ball came in after pitching on length and he flicked it like a paint brush on canvas to square-leg boundary. He finished the over with three more fours on the off side. Rohit's first eight scoring shots came in boundaries. Like in the first innings, Rohit stroked his way to a half-century but his this time he looked more imposing and dangerous. The Rajasthan bowlers, unlike on the opening day, lacked pace as well as movement. To make matters worse they were bowling to the batsmen's strengths. Even spinners Gajendra Singh and Ashok Meenaria failed to make use of the ample turn off the pitch which Ramesh Powar had exploited the previous day. Gajendra was struggling to find any loop and was replaced after a five-over spell by the Meenaria, a part-time legspinner. Rohit moved closer to his century with two fours and a six against him. After a few anxious moments in the 90s Rohit pulled Gajendra with ease over midwicket to his second century for Mumbai. Rajasthan finally managed to remove Kukreja and Rohit after lunch but the game was already out of their hands. Mumbai bowlers showed no mercy; Dhawal Kulkarni, who had bagged a maiden five-for in the first innings, struck in his first over when Vineet Saxena, Rajasthan's top scorer in the first innings, decided to leave alone what he imagined was an outgoing delivery. Instead it darted in and knocked the bails off. Nikhil Doru was dropped on 5 by Wasim Jaffer but he failed to make use of the life as he was trapped plumb on his back leg by Usman Malvi. Then Rajasthan lost their key batsman Venugopal Rao, who edged an away-going delivery from Kulkarni only to be caught brilliantly at gully by Ajinkya Rahane, diving to his wrong side. Powar removed Shubhanshu Vijay, who tried off an off break that climbed on him and was caught at short leg. With an entire day's play in hand Mumbai will aim to wrap up matters quickly as Rajasthan stare at a big defeat. TN vs Maharashtra ,Ranji Trophy Super League, Nasik, 3rd day Shrikande misses double century Maharashtra 401 for 7 (Shrikhande 195, Jadhav 63, Ashwin 3-68, Suresh 3-114) trail Tamil Nadu 648 for 3 dec Scorecard Ameya Shrikande led Maharashtra’s riposte to Tamil Nadu’s massive first innings total for close to eight hours but paid a heavy price for a folly he made in the last half hour in their Ranji Trophy super league encounter at the old golf course ground here on Wednesday. Five short of a memorable double century, he took a chance with a reverse sweep off off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and was declared caught. Out of sheer frustration he pointed his shoulder to the umpire, but later admitted that he was wrong to have done so. Ashwin dismissed two more Maharashtra batsman for Tamil Nadu to get a whiff of gaining the first innings points. At 401 for seven, the host is close to a hundred runs away from avoiding the follow on. With the surface likely to decline on the fourth and final day, Maharashtra has a task at hand to prevent Tamil Nadu from leaving with full points. Doughty After its steady progress on Tuesday, Shrikande and Rohan Bhosale continued doughtily. Bhosale blocked one end for 55 minutes and just added one run to his overnight 42, but helped the second wicket partnership swell to 125. A half hearted horizontal bat swipe at left arm spinner C. Suresh resulted in the left hander’s dismissal. The watchword was defence for Shrikande and new batsman Kedar Jadhav. Tamil Nadu resorted to a 7-2 field for Ashwin and 6-3 field for Suresh. Two men were posted behind square on the on side inviting the right hander’s to top-edge a sweep. After a rousing 130-run stand for the third wicket, Jadhav (63, 120b, 10x4s, 1x6) fell for the trap, his massive swing taken by Palani Amarnath a few metres from the fence at deep square leg. Hat-trick denied Immediately Suresh won an appeal for leg before against Maharashtra captain Nikhil Paradkar for a duck. Surrounded by six fielders, Ankit Bawne stretched forward to defend the next delivery and denied a hat-trick to Suresh. The second new ball failed to produce a wicket with Suresh sharing the ball with Laxmipathy Balaji. Maharashtra needed the pair to survive the last session. But Shrikande’s lapse triggered a mini-collapse. Bawne and Deepak Shilamkar fell immediately to give Tamil Nadu a chance to force a win on Thursday. Karnataka vs Railways, Ranji Trophy Super League, Bangalore, 3rd day Railways 340 for 7 (Goud 109*, Bangar 84, Ali 52) trail Karnataka 365 by 25 runs Scorecard TURNING IT AROUND: Yere Goud revived Railways’ fortunes with an unbeaten hundred at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. Yere Goud often grimaced in pain, ran his singles gingerly and yet stayed firm. His unbeaten 109 helped Railways roar back in the Ranji Trophy super league Group ‘B’ match against Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday. At close on the third day, Railways was 340 for seven in reply to Karnataka’s 365. With Goud still around, Railways is on course to snatch the first innings lead and the host bowlers will have to do something dramatic to alter the equation. Goud’s knock has so far contained 10 fours and three sixes. Resuming at 110 for four, Railways cruised through the morning session and skipper Sanjay Bangar’s run-out for 84 was the lone blemish. After Bangar and Goud tided past the opening spells of seamers Vinay Kumar and N.C. Aiyappa who relied on the short-pitched stuff to prise out wickets, the duo eased their shoulders and legs against the spinners. Bangar drove C. Raghu for four and then lofted one over long-on as the off-spinner was forced to opt for a flatter trajectory. Mix-up Goud and Bangar largely relied on rotation of strike to keep their 75-run fifth-wicket partnership going with the odd big shot spicing up the proceedings. However, Goud refused a third run off Sunil Joshi even as Bangar kept charging down and Aiyappa’s throw left the Railways’ captain stranded. Perhaps piqued by the needless run-out, Goud clouted Joshi for three sixes before catching some breath while getting medical attention for a muscle spasm. The 36-year-old Goud buckled down and though his running between the wickets was a bit laboured, he never flagged and stitched a crucial 46-run sixth-wicket partnership with Mahesh Rawat. Southpaw Raja Ali (52) then partnered Goud in an 109-run seventh-wicket stand that was replete with inside-out drives and cuts against the spinners. Vinay dismissed Ali off the day’s last delivery but with Goud at the crease and Murali Kartik set to come in, Railways is better placed. Gujarat vs Saurashtra, Ranji Trophy Super League, Rajkot, 3rd day Saurashtra 153 (Jadeja 48, Trivedi 5-44, T Patel 3-32) and 74 for 5 (Parmar 3-6) trail Gujarat by 354 runs Scorecard A victory seems evident for Gujarat, who need only five Saurashtra wickets on day four to pull off an innings win over last year's semi-finalists in Rajkot. Offspinner Mohnish Parmar took 3for 6 and Saurashtra stil trail by 354 runs to Gujarat's 581. Siddharth Trivedi added another wicket to his four on yesterday when he bowled Cheteshwar Pujara, who scored two triple-centuries in a week last month, in the first over of day three. Sandip Maniar's half-century partnerships with Pratik Mehta and Ravindra Jadeja gave Saurashtra a brief respite from the wicket-falling but it took only 10 overs after Maniar's dismissal for the innings to fold. Considering their appalling start in the first innings, where they were 8 for 4 in 10 overs, Saurashtra's start to the second innings was almost decent. In 9.4 overs they were 52 for 3, with Parmar removing Jadeja and Pujara off consecutive balls. He dismissed captain Jaydev Shah two overs before stumps and ended with figures of 13-9-6-3. Hyderabad vs Orissa, Ranji Trophy Super League, Cuttak, 3rd day Orissa concedes first innings lead Hyderabad 296 and 56 for 1 (Rushi Raj 33*, Ravi Teja 22*) lead Orissa 269 (SS Das 80, Jayachandra 43, Shinde 3-24, Shoaib 3-50) by 83 runs Scorecard Orissa failed to understand the importance of discretion and lost two crucial wickets in the process and conceded a vital 27-run first innings lead to Hyderabad on the third day of the four-day Elite Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy league match at the Barabati Stadium here on Wednesday. In reply to Hyderabad’s first innings total of 296, Orissa folded up for 269 in its first essay. At stumps, Hyderabad was 56 for the loss of opener T. Suman, who incidentally bagged a pair. Crucial dismissals Two dismissals influenced the outcome of the game decisively. First it was the run out of captain Shib Sundar Das and much later the dismissal of P. Jayachandra when Orissa had come pretty close to Hyderabad’s total. The Orissa skipper saw Preetamjit Das back in the pavilion early in the day but he and wicketkeeper Haladhar Das were just settling down when disaster struck. Haladhar played a ball from M.P. Arjun towards a vacant square-leg and saw his senior partner charging down for a single. As the Hyderabad wicketkeeper rushed to retrieve the ball, Haladhar sent his captain back and S.S. Das failed to beat the throw to the bowler’s end. When asked whether his junior partner should have sacrificed his wicket in favour of a well-settled batsman the captain said: “These things happen in cricket.†At that point S.S. Das was batting beautifully on 80. Despite this and the fall of four more wickets for the addition of 88 runs, an injured Jayachandra, playing with a runner, was in total control of the situation in the company of last man Basant Mohanty. The pair needed 49 runs to take the lead. It added 21 runs in 39 balls when Jayachandra 43 (235m, 139b, 3x4) went for an impulsive hook off S.M. Shoaib and was out at the stroke of tea. Even though Arjun had earlier dropped Jayachandra (when on 14) at fine-leg off Shoaib, the Orissa all-rounder repeatedly kept attempting that shot. Andhra vs UP, Ranji Trophy Super League, Meerut, 3rd day Kaif, Tanmay in big partnership Uttar Pradesh 345 for 4 (Srivastava 154, Kaif 144) trail Andhra 349 by four runs Scorecard A RECORD 285-run third-wicket partnership between Mohammed Kaif and Tanmay Srivastava helped last year's runners-up Uttar Pradesh near about manage first innings lead against Andhra on the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy match here on Wednesday. Kaif, who had emerged the highest run-getter for UP last season, hammered a sparkling 144 off 307 deliveries with the help of 18 boundaries as UP finished the day on 345 for 4. He was trapped leg-before by Andhra speedster P. Vijay Kumar while flicking a rising delivery just five overs before schedule close. Mohammad Kaif scored 144 for UP against Andhra Giving Kaif staunch support at the Bhamashah Cricket Ground was Youth World Cup star Tanmay Srivastava who took UP out of trouble with a superb 154 before giving a simple catch to A.G. Pradeep at point off Israel Raju on the last ball of the day. Ravikant Shukla was batting on 5. It was a rare treat for the jampacked stadium here on Wednesday as both Kaif and Tanmay left the Andhra bowlers struggling for a wicket almost the entire day after resuming at the overnight score of 76 for 2. Showing great temperament on a deteriorating pitch, both batsmen put the Andhra bowlers to the sword and hammered them all over the ground. Two wickets in the dying minutes of the day's play were the only consolation for the visitors. Disappointed at being ignored for the Challenger Series, Tanmay, who had emerged the highest run-getter in India's triumph at the ICC Youth World Cup earlier this year, began the day in style. He cut, drove and pulled the Andhra bowlers, and never allowed them to settle into a rhythm. His 154-run knock came off 334 balls with the help of 16 fours. He along with Kaif added 285 runs for the third-wicket, which was the highest partnership for the former champions in over a decade. Link to comment
Sachinism Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 Kulkarni gets 9 on debut Link to comment
Dravid Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 aggstar went wicketless :(( 32 total runs with the bat he is making a comeback as a batsman :D Link to comment
Dravid Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 How come no SS on this?? modz gone lazy Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 ROUND ONE, DAY 4 Delhi v Punjab, Ranji Trophy Super League, Delhi, 4th day Delhi garner important points Arjun Sen New Delhi Punjab 391 and 140 for 3 drew with Delhi 519 (Bhatia 99, Bisht 76, Chopra 76, Dhawan 72, Manhas 58, Nanda 56) Scorecard FAST bowler at slips, a strictly part-time offie bowling before the genuine spinner, and an astonishing 25 overs bowled in an hour of play! The final day's play in the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Punjab had a touch of the bizarre. With chances of a result as good as over, the purpose of the cricket was all about trying new things and gaining some practice. And that is just what both teams did. Delhi, resuming on 434/8, stretched their lead with a determined half-century from Chetnya Nanda (56). The hosts were finally dismissed for 519. With hopes of a Punjab win, however remote, resting on a swift end to the Delhi innings, the Punjab bowlers bowled their overs at an amazing pace, as many as 25 overs were sent down in the first hour of the day The Delhi tail however stood firm. They had stretched the lead to 128, when Nanda was adjudged lbw to Gagandeep Singh. The only point of interest in the Punjab innings was Yuvraj Singh. The stylish southpaw had lasted only six balls in the first innings, and everyone at the Roshanara Club wanted to see a Yuvraj special in the second. For Delhi's new skipper, Aakash Chopra, it was a chance to try out a few things ahead of the long season. He tried as many as eight bowlers, including himself in the 49 overs Punjab's innings lasted. The difference in Chopra's approach was evident pretty early when he threw the shiny new ball to the younger, faster Pradeep Sangwan instead of Amit Bhandari. Chopra brought himself on as second change in the 14th over, trying his off-breaks to break an excruciatingly slow stand between openers Karan Goel (22) and Ravi Inder Singh (27). Bhandari broke the 39-run stand, trapping Goel in the 19th over of the innings. It was a wicket which almost everyone was glad to see as in walked Yuvraj. Starting circumspectly Yuvraj took a while to get into his groove. But when he did, it was a joy to watch. He drove with majestic grace and lofted with disdain, hitting six boundaries and two towering sixes in his 44- ball 38. He lost his wicket while trying to cut one from Nanda that was too close. Yuvraj gone, the match went on till the minimum number of overs were completed. Though not the desired result, Delhi do have a few positives to take from this match along with the three points - none more than the determination the lower order displayed with the bat. Hyderabad are next, and Delhi know they might not be able to afford more dropped points. Mumbai v Rajasthan, Ranji Trophy Super League, Brabourne Stadium,4th day Mumbai complete convincing win The Bulletin by Nagraj Gollapudi November 6, 2008 Mumbai 307 (Rahane 73, Rohit 62, Jaffer 60) & 305 (Rohit 128, Kukreja 83, Pankaj 4-83) beat Rajasthan 204 (Saxena 76, Kulkarni 5-40, Powar 5-44) & 171 (Khoda 40, Kulkarni 4-48, Powar 3-26) by 237 runs Scorecard Sairaj Bahutule's first game on returning to Mumbai after playing for Maharashtra in the past three seasons wasn't a memorable one Mumbai scored a convincing 237-run victory against Rajasthan to start their campaign on an ominous note. Rajasthan's top order had crumbled meekly on the previous evening and there wasn't much resistance from the rest as they crumbled to 171. Dhawal Kulkarni took four wickets in the second innings to finish one short of becoming the second Mumbai bowler (after Suru Nayak) to take ten wickets on debut. Kulkarni once again struck early in the day. He had taken his maiden wicket off the third ball of the game and got one with his first delivery on Thursday; Ashok Menaria, the only left-hander in the Rajasthan squad, didn't move his feet against a good-length delivery that nipped in off the seam and struck him on the front pad. Mumbai's bowlers strayed a bit thereafter, allowing the last specialist batting pair of Gagan Khoda and Robin Bist to delay the victory. Barring Kulkarni, the quick bowlers pitched it short, giving the batsmen enough time to play their shots. More surprising was Wasim Jaffer's move to spread the field instead of setting attacking ones to wrap the match up. Better sense soon prevailed and the fielders moved in, drying up the runs. An hour before lunch Usman Malvi, who had failed to hit a consistent length till then, found his rhythm and got rid of Bist and Khoda in consecutive overs. With the pitch offering assistance, Malvi aimed at a fuller length to make the batsmen play. Bist nicked an away-going delivery to slip and Khoda's decision to play across to an in-cutter resulted in an easy leg-before decision. Mumbai quelled the tail's resistance immediately after lunch and secured the five points. Both teams will play away games from December 10 with Mumbai travelling to Surat to face Gujarat while Rajasthan clash with Punjab. Though Mumbai would be happy with their performance, they still have a job on their hands in both the batting and bowling departments. Rohit Sharma's departure to play the ODI series against England will create a big hole in the middle order. Rohit had scored a splendid century on the third day, which followed his first-innings half-century. His belligerent batting after Mumbai had lost three quick wickets in the second innings crushed Rajashtan's spirits; it showed he could shoulder the responsibility in pressure situations. Jaffer admitted Rohit's absence would be a big loss and his "energy and exuberance" would be missed. What would worry the Mumbai think-tank is the brittle form of the senior-most batsman in the side, Amol Muzumdar, who looked out of touch in both innings. Mumbai will also hope Sairaj Bahutule, who returned to play for his home state after playing for Maharashtra for the past three seasons, finds his rhythm quickly. Bahutule was innocuous on a pitch where Ramesh Powar, his fellow spinner, picked eight wickets. Jaffer, though, wasn't concerned too much. "When you play five bowlers one would be under-bowled and since Ramesh [Powar] was bowling well I couldn't give Sai [bahutule] the ball," Jaffer said. Jaffer was also confident Ajit Agarkar, who also went wicketless in the game, would improve with more overs behind him. Agarkar didn't play any competitive cricket apart from one game in Mumbai's Police Shield after he undergoing a hernia operation during the off season. TN vs Maharashtra ,Ranji Trophy Super League, Nasik, 4th day Paradkar, Jadhav keep TN at bay Maharashtra 457 (Shrikhande 195, Jadhav 63, Suresh 5-122) and 250 for 6 (Jadhav 95, Paradkar 92, Suresh 2-83) drew with Tamil Nadu 648 for 3 dec Scorecard Maharashtra adopted bold tactics and held Tamil Nadu to an honourable draw in the Ranji Trophy Super League match that concluded at the old golf course here on Thursday. In deficit by 191 runs on the first innings, Maharashtra’s top order fell to the spinners before its captain Nikhil Paradkar (92, 127b, 12x4s, 4x6s) and Kedar Jadhav (95, 184b, 11x4s, 2x6s) produced a stroke-filled 164-run stand for the fourth wicket that dashed the hopes Tamil Nadu may have had of opening its account this season with five points from an outright win. After the visitors’ bowlers were blunted on a featherbed, Tamil Nadu had to settle for three points for first-innings lead while Maharashtra pulled out one. There was plenty of action when the first session of the fourth and final day’s proceedings began. Left-handed tail-ender Samad Fallah hit L. Balaji four times in a single over. Aditya Dole, who had occupied the crease over an hour, smashed a six and the last wicket pair managed to bring the deficit to under 200. Following on, opener Harshad Khadiwale gifted his wicket dancing down the pitch while on one, and thereafter Rohan Bhosale and Ameya Shrikande fell playing shots. Then, Paradkar, who was on a pair, and Jadhav occupied the crease for nearly three hours — and kept the scoreboard ticking too — facing an attack reliant mainly on off spinner Ashwin and left hand spinner C. Suresh. Both batsmen had their share of luck — the skipper was dropped by P. Amarnath at deep mid-on and Suresh spilled an offering from Jadhav off his own bowling. Maharashtra used the full quota of 15 mandatory overs in the last hour in order to provide the lower order some batting practice ahead of its second round match against Andhra set to start here next Monday. Karnataka vs Railways, Ranji Trophy Super League, Bangalore, 4th day Railways 389 (Goud 122*, Ali 52) and 17 for 2 drew with Karnataka 365 and 127 (Anureet 6-49) Scorecard ON CLOUD NINE: Anurit Singh rocked Karnataka with a six-wicket haul. A meandering draw bustled into a life as Karnataka lost wickets in a heap and Railways made a belated pursuit of a stiff target. In the end, Railways had to content with a 24-run first innings lead and the resultant three points, while Karnataka eked out a lone point after the Ranji Trophy super league Group ‘B’ match ended in a draw at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday. The fourth day’s morning session centred on Railways pursuit of the first innings lead which it notched up with ease as overnight centurion Yere Goud (122 n.o., 351b, 12x4, 3x6) maintained his vigil, while Harvinder Singh (22) swung his bat around. Railways scored 389 and an academic final day’s play made slow progress until the Karnataka batsmen collapsed in the second innings. Anurit scalps six Sanjib Sanyal scalped openers B. Chipli and K.B. Pawan. Immediately seamer Anurit Singh (six for 49) steamed in with some reverse swing, castled Ganesh Satish and Thilak Naidu and forced Robin Uthappa into popping up a catch. Though C. Raghu (33 n.o.) held one end up, the tail never wagged and Karnataka was bundled out for 127. Strangely Railways never showed urgency when the host batsmen wilted and left-arm spinner Murali Kartik bowled late in the day. Railways needed 104 from the day’s last nine overs but after scoring 11 for two in its second innings, opted for a draw. Karan fined Meanwhile, Railways’ Karan Sharma was fined 10 per cent of his match fee for excessive appealing. Gujarat vs Saurashtra, Ranji Trophy Super League, Rajkot, 4th day Gujarat kick off season with emphatic win Cricinfo staff November 6, 2008 Gujarat 583 for 6 dec (Thaker 192, Timil 104*, Sunny 90*) beat Saurashtra 153 (Jadeja 48, Trivedi 5-44, T Patel 3-32) and 201 (Dhurv 52*, Parmar 4-50, Makda 3-51) by an innings and 227 runs Scorecard Rakesh Dhurv delayed it with 11 fours in an unbeaten 52, but Gujarat finally sealed a thumping innings-and-227-run win over Saurashtra. At 74 for 5 in the second innings, trailing by 354 runs, Saurashtra needed a batting effort far different from what they managed on the previous two days. Siddharth Trivedi took seven wickets in the match to give Gujarat an innings win It was nearly eight overs when Siddharth Trivedi struck the first blow, removing Sandip Maniar for 3 - the team score was 95. Pratik Mehta and opener Kanaiya Vaghela added 32 in 15.3 overs. Mehta was bowled by Ashraf Makda for 28, and Trivedi got Vaghela soon after. Vaghela's 36 came off 188 balls, lasting nearly four-and-a-half hours at the crease. Mohnish Parmar removed Sandeep Jobanputra, but Gujarat were frustrated by the last-wicket pair of Dhurv and debutant Jayesh Odedra, who played out 66 deliveries for his 10. Amit Singh's lone wicket of the innings ended the match. The win gave Gujarat six points, an emphatic way for the promoted team to kick off the season. Hyderabad vs Orissa, Ranji Trophy Super League, Cuttak, 4th day Hyderabad gains three points Hyderabad 296 and 263 for 5 (Rushi Raj 56, Pai 53) drew with Orissa 269 Scorecard Hyderabad garnered three points off its drawn Ranji Trophy Elite group ‘A’ match against Orissa, thanks to its 27-run first innings lead, to launch its National championship campaign on a positive note here at the Barabati Stadium on Thursday. Ravaged by an exodus of players to a rebel tournament, Hyderabad just about escaped relegation last season and its effort to rebuild the side this season looks to be on course. The visiting side, which was let down by brittle batting last season, seems to have found the batsmen who could provide stability in the middle-order this time around. Among runs Hyderabad batsmen, with the exception of opener T. Suman, were among runs in the second innings. This should bode well for the side as it will take on Delhi next at home. D. Ravi Teja scored an attractive 42 (157m, 110b, 5x4) while debutant D. Rushi Raj compiled a fine 56 (204m, 137b, 5x4), his maiden half-century. S. Anoop Pai’s disciplined 53 (151m, 126b, 6x4) got him the second 50 of the match. Skipper N. Arjun Yadav scored a flamboyant 41 (116m, 110b, 6x4, 1x6). When play was called off, wicketkeeper Abhinav Kumar was on 24 and birthday boy Amol Shinde on 31. A disappointed Orissa captain, Shib Sundar Das, blamed poor fielding on the opening day as the reason for his team’s failure to gain the lead. Orissa coach Venkatapathy Raju said the 53-run partnership Hyderabad built for the eighth wicket between Abhinav Kumar and Pragyan Ojha made the difference in the final outcome. Orissa, which earned just a point, will travel to Rajkot to play Saurashtra next. Andhra vs UP, Ranji Trophy Super League, Meerut, 4th day Kaif, Tanmay in big partnership Andhra 349 and 130 for 2 (Watekar 65) drew with Uttar Pradesh 412 (Srivatasva 154, Kaif 144, Suresh 5 for 80) Scorecard ANDHRA OPENERS, Hemal Watekar (69) and L.N.P. Reddy (45), negotiated the Uttar Pradesh bowling attack with aplomb in the second innings as their opening Ranji Super League Group B match ended in a draw here. After the Mohammed Kaif-led UP took the first innings lead in the second over of the final day to guarantee three points, the two Andhra batsmen guided their team to 130/2. Finally play was called off by mutual consent. Earlier, despite losing Piyush Chawla for a duck on the first ball of the day, UP added the required five runs to their overnight 345 for 4 to take the first innings lead. Their innings finally folded up for 412. With just a 63-run lead and more than two sessions of play left, Kaif tried his best to infuse some excitement into the match, putting his key bowlers into action, but to no avail. Like in the first innings, both Watekar and Reddy kept the UP bowlers at bay. A strong on-side player, Watekar struck consecutive boundaries off Tyagi before tea, and thereafter, cut Chawla for successive fours. Watekar, who along with Reddy had scored almost 1,000 runs last season, then went on to score his maiden half-century of the season. He brought up his 50 with a back-foot drive off Praveen Kumar His 69 runs were embellished with 12 boundanes. Link to comment
Chandan Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 I'll post Akash Chopra's blog here on the first round of Ranji matches so that it might give a perspective of a player and the skipper of a side, who is playing in the tournament: Safe and sorry Boring last days in drawn matches lead to such scenes © Cricinfo Ltd The first round of the Ranji Trophy threw up only a few outright results. Most of the games petered out into dull draws, and the teams that got the first-innings lead were happy with the outcome of their opening match. A lot of teams choose to be more conservative in their first few games just to get their bearings right. And it reflects in the way they prepare the track for the game, their approach, and intent especially while batting. We have seen, in the ongoing India-Australia series, that the pitch plays an important role in deciding the outcome even if the bowling attacks have enough quality to take 20 wickets. The batting has been of high quality, but the pitches have played their role in the draws. That is never the case in domestic cricket. Each side has only about a couple of genuine wicket-taking bowlers. It takes more than two such bowlers to take 20 wickets, including help from the track. Another interesting factor during the first round was the scoring-rates. We all keep a close eye on how the other teams are faring, especially the ones in our group. The scores were almost identical, with the scoring-rate hovering around three an over. Our game – against Punjab – was no different. Since we had already played a couple of games this season and our team has a settled look, we tried to produce a result-oriented pitch with a lot of grass on the surface. The idea was to give enough to the quicker bowlers to make an impact. With Punjab also relying heavily on their seam bowling, it was a gamble. With our strong batting line-up, we were ready to punt. Unfortunately the pitch didn't offer half as much as we'd expected. After the first hour or so, it turned out to be a rather good batting surface. The scoring-rate never went past three an over, and on a good batting surface with a quick outfield, it made for some not-so-pleasant viewing. I would give the batsmen the benefit of doubt since it's the first match of the season, and they are just being more cautious, which is only to be expected. The approach also depends on how you are placed in the team. If you are trying to make a mark and cement your place, your approach is more risk-free, and if your place is certain and your feet are moving well, you play with aggression and flair. Punjab, like most teams would, just batted and batted without actually doing the damage in terms of runs, or at least not in the same proportion to the amount of time spent at the crease. They never shifted gears, and not once did they even attempt to dominate the attack, even when their batsmen were well set. Once the team has batted nearly 140 overs in a four-day game, the other team must bat very badly to produce an outright result. And we didn’t bat badly, so the draw was inevitable. Even though we maintained a healthy run-rate of about four throughout our innings, there was never enough time to force a result. The last day of the game was just a formality, and it makes me wonder if we could do away with this kind of boring last days. Only the batsmen stand to benefit from that phase of play. They might just get a first-class century, which would add up to their season's tally, but those figures are often misleading. More importantly there shouldn't be an easy first-class century for anyone. With nothing to play for on the last day, I wouldn't blame the bowlers for not putting in the desired effort. I tried as many as eight bowlers in order to give my main bowlers much-needed rest: the next game starts in three days’ time. Perhaps the next round will produce more entertaining cricket, and with that more results. Cheers --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The pitch condition in India is really worrying. The newly laid pitches are flatter than the ones we had earlier and don't give adequate help to even spinners, forfet the seamers! Along with that they are extremely slow with no bounce at all and even the spinners are not getting that sharp quickish turn which they used to get 4 years back before they were relaid. Link to comment
msb1991 Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 New pitches tend to be dead for a few years; it is often a mere formality to deal with the few years of deadness before it livens up. Link to comment
Cricketics Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 i don't know what the heck has happend to the Kotla pitch. i mean the pitch where it was so challenging for the batsmans to bat has become an easy pan cake to bat on.. Link to comment
Tapioca Posted November 11, 2008 Share Posted November 11, 2008 Cheteshwar Pujara 302* + Ravindra Jadeja 232* = 520*. New world record for the fifth wicket and the 10th biggest partnership in first class cricket. Previous 5th wicket record : 464* Waugh & Waugh Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now