Zal Irani Trophy, 2009

[Chandan]

The Irani Trophy tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy Championship and is named after the late Z R Irani, who was connected with the Board of Control for Cricket in India from its inception in 1928 till his death in 1970. Before becoming president of the board from 1966 to 1969, Irani was the honorary treasurer (from 1948 to 1962), and one of the vice-presidents from 1963 to 1965. In appreciation of his services to Indian cricket, the BCCI instituted a trophy in his name, to be presented to the winners of a match to be played between the Ranji Trophy champions of the preceding year and a selected Rest of India XI. The first match of the series was played between Bombay and the Rest at the Ferozshah Kotla Ground in Delhi from March 18 to 20, 1960. Though the match was drawn, Bombay were declared winners by virtue of having gained the first innings lead. A brief history of the Irani Trophy Irani Cup: a peek into its glorious past . PS: Update Irani Trophy 2009 Fringe players and those ready to make a comeback will be in action in the season opener Irani Trophy that gets underway between Rest of India and Ranji champions Mumbai at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium. A strong Rest of India team led by Virender Sehwag holds the edge over the Wasim Jaffer-led Mumbai because of the presence of big players like S Badrinath, Murali Vijay, S Sreesanth, Manoj Tiwary and Munaf Patel. The Mumbai skipper too acknowledged the fact that the Rest of India start as favourites in the five-day game. They (RoI) have the best of players and obviously they are a tough opponent to beat, Jaffer said on the eve of the match.Mumbai may have won 38 Ranji titles, but when it comes to Irani Trophy they have always struggled. The cricketing powerhouse in the country has not won the title in more than a decade. The last time Mumbai won the trophy was in 1997-98 under the captaincy of Sanjay Manjrekar. However, the Wasim Jaffer-led team won't let the opportunity slip from their hands this time when they take on a much-stronger Virender Sehwag's Rest of India. Mumbai will be dealing with the strong Rest line-up with Sehwag and M Vijay at the top. Though Sehwag is coming after a shoulder injury he can be a dangerous customer on the batting wicket. The 38-time Ranji champions are also missing the services of their front-line bowler Zaheer Khan and the batting of Sachin Tendulkar and Amol Muzumdar. While Khan is nursing an injury Tendulkar is on national duty at the Champions Trophy. Middle-order veteran Muzumdar has opted to play for Assam from this season. ''Obviously it is a big loss. Amol was with us since last 16 years so it will be difficult to fill the void,'' Jaffer said. Rest of India's bowling too has experience players including Sreesanth and Munaf Patel, both of whom are keen to make their mark. Irfan Pathan is missing from the squad due to an injury. He has been replaced by UP's Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. Individually the match provides a perfect platform for many youngsters to prove their worth. It has also provided an opportunity to India discards in both teams to get back in the reckoning. Jaffer and Rohit Sharma will be using this match to stake a claim for national duty while youngsters Ajinkya Rahane and Dhawal Kulkarni look for another rich experience. Sehwag too will be eager to have a fruitful outing before the Champions League and One-Day series against Australia. ''This is the start of the season. I am keen to go out and get some runs to get back in shape before the Champions League and Australia series,'' Sehwag said. The Delhi opener said he has recovered from his shoulder injury but experiences minor pain while throwing from long distance. '' It is not a big matter. I hope to get fit before the Champions League,'' he said. The wicket on offer also looks a batting paradise though curator Praveen Hinganikar said it would offer help to spinners from the second day. ''This is a good five-day strip. But it has something for the spinners,'' Hinganikar said. Both the teams have good spinners in their ranks. Left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha can prove handy for Rest while Mumbai can depend upon veteran Ramesh Powar and youngster Iqbal Abdulla. Teams: Mumbai: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Ajit Agarkar, Sahil Kukreja, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Prashant Naik, Vinayak Samant (wk), Ramesh Powar, Iqbal Abdulla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Rahil Shaikh, Murtuza Hussain, Sushant Marathe, Saurabh Netravalkar, Omkar Khanvilkar. Coach: Sushant Marathe. Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (captain), S Badrinath (vice-captain), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), M Vijay, S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Manoj Tiwary, Kedar Jadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Abhinav Mukund, Bhuvneshwar Singh, Uday Kaul, Sudeep Tyagi. Coach: Yashpal Sharma.

[coffee_rules]

Sehwag to lead ROI in Irani trophy Great news! The national team back in the domestic cricket, makes it interesting to follow.. Sehwag back in action with Irani Cup Chennai Recovering from a shoulder injury, opener Virender Sehwag will return to action in the Irani Cup and will lead the Rest of India team in the October 1 to 5 tournament in Nagpur. Sehwag, who missed the just-concluded tri-series in Sri Lanka due to the injury he sustained during the Indian Premier League, will have S Badrinath as his deputy. In a meeting in Chennai, the All India Senior Selection Committee also announced the teams for the October 8 to 11 Challenger Series, featuring India Red, India Green and India Blue. While India Red would be led by Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina will captain India Green. A star-studded India Blue will have national skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the helm. The team has India regulars Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh in it. The selection panel also announced that opener Gautam Gambhir's fitness for the Champions Trophy, starting September 22, would be assessed on Thursday. Gambhir is nursing a groin injury which forced him to return from the tri-series in Sri Lanka without playing a single match. Squad: Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (capt.), M Vijay, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Kedar Jadhav, Abhinav Mukund, Uday Kaul, Sudeep Tyagi.

[Sachinism]

Good to hear he'll be fit again soon

[Dravid]

sree, irfan will also be in this.. good opp. for them

[ViruRulez]

Bhai when will Veeru be back.. I am missing him now though I hope that he is more polished after his return while at the same time he turns more devastating

[Texy]

SREE and Bhajji in the same team!!!

[Chandan]

Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (capt.), M Vijay, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Kedar Jadhav, Abhinav Mukund, Uday Kaul, Sudeep Tyagi.

Why is there no Ishant Sharma in the ROI squad? Where are Gambhir, Dravid, Yuvraj and Dhoni? Where is Mishra? Why do we not have a strong ROI squad like we had last year? Jadeja, Jadav, Mukund, Kaul...are they good enough to be in a ROI squad? The future looks bleak imo, if they are our best players apart from the domestic champion squad.

[Gambit]

Thankfully ROI won't be up against the dreaded bowling lineup of HP in Irani match.

[Zelig]

Why is there no Ishant Sharma in the ROI squad? Where are Gambhir' date= Dravid, Yuvraj and Dhoni? Where is Mishra? Why do we not have a strong ROI squad like we had last year? Jadeja, Jadav, Mukund, Kaul...are they good enough to be in a ROI squad? The future looks bleak imo, if they are our best players apart from the domestic champion squad.

Wont they be playing in SA? Correct me if I am wrong.

[Chandan]

Wont they be playing in SA? Correct me if I am wrong.

Yes. You're right. CT Final is on 5th October and hence these players won't be available. Result? A terrible ROI squad!!!!

[Mr. Wicket]

Jadeja' date=' Jadav, Mukund, Kaul...are they good enough to be in a ROI squad? The future looks bleak imo, if they are our best players apart from the domestic champion squad.[/quote'] You must be joking. I wouldn't have expected that comment from you given how closely you follow the domestics - Mukund has been one of the most prolific domestic openers, Jadeja has been very consistent for some time now and Uday Kaul has had an excellent start to his f/c career - one of the brighter lights in Punjab for a while now.

[Sooda]

Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (capt.), M Vijay, Virat Kohli, S Badrinath, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Irfan Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), S Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, Kedar Jadhav, Abhinav Mukund, Uday Kaul, Sudeep Tyagi. India Red: Yuvraj Singh (capt.), M Vijay, Sunny Sohal, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishank Jaggi, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Sudeep Tyagi, Munaf Patel, Saurabh Tiwary, Ishant Sharma, Harshad Khadiwale. India Green: Suresh Raina (capt.), Ajinkya Rahane, Tanmay Srivastava, Irfan Pathan, Ravi Inder Singh, S Badrinath, Chetanya Nanda, Parthiv Patel (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Shadab Jakati, L Balaji, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pankaj Singh, Uday Kaul India Blue: MS Dhoni (capt.), Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Jaffer, Jalaj Saxena, Suresh Kumar, Kedar Jadhav, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Naman Ojha, Harbhajan Singh, Siddharth Trivedi, Sreesanth, Ashok Dinda, Dhiraj Goswami ----------------------

[Laaloo]

India Blue FTW

[The Outsider]

Great to see Sehwag back. Pujara is a surprising ommision though. I rate him much higher than Tiwary, though both look like to be carriers of the FTB virus. Nice to see Sreesanth back in the reckoning again. We really need him to pick up his form before the next season given our fast bowling resources. Why isn't Kaif there - he has had two monster domestic seasons in a row? Is Saha that good a keeper though? Does it mean Chotu is out of the reckoning for the near future at least? Has Zaheer been named in the Mumbai squad? Will he be fit by then?

[Sooda]

Yeah.. No Parthiv, thats a bit surprising. Kaifs exclusion merits a thread in its own right :eyedance:

[TaNk]

Miss him @ top of the order. Get Well & Fit S000000n

[kabira]

Great to see Sehwag back. Pujara is a surprising ommision though. I rate him much higher than Tiwary, though both look like to be carriers of the FTB virus. Nice to see Sreesanth back in the reckoning again. We really need him to pick up his form before the next season given our fast bowling resources. Why isn't Kaif there - he has had two monster domestic seasons in a row? Is Saha that good a keeper though? Does it mean Chotu is out of the reckoning for the near future at least? Has Zaheer been named in the Mumbai squad? Will he be fit by then?

well I don't knwo your defination of FTB, But Pujara did played 4th innings knock in Ranji Q/F to chase the target against decent enough attack.

[Sooda]

I think Pujara is still injured, cant see any other reason why he wouldnt be there The challenger teams are quite well balanced with the quality of players in each side gotta give em that

[coffee_rules]

It will interesting to see Mumbai squad for Irani match. Otherwise it will be a boring domestic match.

[Lord]

Why isnt Sehwag in the Challenger series?:dontknow: