ranji season starts tomorrow...

[Rahul]

lots of eyes will be trained on SCG and other usual suspects. wish india_rocks was around. he would actually watch many of the matches and provide inputs. i urge all our desi-based posters to continue that fine tradition. take it easy, R

[King]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... It should work out quite well for Ganguly considering most of the top bowlers are in SA touring. Ravi Shastri echoed similar sentiment and also mentioned there is no point Ganguly coming it at no.5 or no.6 and score. Ganguly has to come at no.3 face the fast bowlers when the ball is new (if a wicket falls of course) and that will truly show his potency as a batter. I quite agree with that view, Ganguly has to go up the order, bat at no.3 or no.4 and score big ones. Gavaskar was of the opinion if Ganguly can muster about 70% of his past batting glory he will be good enough to play for India.

[Predator_05]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... Other players to watch; - Solanki and Kabir Ali - both turning out for Rajasthan this season. Hopefully Solanki will be able to relieve Ajay Jadeja of all that burden he has to carry in scoring runs for their batting lineup. Kabir Ali and Sanjay Gill should be a decent new ball pairing. - Mahesh Rawat - wicketkeeper batsman for Haryana. Scored two hundreds in the Duleep, one of them against Sri Lanka's 'A' team. Has an FC average of 47 and has been a prolific run-scorer since he made his debut back in '03. - Yashpal Singh - i've mentioned him before, but i will do so again just because i think that he might be the next big Indian batting star. He is a run-machine who has been unstoppable in the last 4 seasons, and now that he is playing in the Elite Division his exploits will rightfully receive much more attention and media coverage. He might need to move to one of the "big" teams in order to prove his mettle, but if he continues to amass mountains of runs there is simply no way the selectors can ignore him. Averages well above 50 in BOTH FC and List 'A' cricket.

[Rahul]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... ^^ how about rohit sharma, abid nabi and badrinath (until he is called up for Saffie Tests?? take it easy, R

[Predator_05]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... Everyone here knows about Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, YoMahesh, Abid Nabi, Chawla, Joginder etc. so i didn't bother mentioning them. I have discussed all of them (except Nabi and Chawla) on this forum. The best of that lot is probably Rohit Sharma; who i rate quite highly, and on the many occasions i have seen him play (Challengers, EurAsia Series) he has looked good in fits and starts, but never managed to convert those fifties and short cameos into a good century (or even a significant 70 or 80). In short - he is a good runner between the wickets, plays with soft hands and doesn't hesitate to charge spinners. Not a compulsive boundary hitter either - tends to score more through singles and doubles. He'd make a very good top order batsman if he learns how to manage his innings. Otherwise, he might be another Raina in waiting. Definately one to keep an eye on though.

[Mr. Wicket]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... Local spin talent in Mumbai to watch out for would be Iqbal Abdullah (SLA) and Aniket Redkar (offie). Not tipping them for international success, but they could be seriously useful prospects from a Mumbai POV. Then again, as Powar's been held back in India instead of going to SAF ( :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: :wall: ), they may not get a look in if we go with Powar & Kulkarni.

[Gambit]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... Another one to watch out for is Shahbaz Nadeem from Jharkhand. Quality SLA in the making. Only 17 years old.

[kabira]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... what happened to Amit Mishra??? How is he coming along?

[Predator_05]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... Babyface Parthiv will be captaining Gujarat this season. At the age of 21 !

[dhruvdeepak]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... I would put my vote in for Haryana and Tamil Nadu as the dark horses this season. they have some talented young guys in there - hard-working too. Joginder, Rana, Sunny Singh, Rawat and Mishra form the core of a team that no one takes notice of. Last season, they beat champs UP and took innings points vs a strong Punjab before unfortunately trailing off. i will look forward to a few upsets. Tamil Nadu may not have the bowling resources apart from the new addition of the tall young paceer Yomahesh, but their batting is top class consisting of Badani, Vidyut, Sharath, Badrinath and Dinesh Karthik. the usual favorites will be there: UP with their tremendous breed of players who seem to have the right attitude and ethic, Mumbai of course, and Delhi despite the pathetic DDCA have a good set of consistent batsmen in Dhawan, Chopra, Manhas and Gambhir.

[The Outsider]

Re: ranji season starts tomorrow... Rahul, Ravi: There used to a poster, Arjun, on OTW who was a walking encyclopedia on the Indian domestic scene. Do you guys have his contact? Rohit Sharma does indeed look a very exciting talent but has too much of a frontfoot game at the moment. Needs a couple of domestic seasons before entering the big league else will go the Raina way.