Ranji Trophy 2010-11: Super League

[Chandan]

Ranji Trophy 2010-11 One of the busiest Indian domestic seasons in recent times begins now, with the highlight being the staging of the World Cup and not the Ranji Trophy, the premier national competition. The season, in which a total prize money of Rs 7.14 crore will be on offer, begins with the Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy, the new name for the Corporate Trophy which will be played at various venues in the south of the country, and culminates with the World Cup in February 19-April 2. In between, Australia and New Zealand will tour the country for Test and One-day International series, making it one of the busiest seasons in many years. In all, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will organise 18 national tournaments - 13 for men and juniors and five for women. In other words, there will be 12 tournaments for seniors, with the 77th edition of Ranji Trophy (from November 1 to January 15 being the most coveted competition, and six for juniors during the 214-day long season. Amongst other tournaments, the Irani Cup, Duleep Trophy and NKP Salve Challenger Trophy will keep players busy in a season that ends on March 16 with the final of the Twenty20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Ranji Trophy kings Mumbai, led by last season's winning captain Wasim Jaffer, will try to extend their number of titles to 40. " Every team wants to win and the same will be our policy. Mumbai's first big game is the Irani Trophy (October 1-5) and our aim will be to play well and win it. Unlike Ranji Trophy, where you get many games to play, the Irani Cup is a single game so you have to be in your best form during the match," Jaffer, who has played 31 Tests, told MAIL TODAY . " My aim is to, Insha Allah, win both trophies - the Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup. The effort will be that the team as well as the important players strike form as quickly as possible," said the opener who was recently blessed with a daughter. Former India batsman Pravin Amre will continue as Mumbai coach and the selectors have retained most of the players who turned out last season. But things are not so orderly in Delhi, who lost to Mumbai in the semi-finals last year. Captain Aakash Chopra has left Delhi for Rajasthan and coach Vijay Dahiya has opted out this season, leaving a vacuum at the top. Manoj Prabhakar, who was the team's bowling consultant two years ago, is believed to be ahead in the race to replace Dahiya, but nothing has been finalised. Virat Kohli, who led the side in a few matches last year, is expected to be named captain. But the selectors could also opt for the experience Mithun Manhas. Uttar Pradesh, one of the consistent performers in Ranji Trophy in recent years, have also started their preparations. Coach Gyanendra Pandey is optimistic that his team would perform better than last season with active assistance from support staff. "We have hired a video analyst for the first time and the facility will definitely help the boys," the former India ODI player told Mail Today . Last season's domestic heroes will be looking to extend their form and the youngsters would hope to break into the national team. Manish Pandey (956), Rahul Dravid (909), Ajinkya Rahane (887), Parthiv Patel (813), Jaffer (801) and S Badrinath (800) were in roaring form last year. Talented Pandey, who has shone brightly in twenty20 format, also made headway in the longer format and ended as the top scorer in first- class matches, scoring at 59.75. Parthiv, despite consistent scores and neat work behind the stumps, will again look to displace Dinesh Karthik as the second wicketkeeper in the national team, behind captain MS Dhoni. Badrinath continues to remain in Dravid's shadow despite scoring heavily in domestic tournaments. Cheteshwar Pujara was another youngster who scored heavily (741), but he too failed to break into the national side. Among the bowlers, pacers R Vinay Kumar (53) and Abhimanyu Mithun (52) finished atop. Both were rewarded with India caps - Vinay in ODIs and Mithun in Tests. Interestingly, there was a big gap between Mithun and the rest of bowlers in terms of wickets captured. In the new season, the challengers will try to narrow the gap with the leaders in both bowling and batting. PREVIEW Akash Chopra has given a preview from a players' point of view: Mumbai favourites to clinch Ranji Trophy again Yet another Ranji season is at my door-step. It has been 13 years since I have been playing this championship. As I sit to write on Ranji Trophy, several thoughts come pouring into my mind. It is rightly said that the best moments can be cherished only in retrospect. I can still vividly remember the day when I first began my journey as a first class cricketer. It seems as if it happened just a few days back. Over the years, it has been a journey not only of great joys and learnings, but also of trials and tribulations which every cricketer has to go through to touch the pinnacle. In fact, the domestic season is everything for an aspiring cricketer. While a good season would see him knocking the doors of Team India and getting an IPL deal, a bad one can ruin his chances forever. Hence the endeavour during the off-season is not to leave any stone unturned with regards to the preparation. There is an old adage that says ‘it’s better to prevent and prepare than repent and repair.’ Till the advent of the IPL, Ranji trophy was the only platform available to the Indian cricketers to showcase their talent. A batsman would try to achieve the elusive four figure mark of a 1000-run and a bowler would bowl his heart out to score his half-century of wickets. Both are equally difficult tasks but if you can achieve it, you stand a good chance of making it into the Indian Team. We have several examples in our hands where just one brilliant season opened up the doors of the national cricket team for younger players, who were unknown to the cricketing fraternity till then. Take a look at Abhimanyu Mithun; no one knew him before the previous Ranji season. But he is into the Indian cricket team, riding on the success of a superb performance of a single season. When we talk about Ranji trophy, one can’t end the discussion without mentioning the invincible Mumbai team. They have won this championship a record number of 38 times. Mumbai have always been a powerhouse of Indian cricket. Some fine cricketers including Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar are the products of the great cricketing culture that Mumbai boast of. They have a strong work ethics and an even stronger legacy to reach the summit. This time, too, Mumbai are the favourites to clinch Ranji Trophy. Their biggest advantage is that the core unit has been the same for quite some time that helps them to win not only tight matches but also crucial phases. In addition to that, the tracks in Mumbai, both at Wankhede and CCI, have produced results and hence have helped them to garner crucial points which also allow them to concede a few points here and there, a luxury no other team enjoys. Among the other teams, Uttar Pradesh have been doing consistently well while Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have emerged as stronger units. Like always, Delhi too would be one of the contenders for the post. Karnataka have always been a talented unit, but if they lack anything it is the competitive spirit. Rahul Dravid’s presence made the difference last season where they excelled in all three departments. But their problem area could be the spin department once Sunil Joshi calls it a day. UP are another extremely talented unit which plays together as a team. Like Mumbai they have more or less the same team for quite some time. Their batting might be a little iffy at times but have the bowling to make up for it. Having two good spinners in Piyush Chawla and Praveen Gupta along with four quality seam bowlers in Praveen Kumar, Sudeep Tyagi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and RP Singh, UP form a deadly bowling combo that help them win games on almost all surfaces. The tag of perennial underachievers got stuck with my former team Delhi for the longest time. Another team which boast of great talent and fair amount of representation in the Indian team, Delhi failed to make ripples at the domestic level regularly. But everything changed in 2007-08 season when we won the Ranji trophy and also qualified for the semis in the last season. Apart from these teams, it’s really difficult for a dark horse to win the Ranji trophy. There might be a few unknown teams who’d do well but it’s doubtful that anyone of them would go the distance. But still if I have to put my money on a dark horse, I’d have a closer look at all the squads and choose the team with enough firepower in the bowling department to take 20 wickets on a regular basis. Every Ranji season gives birth to some new and exciting talents for India. So, besides the obvious names, I’d be looking out for Delhi’s Vikas Mishra, Mumbai’s Harmeet Singh and other young spinners to come to the fore. It would be great if some of these young spinners make it big this season. A lot of people, including my friends in media, keep asking me the reasons behind my decision to leave Delhi for Rajasthan this season. Believe me, there is no ill-feeling towards anyone. I still cherish the days I played for Delhi. In fact, it is for Delhi that I realized my dreams of seeing my name in the list of Team Indian. But like in life, in sports too, one needs to find new challenges to keep himself motivated. It’s the only reason I decided to take the plunge. Staying at Delhi for yet another season would have been an easier option but moving out would take me out of my comfort zone and that’s what I wanted this season. If playing for India is all about making lots and lots of runs, how does it matter if the runs were scored for Delhi, Rajasthan or any other state? DRAW OF 2010-2011 Group A Group B Delhi Himachal Pradesh Bengal Haryana Mumbai Baroda Saurashtra Orissa Railways UP Gujarat Punjab TamilNadu Karnataka Assam

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Wasim Jaffer retained as Mumbai captain More... Wasim Jaffer retained as Mumbai captain Cricinfo staff July 31, 2010 Former India opener Wasim Jaffer has been retained as Mumbai captain for the 2010-2011 Ranji Trophy. Jaffer, who is currently playing club cricket in England, led Mumbai to the title last season, beating Karnataka by six runs in a thrilling final that showcased all that is good about the five-day game. Mumbai has yet to lose a game under Jaffer and are the two-time defending champions. The provisional squad includes 10 out of the 11 men that played in last season's final. The missing man is wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant, who quit the team earlier this year in the hopes of prolonging his first-class career with another team. Aditya Tare, the 22-year-old who has only played one first-class match, could be in line to replace him. Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan have also been named in the provisional side. Mumbai Ranji Trophy squad: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Iqbal Abdulla, Ajinkya Rahane, Dhawal Kulkarni,Onkar Khanvilkar, Sahil Kukreja, Aavishkar Salvi, Siddharth Chitnis, Sufiyan Shaikh, Harmeet Singh, Usman Malvi, Prashant Naik, Vikrant Yeligatti, Omkar Gurav, Ramesh Powar, Parag Khanapurkar, Suryakumar Yadav, Aquib Shaikh, Murtuza Hussain, Javed Khan, Sushant Marathe, Nikhil Patil (Sr.), Saurabh Netravalkar, Sujit Nayak, Kaustubh Pawar, Praful Waghela, Santosh Shinde, Aditya Tare (wk

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Ranji opener : Mumbai-Assam tie at refurbished Wankhede Stadium Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has decided to stage the inaugural Ranji Trophy match at the refurbished Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 24 between defending champions Mumbai and Assam in the Elite League. More... Mumbai-Assam Ranji tie at refurbished Wankhede Stadium August 28, 2010 Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has decided to stage the inaugural Ranji Trophy match at the refurbished Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on November 24 between defending champions Mumbai and Assam in the Elite League. "It was decided yesterday [Friday] at our managing committee meeting that the first first class fixture that would be played at the Wankhede Stadium would be the Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Assam beginning November 24," said MCA joint secretary Lalchand Rajput on Saturday. Rajput said that things are progressing well in the refurbishment of the stadium which is undergoing renovation mostly on the east side and south side. "We are planning to play some more matches till December 31 when we have to hand over the stadium to the ICC (International Cricket Council) for the World Cup. Our first fixture in the World Cup (Sri Lanka v New Zealand) is on March 18," the former India and Mumbai opener said. The total projected cost of the renovation work, that includes a state-of-the-art air-conditioned media box on the north side of the stadium to accommodate 250 scribes, is Rs 280 crore, he said. Rajput said giant scoreboards would be provided by the ICC on rent during the World Cup while the capacity of the stadium would be cut by 4000 seats following the renovation. "The capacity would be 34,000. Earlier it was 38,000," he explained.

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Ranji 2010-11 : Rayudu to play for Baroda in Ranji More... Rayudu to play for Baroda in Ranji Special Correspondent HYDERABAD: Ambati Rayudu's cricketing journey has taken another dramatic turn with the exciting batsman, who played for Mumbai Indians in the Champions League T-20 in South Africa last week, will not play for Hyderabad anymore. “Rayudu has taken the No Objection Certificate (NOC) yesterday by saying that he will in all probability be playing for Baroda which will start its campaign against Orissa from November 1 in the forthcoming Ranji Trophy season,” a senior Hyderabad Cricket Association official informed The Hindu. “There are no specific reasons suggested in his letter seeking the NOC and we had already handed it over to him,” he added. This development has come as a surprise for Rayudu himself has strongly denied only three weeks ago that he was planning to move out of Hyderabad this season. “I am shocked that some are spreading these reports. I will play for Hyderabad only and there are no second thoughts in this regard,” he remarked then. But, within days after his arrival, Rayudu decided to change his pronounced stand and prefer to play for team which is in the Super League. This decision has been taken after consulting his ‘friends and well-wishers' in the Mumbai Indians too, it is said.

[saneindian]

His relations with Shivlal Yadav, the HCA secretary has never been good. In fact due to Yadav's poor behaviour and open nepotism in promoting his son Arjun Yadav, most of the Hyderabad plyers moved to ICL when the opportunity came. Hopefully the move to Baroda will help him settle down in a Ranji team and give good performances to come in the reckoning for national selection again.

[The Dark Horse]

Yea, that way he'll be in the "catchment area" for Mumbai Indians.

[Sir john]

Ranji Trophy 2010-11: Super League good move by him.

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Third umpire in all domestic matches : BCCI The use of the third umpire in India won't be restricted to international and a handful of televised domestic matches anymore. Atreyo Mukhopadhyay/Nikhilesh Bhattacharya report. More... Third umpire in all domestic matches Atreyo Mukhopadhyay/Nikhilesh Bhattacharya, Hindustan Times Kolkata, October 13, 2010 The use of the third umpire in India won't be restricted to international and a handful of televised domestic matches anymore. Thanks to an initiative by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), all matches under its purview including those featuring women and juniors (U-16, U-19 and U-22) will see the on-field umpires refer certain decisions to the third umpire. The new system has already been introduced, through first-round matches of the national U-22 championship for the C.K. Nayudu Trophy, which got underway at different venues across India on Monday. As of now, only run out, stumping and hit-wicket decisions can be referred to the third umpire. Six cameras will be used for Ranji Trophy games and four for other matches. The practice of recording all domestic matches has been in place for a few years. Till now, the recordings were used to detect flawed bowling actions and keep track of umpiring decisions. While the bowling actions are studied at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore, each venue has a former umpire designated as umpires' coach, who evaluates the performance of the officials. This umpires' coach will now double as third umpire when the on-field umpires feel the need. There will be no red or green lights like in international matches. The third umpire will wave a red flag to signal ‘out', a green flag to say ‘not out' and a white flag to convey that replays are inconclusive. In case of the third, the on-field umpires will have to take a decision. "In several matches, there are some close calls which become crucial in the end. So we have decided to introduce the concept of third umpire in all domestic matches to ensure that we get correct decisions," the BCCI's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty told HT from Mumbai on Tuesday. The BCCI has already supplied eight cameras to each of the 27 associations, which play Ranji Trophy, at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore. To ensure smooth operation, the BCCI has had to make sure that the quality of the equipment is up to the mark and that there are enough trained video analysts, who set up the cameras, lay the cables and control the monitor. "We are continuing the process of training people and at the moment, we have about 60 trained video analysts. People, in fact, have started taking this as a career option," said Shetty. The second day of the Bengal-Karnataka U-22 match in Kolkata saw two run-out decisions being referred to the third umpire. One of them was ruled out by umpires' coach Subrata Banerjee.

[Mamu]

Prabhakar aims to transform Delhi http://www.cricinfo.com/indiandomestic2010/content/story/482453.html God Save Delhi Cricket ! In fact I would even go the extent of saying -- Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli and Dhawan -- pack your bags and move. Friggin move to Jharkhand -- which is better than Delhi !

[Lord]

:WTF: how r these guys allowed near anthing anything involving cricket

[cowboysfan]

BCCI is turning into PCB.this is unacceptable to say the least.the senior players should boycott delhi until he is removed as a coach.

[SachDan]

DDCA is the most corrupt cricket body in the country. Last year players of the stature of Sehwag and Gambhir threatened to play for different states sighting corruption and indifferent selection policies. Few months back one of Delhi's long serving player Aakash Chopra moved to Rajasthan still those bastards at DDCA seems to have learnt nothing and appointing a cheat like Prabhakar as coach might tempt other 'good' players to follow Chopra.

[kabira]

He may help Delhi bowlers. He is not a bad coach, last time they won the Ranji when he was bowling coach.

[Ram]

Is he still in India! :omg: I thought he would absconded to London/middle east with all the match-fixing/Undercover Tehelka operation money that he got. But hey, If Azhar can now become MP, why cant Prabhakar become Delhi’s coach? :wall:

[Cricketics]

He might have done a crime. Okay.. He faced the ban for it. Everyone do crap things. He deserved what he got. You can't keep cursing a person forever. He didn't do any murder to be cursed forever. Prabhakar, still to me was one of the best Indian bowlers ever to play the game. The way he used to bowl those banana swings etc. If he can bring that to bowlers like Sangwan etc, then no harm.

[triam]

^^ Disagree tics, there are certain crimes that can be never forgiven, I am not saying keep him in jail forever, he cannot be an official coach in Cricket, and in reality a Coach has to be a respected individual, which Indian can respect Prabhakar?

[Raghav_12]

I think there should be no place for players tainted so badly. Don't we learn anything from the mess PCB in? There are some issues which fall in absolute no-tolerance zone.

[Mamu]

He might have done a crime. Okay.. He faced the ban for it. Everyone do crap things. He deserved what he got. You can't keep cursing a person forever. He didn't do any murder to be cursed forever. Prabhakar, still to me was one of the best Indian bowlers ever to play the game. The way he used to bowl those banana swings etc. If he can bring that to bowlers like Sangwan etc, then no harm.

I don't care about his Match Fixing. I am just talking about Prabhakar the character. He is a bloody goon in the Delhi Political Circles, has got no moral values, no discipline in his own life and a very very bad role model. How on the bloody earth could he be a coach , where players look up to him for advice ? IN fact I wouldn't be surprised if he starts introducing nepotism to select players he likes. As it is Delhi Cricket is in bad hands with Chetan Chauhan(not sure if he still around) who is not even fit to run his own house -- let alone a Cricket Organization, Prabhakar is only going to add to the woes. I hope I am proven wrong. I hope he is a changed man !

[The Outsider]

I don't care about his Match Fixing. I am just talking about Prabhakar the character. He is a bloody goon in the Delhi Political Circles, has got no moral values, no discipline in his own life and a very very bad role model. How on the bloody earth could he be a coach , where players look up to him for advice ? IN fact I wouldn't be surprised if he starts introducing nepotism to select players he likes. As it is Delhi Cricket is in bad hands with Chetan Chauhan(not sure if he still around) who is not even fit to run his own house -- let alone a Cricket Organization, Prabhakar is only going to add to the woes. I hope I am proven wrong. I hope he is a changed man !

Agree with this. The main problem I have against Prabhakar is completely unrelated to his match fixing escapades. He has been a corrupt individual in all aspects of life, and to appoint someone with as dubious a history as his as the coach of one of India's cricketing hot spots does not make sense, or maybe it does?

[jf1gp_1]

Would we ask Kalmadi to run the show if India were to get Olympics ?? NOO . Match fixer like him shouldnt be allowed anywhere close to any team.