Irani Trophy , 2012

[Chandan]

Preview: Depleted Rajasthan take on Rest of India in Irani Cup Sidhanta Patnaik · Bangalore · Sep 20, 2012 · The Irani Cup, which was known as Irani Trophy till 2007-08, will be played twice this season as part of the BCCI technical committee's decision to revamp the domestic cricket structure. From Friday, the Rest of India, led by Cheteshwar Pujara, will meet Rajasthan, the defending Ranji Trophy champions, in the traditional curtain-raiser to the Indian season. Early next year, the 2012-13 Ranji champions will play Rest of India again. From 2013-14 onwards, The Irani Cup will revert to being a once-yearly affair, but played at the end of the season. The last time the Rest of India side featured so many internationals was in 2008-09, when Anil Kumble led the team to a 187-run victory over Delhi. There have been questions about the relevance of the fixture for over a decade. Since 2000, 15 batsmen have scored a total of 21 centuries, while 15 bowlers have taken five wickets or more in an innings. Barring VVS Laxman, who scored back-to-back centuries for Rest of India in 2000 and 2001, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan and, to a certain extent, R Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, the other Irani headline-makers have neither got the breaks nor proved themselves in the Test arena over a period of time. However, with the national team in transition, and another eight Test matches to be played at home by March 2013, the 51st Irani Cup offers plenty of opportunities. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag last shared a century stand at Centurion in December 2010. Neither has scored a Test century since. Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and Abhinav Mukund will sooner or later be the subject of a new selection committee's discussions. While Mukund is in New Zealand captaining India A, the remaining three, along with Pujara, Subramaniam Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik and Wriddhiman Saha provide Rest of India with an abundance of batting options. Yusuf Pathan and Stuart Binny, the two allrounders, will also be eager to prove a point or two, if given a chance to play. Dhawan, who was the match winner for Rest of India last season with twin centuries, had an excellent Indian Premier League with Deccan Chargers, but lost ground after a poor series for India A in West Indies. A good beginning will put him back on the main track, a script similar to that in Vijay's hands. Also under observation is Robin Bist, the Rajasthan batsman who topped the domestic batting chart last season, but whose Caribbean tour was ruined by a broken finger. India's search for a pool of sharp fast bowlers to lessen Zaheer Khan's workload will resume as another season begins. Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma and Abhimanyu Mithun have all played Tests, with varying degrees of success. Parvinder Awana gets a chance to join that club. Rajasthan will be without Pankaj Singh, who is suffering from a knee injury, and Rituraj Singh, who picked up a total of 26 wickets in Ranji Trophy last season, including of 12 for 82 in the semifinal against Haryana. He and Ashok Menaria are on tour with the India A team in New Zealand. Deepak Chahar is back however, after missing most of Rajasthan's last campaign because of jaundice. After a sensational entry into first-class cricket, with figures of eight for 10 against Hyderabad in November 2010, Chahar will have his work cut out, against a strong Rest of India batting unit. Among the spinners, Harmeet Singh, the left-arm spinner who was part of the Under-19 World Cup-winning side, will be exposed to a dressing room that includes more than ten Indian internationals. With Ojha, who bagged nine wickets in last seasonÃÔ Irani Cup match, in the ranks and Pujara likely to opt for a three-seamer attack, itÃÔ unlikely that Harmeet will get to play. History is against Rajasthan, who have won consecutive Ranji titles. From 2000 onwards, Rest of India have won the trophy ten times, often in emphatic fashion. In 2003-04, Dravid and Zaheer fashioned a three-wicket win. Last year, they beat Rajasthan by 404 runs in Jaipur. As much as winning the trophy, the priority for Rajasthan is to get their combination right before the Ranji season. Aakash Chopra and Vineet Saxena's 236-run partnership, during which they played out 104 overs, laid the foundation for their victory against Tamil Nadu in the final last January. In the absence of Chopra, who will be representing Himachal Pradesh from this season, young Ankit Lamba has a chance to establish himself. In the last 12 Irani Cup outings, the team winning the toss has batted first nine times. On seven occasions, the team batting second has won the contest. If Rajasthan get to take first strike, then they will rely on their tested method of batting for long hours to gain the upper hand. For that to fructify, it will need Saxena, Bist, Kanitkar and Rashmi Ranjan Parida to play lead roles. However, on the Bangalore pitch, which has a bit of grass for this encounter, the application of that formula may not be easy. Squads: Rest of India: Cheteshwar Pujara ©, Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane, Subramaniam Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik, Wriddhiman Saha, Yusuf Pathan, Pragyan Ojha, Parvinder Awana, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Stuart Binny, Abhimanyu Mithun, Harmeet Singh. Rajasthan: Hrishikesh Kanitkar ©, Dishant Yagnik, Aniket Choudhary, Ankit Lamba, Vineet Saxena, Sumeet Mathur, Gajendra Singh, Madhur Khatri, Deepak Chahar, Raman Chahar, Robin Bisht, Arijit Gupta, Vaibhav Deshpande, Puneet Yadav, Rashmi Ranjan Parida.

[msb1991]

Let's hope no rain and a good pitch. Performance here is crucial.

[1983-2011]

Match facts September 21-25, Bangalore Start time 0930 IST (0400GMT) Big Picture The last time the Indian domestic season's curtain-raiser, the Irani Cup, commanded serious national attention was back in 2008, when Sourav Ganguly was famously omitted from a Rest of India side that was close to being a full-strength India team. Every year since then the Irani Cup has clashed either with an international series or, in the case of last season, with the Champions League Twenty20. This year, cricket fans' attention is firmly on the World Twenty20 where the country's biggest stars are, and with an India A squad currently touring New Zealand, several other Test hopefuls will be missing from the Irani Cup. Still, the Rest of India side has six members of the Test squad that recently faced New Zealand, and start overwhelming favourites to retain a trophy they have won in each of the last six years. There is also Wriddhiman Saha, India's back-up Test wicketkeeper, and Dinesh Karthik has been picked ahead of Parthiv Patel, who captained Rest of India last season. Opener Shikhar Dhawan will have fond memories of last year's Irani Cup, after hitting 150-plus in both innings, and will have to turn in something similar to return to the selectors' attention after a poor A tour of the Caribbean. With domestic run-machines Cheteshwar Pujara, S Badrinath and Ajinkya Rahane also in the Rest of India line-up, Rajasthan have a huge challenge ahead. To make matters worse, they are missing several key players. One of the rocks of their top order, Aakash Chopra, has moved on to Himachal Pradesh, and two of their brightest young talents - middle-order batsman Ashok Menaria and fast bowler Rituraj Singh (26 wickets in four Ranji matches last season) - are with the A side in New Zealand. Their captain Hrishikesh Kanitkar said the side had the talent to cope with the losses. "Aakash Chopra was an important part of the team right from seeing off the new ball to making big runs. But his absence gives an opportunity to a youngster. Ankit Lamba is the man for the job. He has done very well so far." If all that was enough of a challenge, Rajasthan have also lost their home advantage, as heavy rains forced the match out of Jaipur. Players to watch Ishant Sharma was fast-tracked into the Test side when still a teenager, and after a fruitful tour of Australia in 2007-08, India seemed to have discovered a top-quality fast bowler. It hasn't quite gone to plan for Ishant, though despite almost always being a part of the XI since then. He seemed to have got his mojo back after a successful tour of West Indies last year, but forgettable series followed during the nightmarish visits to England and Australia. He is yet to play top-flight cricket after a lengthy lay-off due to an ankle surgery, and has lost his starting spot in the Test side to Umesh Yadav. With eight home Tests coming up, and India likely to field only two quicks in most of those, he needs to perform here to remind the new set of selectors of his ability. At 32, time is running out for S Badrinath. For ages he has been one of the most consistent batsmen on the domestic circuit, but kept out first by India's legendary middle-order quartet, and then by younger challengers. His most recent India chance came during the Caribbean visit in June last year, where he began with a Man-of-the-Match performance in the Twenty20 (his only India match in the format), before failing three times in the one-dayers to again find himself on the sidelines. Recalled to the national squad after VVS Laxman's retirement last month, he has to score big if he wants to grab the No. 6 spot from Suresh Raina. Left-arm spinner Harmeet Singh was one of the stars of India's recent Under-19 World Cup victory, and came in for high praise for his performance, none higher than Ian Chappell's comment that Harmeet was "the best spin bowler in any Test side bar England". That compliment sits oddly with Harmeet's struggle to get a first-class game: with Mumbai already having two left-arm spinners in Ankeet Chavan and Iqbal Abdulla, Harmeet has played only three first-class matches so far, despite debuting nearly three years ago. Even in the Irani squad, there is a senior left-arm spinner in Pragyan Ojha ahead of him. Will he get a game? Pitch and conditions Both captains had similar views on the nature of the track at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Cheteshwar Pujara, who played in the Bangalore Test earlier this month, said: "Looking at the wicket, we will go for three fast bowlers. There will be help for the fast bowlers in the initial couple of days as we saw in the Test match and it might turn later on." Kanitkar also said Rajasthan would look at a similar bowling line-up: "It will definitely help seam bowling. It has a bit of grass on it. But it is a wicket that supports fair cricket. We will also field three seamers." Quotes "We are playing a domestic match after a long time. For those who have not played Tests and ODIs recently, it is an opportunity to keep in touch with the game and start performing and get confidence out of this match." Pujara on the importance of the Irani Cup match "A couple of seasons back, Rajasthan have never won the Ranji for 76 years. So this record is not that imposing, it is just 10 years old. Hopefully, we will be able to win it this time." Kanitkar on being told that Rest of India have only lost twice this century

I thought this would be the official match thread but its been merged, i know its not creative but then Irani trophy is not an IPL either

[rkt.india]

Is this live?

[saneindian]

No coverage by ESPN-Star? Looks like Cricinfo is not doing any live commentary eithe. They do have a score update though.

[Magneto]

Awana OUT, Harmeet playing. No Dhawan or Yousuf, Binny playing. :hmmm: Rajasthan batting.

[saneindian]

All of Cheeka's boys Vijay, DK, Badri in the 11 for ROI. Awana missed out on a supposedly greenish pitch.

[Magneto]

I'm watching the match

[saneindian]

I'm watching the match

At Chinnaswamy or on TV?

[Magneto]

All of Cheeka's boys Vijay' date=' DK, Badri in the 11 for ROI. Awana missed out on a supposedly greenish pitch.[/quote'] Both teams playing with two spinners.

[Magneto]

At Chinnaswamy or on TV?

ESPN :good:

[Raghav_12]

Bowlingwise they have fielded best possible combination - Ishant, Umesh, Ojha and Harmeet. Awana could have been in place of Harmeet. But if they decided for two spin and two fast, then no complains. In batting, Yousuf left out rightfully, but what Binny is doing there? Ridiculous. As an opener I would have preferred Dhawan instead of Vijay, but anyways both are crap choices. I am fine with KKD's selection as batsman. I somehow feel he didn't get enough chances in playing eleven.

[saneindian]

Binny perhaps playing as the seam bowling all rounder. Had a very good last season both with bat and ball.

[sreej]

ESPN :good:

Is that the same as Star Cricket?

[saneindian]

Ishant has a wicket. Dada, any idea what speeds is he bowling at?

[Magneto]

Is that the same as Star Cricket?

ESPN and Star Cricket are two different channels. Star Cricket is busy showing Rameez Raja's interview presently. :hehe:

[Magneto]

Ishant has a wicket. Dada' date=' any idea what speeds is he bowling at?[/quote'] Speeds are not being shown :(( But fitness wise, Ishant is looking pretty good and is getting some decent swing. The delivery which took out Saxena was a gem.

[sreej]

ESPN and Star Cricket are two different channels. Star Cricket is busy showing Rameez Raja's interview presently. :hehe:

Lol... OK. Thanks for clearing that up. Trying to figure out a way to watch it online... if you know what I mean ;) Can't believe BCCI isn't showing it on their website. Didn't they broadcast domestic games last season for free?

[Magneto]

Bowlingwise they have fielded best possible combination - Ishant' date=' Umesh, Ojha and Harmeet. Awana could have been in place of Harmeet. But if they decided for two spin and two fast, then no complains. In batting, Yousuf left out rightfully, but what Binny is doing there? Ridiculous. As an opener I would have preferred Dhawan instead of Vijay, but anyways both are crap choices. I am fine with KKD's selection as batsman. I somehow feel he didn't get enough chances in playing eleven.[/quote'] Binny is competing for a spot with Yousuf here. If you drop both, would you go in with 10 men? :hmmm: Binny did extremely well in the last Ranji season both with the bat and the ball and has rightfully claimed his place. Also, Dhawan has done zilch in the FC format in the entire last year :hehe: Meanwhile, Ishant takes out Saxena with a super delivery :good:

[Magneto]

Lol... OK. Thanks for clearing that up. Trying to figure out a way to watch it online... if you know what I mean ;) Can't believe BCCI isn't showing it on their website. Didn't they broadcast domestic games last season for free?

Only after they kicked Neo out and was left with no broadcaster. The makhhichoos BCCI will not give anyone anything for free. :hehe: