Duleep Trophy, 2007-08

[Chandan]

The Duleep Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition played in India between teams representing geographical zones of India. The competition is named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji (also known as "Duleep"). It was started by the Indian board in 1961-62 as a zonal rather than a state first-class competition. The original format was that five teams, drawn from the five zones - North Zone, South Zone, East Zone, West Zone and Central Zone - played each other on a knock-out basis. From 1993-94 the competition converted to a league format. In 2002-03 the zonal teams were replaced by five new sides - Elite A, Elite B, Elite C, Plate A and Plate B but this lasted for only one season as it was felt that the new teams lacked a sense of identity. From 2003-04 the zones returned and an overseas guest side was included. The first was England A. Composition of teams: Each zonal team is a composite team of cricketers who play for the Ranji Trophy state/city teams situated in that region of India. The teams which compose each zone are as follows: North Zone Delhi Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Punjab Services South Zone Andhra Goa Hyderabad Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu Central Zone Madhya Pradesh Railways Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Vidarbha East Zone Assam Bengal Jharkhand Orissa Tripura West Zone Baroda Gujarat Maharashtra Mumbai Saurashtra From the 2003-04 season onwards, a guest team has competed as a sixth team in the Duleep Trophy. Season Guest Team 2003-04 England A 2004-05 Bangladesh 2005-06 Zimbabwe Cricket Union President's XI 2006-07 Sri Lanka A 2007-08 England Lions England Lions set to play Duleep Trophy , 2007-08 Cricinfo staff November 28, 2007 England Lions, or England A are all set to be the foreign team in this season's Duleep Trophy. England A, incidentally, were the first foreign team to play the Duleep Trophy when the concept first came into existence in the 2003-04 season. Niranjan Shah, the BCCI Honorary Secretary, confirmed that talks were on and that the ECB had "more or less agreed" to send the team for the Duleep Trophy. The ECB, in fact, looks at it as an opportunity for its fringe players to get exposure in the sub-continent conditions, the London-based Daily Telegraph reported. The official confirmation is likely to come by Thursday. In 2003-04, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior and Sajid Mahmood toured with the England A team, who lost both their matches outright to East Zone and South Zone.

[Chandan]

Zonal squads are the most confusing for me this time. There are many players included who have done absolutely nothing for their teams in the current season, nor do they have great reputation of being a domestic giant in the past. For example Samad Fallah in the WZ squad. Just take a look at his stats and tell me why he has been chosen in the best 15 members from his zone, if you find a reason. Secondly, have they announced who are the skippers of the respective zones? Anyway here is the total squad for the tournament: West Zone South Zone North Zone East Zone Central Zone England Lions

[Chandan]

BCCI makes venue changes in Duleep Trophy programme Cricinfo staff December 16, 2007 The Indian board has revised the Duleep Trophy programme by making a few changes in the venues. The tournament, featuring the five zones and England Lions team, will be held in West Zone centres as scheduled from January 26 to February 23, 2008, according to BCCI's Cricket Operations manager Suru Nayak. "There are a few changes. The opening tie between North Zone and South Zone is to be held at Ahmedabad instead of Vadodara, the East v South match has been shifted from Ahmedabad to Mumbai and the England Lions v Central match has been moved from Mumbai to Vadodara." The revised schedule is: Jan 26-29, 2008: North Zone v South Zone at Ahmedabad; West Zone v Central Zone at Rajkot Feb 3-6: East v South at Mumbai; England Lions v Central at Vadodara Feb 11-14: North v East at Rajkot; England Lions v West at Vadodara Feb 19-23: Final at Mumbai.

[theguyinallblue]

all these games are in western part of India....no matches in Delhi? Mohali ?

[Mr. Wicket]

Zonal squads are the most confusing for me this time. There are many players included who have done absolutely nothing for their teams in the current season' date=' nor do they have great reputation of being a domestic giant in the past. [/quote'] Yup... they've picked too many guys on 'look' or reputation or youth performances... traditionally the Duleep has been a series where teams are picked on Ranji form, and it should stay that way - otherwise the quality dips. Look at North Zone's offie allrounder - four f/c games and a ridiculously high average. Amol Muzumdar doesn't crack the WZ squad btw, yet Rahane (not as consistent/impressive over the season) does... just shows that all of the selectors are gunning more for young names and people who they think are possible India names, rather than picking the best sides. :wall:

[Dravid]

GG is going to aus, so y take up a spot for some1 who aint gonna be there

[Chandan]

Yup... they've picked too many guys on 'look' or reputation or youth performances... traditionally the Duleep has been a series where teams are picked on Ranji form, and it should stay that way - otherwise the quality dips. Look at North Zone's offie allrounder - four f/c games and a ridiculously high average. :wall:

You must be talking about this fellow: Punjab's offie's selection defies logic Charanjeet Singh, the Punjab offspinner, must have had his peers marvelling at his good fortune. The 18-year-old from Amritsar made it to the Ranji Trophy in his debut season, played four matches, and then walked into the North Zone team for Duleep Trophy. All this sounds impressive until one takes a glance at the statistics that guaranteed him a place in the Duleep Trophy: the debutant spinner picked up just four wickets and scored 160 runs. Surprisingly, the selectors found him good enough for Duleep Trophy, which normally comprises top performers from Ranji Trophy Bhupinder Singh Sr, national selector and zonal selection committee chairman (North), however, defended his selection, saying there was a paucity of spinners at the national level and they had to push forward whatever talent was available. But if we don't have spinners meriting a place in the squad, then why pick one with just four wickets under his belt? Instead, why not pick a more deserving seamer or even a batsman? "We don't have any left arm spinner and off-spinner breaking through in North Zone and elsewhere. So we (the national selectors) felt that we need to push through some spinners so that we can have a pool. We inducted him keeping in mind the larger picture," he said. "Besides, there was no other off-spinner on view in the zone; he appeared the best to us and he was selected," explained the selector. No matter how convincing the reasoning, the fact that someone with only four wickets gets into a zonal team that far better performers cannot make the cut to, will obviously lead to uncomfortable questions. It doesn't seem fair.

[Mr. Wicket]

I was talking about him, just couldn't remember his name and couldn't be arsed to look it up. :D

[Chandan]

A return to past splendour Cricinfo staff January 25, 2008 Duleep Trophy, after three seasons of being the season kick-off tournament, has got back its due status: of a tournament played after the Ranji Trophy in which the season's best players compete. It is back to the 75 best players outside the Indian side taking up the unique challenge of competing through zonal teams made up of the best from various states in the respective zones. To add to the competition, England Lions will be the visiting team this year. Cricinfo takes a look at the build-up of the six teams. Pankaj Singh, who took 26 wickets in five Ranji matches, will lead Central Zone's pace attack in the Duleep Trophy © Cricinfo Ltd Central Zone Last time Mohammad Kaif led the Central Zone side, they won the Duleep Trophy in 2004-05. By the semi-final stage of the Ranji Trophy this year, Kaif - by then certain to be the Central Zone captain - would have quite enviably started thinking how to utilise the most potent attack in the country: pace bowlers - Praveen Kumar, Sudeep Tyagi, Pankaj Singh and Sanjay Bangar, and spinners - Piyush Chawla, Murali Kartik and Praveen Gupta. Following the Ranji final, some of the confusion must have cleared as Kumar and Chawla have been released to join the Indian team for the ODIs in Australia. But the attack, even without the two, should pose a threat to most of the batting line-ups. In Tyagi and Bangar, they have the leading wicket-takers from the Super and Plate Leagues respectively. Pankaj, before leaving for Australia, had taken 26 wickets from five matches. If the Centrals Zone's bowling attack is enviable, Kaif is left with the unenviable task, just like with Uttar Pradesh, of leading an unproven batting line-up. Apart from him and Tanmay Srivastava, centurion in the Ranji final, Rajasthan's Robin Bist and Vineet Saxena are the only two batsmen from the Super League. Harshad Rawle scored a century in the Plate final. The batting is yet to look the strongest, but if they can give their bowlers enough runs they could go close to repeating the success of 2004-05 - Kaif, Bangar, Kartik and Naman Ojha were members of that side too. England Lions In 2003-04 when India started the experiment of inviting one foreign team to play the Duleep Trophy, England 'A' were the first visitors. A team that comprised of Kevin Pietersen, Simon Jones, Matt Prior and Sajid Mahmood lost both their matches outright, including a successful 503-run chase by South Zone. The Lions, who play Central Zone and West Zone in the league stage, will want to improve on the precedent. Monty Panesar, this year, is their biggest player, and should generate a lot of interest. Apart from Panesar, their captain Michael Yardy, wicketkeeper James Foster, Ed Joyce, and Liam Plunkett have been in and around the England team for quite a while. Apart from Panesar, who will most likely tour India for Tests later this year, upcoming pace bowlers like Graham Onions will cherish this opportunity of playing in subcontinent conditions. North Zone Delhi, the Ranji champions, deservedly dominate the North Zone's line-up with six players, but the defending champions will be depleted because of the absence of their key players. Gautam Gambhir, off for the ODIs in Australia, and Pradeep Sangwan and Virat Kohli, representing India in the Under-19 World Cup, also would have made it easily. Aakash Chopra, whose 188 in the last year's final secured North Zone the trophy, and Shikhar Dhawan will make a dangerous opening combination. Mithun Manhas, Punjab's Uday Kaul, Services' Yashpal Singh and Himachal Pradesh's Paras Dogra will make up the middle order. Rajat Bhatia, easily the most valuable player this Ranji season with 525 runs and 26 wickets, including a big century when Delhi were 36 for 4 in the final, will be just the perfect No. 6 for them. In Sangwan's absence, North Zone will look to the Himachal duo of Ashok Thakur and Vikramjeet Singh Malik to lead the pace attack. The two took 62 wickets between them this season. Joginder Sharma, who didn't have a great season, does provide them an option. Chetanya Nanda and Amit Mishra will be their main spinners. West Zone With three teams from West Zone making the Ranji semi-finals this year - Mumbai not being one of them - West Zone put up a solid challenge at this year's Duleep Trophy. Parthiv Patel, the leading run-scorer in the Plate League, will lead the side, which boasts of internationals like Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Ajit Agarkar and Yusuf Pathan. In Cheteshwar Pujara, they have the Super League's highest scorer as well as other heavy scorers, Rakesh Solanki, Niraj Patel and Harshad Khadiwale. Sandeep Jobanputra and Siddharth Trivedi will give Agarkar and Munaf a tough fight for places in the starting XI, if both of them are fit, that is. Then they have Maharshtra's Samad Fallah as a wildcard. Powar, Pathan and Rakesh Dhurv will make up the allrounder-spinner combo, with Rajesh Pawar one of the reserves. The best part for West Zone is that they have not been hit by selections to the Indian team, so they are one of the strong contenders this time round. South Zone This hasn't been the year for the teams from South Zone, who haven't won the title since 1996-97: Tamil Nadu played it too safe despite having all their games at home, Hyderabad had to fight to avoid relegation, Karnataka were disappointing after Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid left for national duty. But Andhra and Kerala surprised, with Andhra finishing at No. 3 in their group and Kerala making the semi-finals of the Plate League. R Vinay Kumar and Sunil Joshi, Nos 2 and 6 on the wicket-takers' list, are absent from the South Zone squad. There could have been some logic in not playing Joshi, as younger spinners - Pragyan Ojha and S Anish - have been picked, but Vinay Kumar will surely feel disappointed for having missed the selection. S Badrinath, M Vijay and D Ravi Teja will expectedly make the core of the batting line-up, with support from Raiphi Gomez, Arjun Yadav and Swapnil Asnodkar. Sreesanth's selection for the ODIs in Australia will weaken their attack, with NC Aiyappa and D Kalyankrishna in lead roles. East Zone Parthiv Patel will captain West Zone © AFP It has been a contrasting year for Orissa and Bengal, but it nonetheless ended in disappointment for both. Bengal got relegated and Orissa came within a favourable result of a semi-final and lost. The two states dominate the East Zone side, which has never won a Duleep Trophy. The Orissa players will look to impress furthermore, while for Bengal players this is one final go at an elite first-class competition before they start their fight in the Plate League. The East Zone bowling attack comprises mainly the Bengal attack - Ranadeb Bose and SS Paul - and Orissa's Mohantys - Debasis and Basanth - who were the key to their success this year. Manoj Tiwary, who fizzled out after a sparkling start to the season, has been given another opportunity, and again he has to carry out the responsibility he failed to do with Bengal: to lead a weak batting line-up. He will have captain Shiv Sunder Das for company. The ones who need to rally around them are Bengal openers Arindam Das and Anustup Mujumdar and Jharkhand captain Manish Vardhan

[Mr. Wicket]

"It is back to the 75 best players outside the Indian side taking up the unique challenge of competing through zonal teams made up of the best from various states in the respective zones." BOOLSHEET! Do CI even realize that the likes of Sunil Joshi and Amol Muzumdar are not there despite their outstanding Ranji seasons, while a whole bunch of undeserving youngsters are playing instead?

[Chandan]

"It is back to the 75 best players outside the Indian side taking up the unique challenge of competing through zonal teams made up of the best from various states in the respective zones." BOOLSHEET! Do CI even realize that the likes of Sunil Joshi and Amol Muzumdar are not there despite their outstanding Ranji seasons, while a whole bunch of undeserving youngsters are playing instead?

Actually the concept is that. But the selections have been absolutely shocking. Any reason why Vinay Kumar was not picked, even if the selectors are looking ONLY towards youth? And how is this youth policy going to help the standard of cricket in India is simply beyond me. Is Sangwan on some other U-19 visit, because the SA tour had finished? If he is off to Zimbabwe or something and misses, Duleep trophy in return, I'll be hugely disappointed!!

[Mr. Wicket]

In lieu of that rubbish, here's a superb piece by Paras Mhambrey.

Everyone has a reason for playing cricket. Some play because their friends also play, some start with a single-minded focus of playing for the country. There are various steps one goes through before getting to that ultimate goal. In Mumbai, cricket is big at junior levels: even playing for a school like Shardashram, where Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli played, is a matter of pride. Harris Shield, Giles Shield and other such tournaments are very competitive. After having played at those levels, one moves to age groups and then becomes one of the probables for Ranji Trophy. For a youngster that is a big thing, because that is one step below playing for the state, becoming a first-class cricketer. I remember when I got picked for the Under-17 side, I saw it with a lot of pride. When I was handed the cap with the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) logo on it, it was a big thing for me. Every thing since then – collecting newspaper clippings, conversations with friends, et al – was a motivation for playing for Mumbai. With such a journey to playing for the state, one inevitably values every moment and success with the state team. When a player starts playing for a state, he gets attached to particular venues too. For any cricketer in Mumbai, it is very special to play at the Wankhede, may it be the Ranji final or school cricket final or Times Shield tournament. I remember the first time I went to the Wankhede. Sachin was making his debut, and Achrekar sir [Ramakant Achrekar, my coach and Sachin’s] had picked us up and taken us to watch the game. The first thing that struck me was the lush green ground and I immediately told myself I wanted to play there. When it comes to a team like Mumbai, there is a lot of history attached too. We have won the Ranji Trophy 37 times now, and whenever Mumbai fail to make it to the knockouts, it is considered a big failure. A Mumbai player knows great players have represented the team; there are stories and legends built around and that can be a source of both motivation and pressure. ** Not all players get picked for the national team straight from the U-19s or state side. There are few like Parthiv Patel and Yuvraj Singh who do well at U-19 level and bypass the route. But others have to go through the system and this is where the Duleep Trophy comes in. It gives an opportunity to cricketers who have already done well for their state, but haven’t made it to the national side: there are three games if you make it to the final, someone like Parthiv who has scored 900-odd runs in the season gets a chance to take it to 1200-plus. The timing this year is unfortunately not great. The squad for Australia has already been announced, but the players have to tell themselves there is a Test series coming up in March too. That said, this is better timing than the last two or three years when it used to be played before the Ranji Trophy. So the players would make it based on the previous season’s performance and wouldn’t necessarily carry on from where they had left then. Different players from different teams come to play for a zone in Duleep Trophy. It is very difficult to adjust because the thinking and the attitude are different. For example, Mumbai players who have won Ranji 37 times think differently than some other teams. Then it is difficult to get all the different players to gel as a team for just two or three matches. Players are not comfortable in even sharing rooms. It may work for a senior, because the junior room-mate usually adjusts to his habits. Duleep Trophy is an individualistic tournament, because – whether players accept it or not - everybody focuses on his own runs and wickets, being so close to selection. Playing for a state side comes with a sense of togetherness, with a lot of success and disappointment shared over a period of time. That bonding is missing in the zonal sides. While getting used to players from different backgrounds is a must while playing for India – and just as difficult – but because one wants to play for India for as long as possible, he has to adjust. While playing Duleep Trophy, the attitude is to just somehow get through the two-three matches. Besides, while playing for a national side, when the whole world is watching, selfish players are exposed, something you can get away with while playing the Duleep Trophy. And then there is the pride of playing for a country. There is hardly any pride involved in representing your zone. There are different people from different states, some selfish, some hard to get along with. While any success is cherished, players generally value the state team’s success more. But then again, the standard of cricket in Duleep Trophy is better as the best players from the country are playing there. Individual performances bring more satisfaction here. It still is a big thing to play Duleep Trophy: ask those who played a lot of Ranji Trophy, but couldn’t make it to Duleep Trophy. When one gets that opportunity, he should get over all the issues, and as a professional look at it as an opportunity and step closer to the goal.

BTW, not sure abt Sangwan. The U19 WC is a way away, not sure if there's anything else w/ the kiddos before then.

[Cricketics]

Actually the concept is that. But the selections have been absolutely shocking. Any reason why Vinay Kumar was not picked, even if the selectors are looking ONLY towards youth? And how is this youth policy going to help the standard of cricket in India is simply beyond me. Is Sangwan on some other U-19 visit, because the SA tour had finished? If he is off to Zimbabwe or something and misses, Duleep trophy in return, I'll be hugely disappointed!!

hmm just for ur info, sangwan, Virat kohli, tanmay shrivastav all are to play in u19 world cup starting in feb.. hence the reason none of them in duleep trophy

[Mr. Wicket]

tics, I thought the U19 World Cup starts in mid/late Feb - around the 17th or 20th? No reason they can't play the first round or two then head for the WC?

[Cricketics]

ya it does that in the middle of feb but they all three performed really well in ranji and hence there was no reason not to pick them in duleep trophy, so there can only be one reason not picking them cauz of u19 wc.. may be they want to keep them away from being injured n stuff before the big tournament startz may be they might have seperate camp for u19 training and stuff.. not sure really

[Mr. Wicket]

Still ridiculous, given that as cricketers they'll develop far better playing in the Duleeps. For all the hype about Tanmay, the ton he made in the Ranji final was his first in two years of f/c cricket. If we're talking about the likes of Sangwan and him as test cricketers, then they've got to play first class cricket to keep improving while this young. Let them learn to build innings/bowl long spells over a few days, rather than beating up some sh*t teams from England, Aus and SAF, most of whose players will never make it to test level...

[Cricketics]

this saf tour wasn't great to be frank.. even bangladesh u19 booted saf out and entered the final of tri nation series.. yaa sangwan as a bowler should have been there in duleep..

[Chandan]

some VS Malik has taken 5 wickets in just 9 overs for North Zone vs South Zone Another match is between West Zone vs Central Zone where West is batting with their score on 89/0

[Guest HariSampath]

SZ collapsing against NZ and plenty of ducks there. That fellow has taken a 5fer and taken out prolific M Vijay , Badrinath and Arjun Yadav for ducks !!

[Guest HariSampath]

The selection is completely junk for duleep trophy. I cant understand how someone like Abhinav Mukund ( with 2 hundreds and a 95 in his first 3 ranji games) is not selected. He is even there in India U-19 and MUST have been given a chance to play Duleep trophy