Scorecard of the day : A declaration before lunch on Day 1

[Tapioca]

Hyderabad v Railways, Ranji Pre Quarter Final, Hyderabad, 1975-76 Wet spots on the wicket from overnight watering made batting impossible on Day 1 and ML Jaisimha declared after 21 overs with the score at 50 for 8. Railways lost their first seven for 65 but the wicket improved and they took a 220 run lead. Hyderabad declared their second innings setting Railways a target of 157 in three hours and bowled them out for 76 with a few minutes to spare. http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/35/35822.html

[Mr. Wicket]

Wow, great scorecard. Must have been incredibly grating for Hyderabad to see Railways go from 65/7 and 108/8 to in excess of 250. Do you know what the pitch was like when Hyderabad bowled Railways out the second time around?

[Tapioca]

No. I have a book of Ranji Trophy match reports but it is not around at the moment.

[Lurker]

WOW! :omg: That Hyderabad is a darn strong outfit. Abbas Ali Baig, Abid Ali, Pataudi, Jayasimha, Jayantilal, Narsimharao all represented India and the first four with decent distinction. How were they then dismissed/declared for 50 is beyond me

[suraj]

I would be pissed if I was Venkataraman Ramnarayan dono innings mein batting nahin mili why these declaration???

[Mr. Wicket]

That Hyderabad is a darn strong outfit. Abbas Ali Baig' date=' Abid Ali, Pataudi, Jayasimha, Jayantilal, Narsimharao all represented India and the first four with decent distinction. How were they then dismissed/declared for 50 is beyond me[/quote'] Wet wickets.

[Lurker]

^^ Interesting. That year seems to throw a lot of such quirks. The finals was played between Bihar and Bombay! http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/35/35897.html Amongst Bihar team was Ramesh Saxena, a middle order batsman who many opine(including Sunil Gavaskar) that he should have played lot more for India than the solitary test that he did.

[Mr. Wicket]

^^ Interesting. That year seems to throw a lot of such quirks. The finals was played between Bihar and Bombay! http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/35/35897.html Amongst Bihar team was Ramesh Saxena, a middle order batsman who many opine(including Sunil Gavaskar) that he should have played lot more for India than the solitary test that he did.

At least Bombay won - had they lost to Bihar, that would been one very strange quirk! :D Bihar though eliminated two major heavyweights and major rivals of Bombay's in the knockouts - Delhi and Karnataka...

[guju24]

that was just lucky declared...because Hyderabad end up winning that game...

[Lurker]

Salil, Bihar used to be a fairly decent team in 70s, 80s and early 90s. The clash between Bihar-Bengal was the top draw in the region and was well contested. I remember some of the 80s players from Bihar who definitely made a strong case at National level - Hari Giwani(was an opener), Avinash Kumar(very respected left arm spinner), Syed Saba Kareem(played for India), Banerjee(played for India), Randheer Singh(played for India). I remember Bihar creating quite a few upsets in late 80s so I am not really surprised that had the measure of Delhi and Karnataka earlier.

[Guest Hiten.]

http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/38/38764/38764.html Shyami Dhobi :cantstop:

[Mr. Wicket]

True Lurks, although Saba Karim never got a shot as a Bihar player. Felt sorry for him, he was a wonderful player for Bihar in the 80s and early 90s, but never got the callup he deserved - just because (from what I understand) the EZ selectors pushed the Bengali guys first, and the zonal selection committee would never go to watch Bihar play and thus give him a fair shot. The only chance they had of seeing him play was when Bihar toured Bengal which was infrequent - more of the games between the two were contested in Bihar in the late 80s/early 90s - and in those games he did solidly but never well enough to make the case for selection with just one innings. Eventually he finally moved to Bengal in 95 and played for them - and surprise, surprise, a year later he got picked!

[Lurker]

Felt sorry for him, he was a wonderful player for Bihar in the 80s and early 90s, but never got the callup he deserved - just because (from what I understand) the EZ selectors pushed the Bengali guys first, and the zonal selection committee would never go to watch Bihar play and thus give him a fair shot.

There was a bit of that yes. Saba Karim should have played more for India. As a keeper he was just a shade worse than Mongia and More but as a batsman was much more accomplished than the two(now please dont remind me of that 150 or so that Mongia scored against Aussies). Part of the reason why Karim moved to Calcutta, aside from the politics, was the obvious difference in facilities. I mean how can you compare Keenan Stadium with Eden Gardens, let alone a depleted Moin-ud-Daula stadium in Patna where probably half of the local games used to be hosted. At the same time you have to give props to the players who came up the ranks without having half-decent facility. xx

[Mr. Wicket]

True, although I've heard (via a journo) that Saba once said 'if I had moved earlier to Bengal, I would have been in the Indian team for much longer.' As far as crap facilities - that applied to the majority of Indian f/c teams. Bombay, Delhi, Karnataka and Bengal were the minority - a lot of other teams in the past have had very poor grassroots set ups, and many still do. Punjab have improved theirs a lot, but there are teams like Railways who still are struggling for funds and facilities.

[Lurker]

As far as crap facilities - that applied to the majority of Indian f/c teams. Bombay' date=' Delhi, Karnataka and Bengal were the minority - a lot of other teams in the past have had very poor grassroots set ups, and many still do. Punjab have improved theirs a lot, but there are teams like Railways who still are struggling for funds and facilities.[/quote'] The point about infrastructure, or lack thereof, makes me wonder if ICL/IPL should be held in small towns, a la Patna, Cuttack, Surat etc. As it is during a normal calendar year there is always an infighting between cricket centers to hold these games. Generally top dogs(read Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Mohali) run away with 50% or therabouts and the rest of the country has to share out the remaining games. Wouldnt it be worthwhile to have these tamasha games at small centers which would: a) give local fans something to cheer about. b) give local associations(specially smaller ones) chance to raise money and improve infrastructure.

[Tapioca]

At least Bombay won - had they lost to Bihar, that would been one very strange quirk! :D Bihar though eliminated two major heavyweights and major rivals of Bombay's in the knockouts - Delhi and Karnataka...

They were lucky at times. The Ranji leagues were introduced in 1957/58, and only one team qualified from each zone to the knockout. In 1970/71, Bombay failed to top the West Zone for the first time in 13 years. They should have been eliminated - except that rules had been modified just that year to allow two teams to the next round. So Bombay qualified behind Maharashtra, then defeated Maharashtra in the final for their 13th consecutive title.