Deodhar Trophy, 2007-08

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Sangwan eyes Deodhar stint Despite his crucial role in the important World Cup league match against South Africa (he scalped five batsmen), Sangwan refused to take credit, reports Heena Zuni Pandit. More... Sangwan eyes Deodhar stint Heena Zuni Pandit, Hindustan Times New Delhi, March 12, 2008 First Published: 23:12 IST(12/3/2008) Last Updated: 23:15 IST(12/3/2008) HE MAY come across as fast and furious, but people who have seen Pradeep Sangwan in his formative years say he is a quiet and shy boy. The left-arm medium pacer, who was a part of the under-19 World Cup victory, visited his alma mater, Ravindra Public School, to thank his teachers and coaches for grooming him into the player he is today. Despite his crucial role in the important World Cup league match against South Africa (he scalped five batsmen), Sangwan refused to take credit, saying, "It was a team effort and I just did my job," he told HT. Expressing happiness over being a part of the Delhi Daredevils in the upcoming Indian Premier League, Sangwan said, "I am delighted and it would be great to play under seniors like Sehwag bhai and others." Performing well in the upcoming Deodhar Trophy ranks high on the list of priorities. "I am looking forward to it and am into regular fitness and training to ensure I don't get injured." About his image of being shy and reserved in school, Sangwan smiled. "I played pranks but was never caught because I was always finding an excuse to play cricket." He recounted the instance when he "put his best foot forward" to trip a teammate while celebrating the Cup triumph in Kuala Lumpur. Though the seamer does not miss school and friends as "I never liked to study and hanging out with friends was not my way of enjoying life", he made a special mention of elder brother Sandeep. "I owe my success to him, who is my friend too."

[Chandan]

ITINERARY OF THE TOURNAMENT Deodhar Trophy, 2007/08 Central Zone v West Zone at Bangalore - Mar 14, 2008 Match scheduled to begin at 09:00 local time (03:30 GMT) East Zone v South Zone at Hyderabad (Decc) - Mar 14, 2008 Match scheduled to begin at 09:00 local time (03:30 GMT) Central Zone v North Zone at Bangalore - Mar 17, 2008 East Zone v West Zone at Hyderabad (Decc) - Mar 17, 2008 Central Zone v South Zone at Hyderabad (Decc) - Mar 20, 2008 North Zone v West Zone at Visakhapatnam - Mar 20, 2008 Central Zone v East Zone at Hyderabad (Decc) - Mar 23, 2008 North Zone v South Zone at Visakhapatnam - Mar 23, 2008 East Zone v North Zone at Visakhapatnam - Mar 26, 2008 South Zone v West Zone at Bangalore - Mar 26, 2008

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Deodhar Trophy preview, Day one : RP takes centerstage against West With almost no slots in the team up for grabs, the tournament may prove to be a tough grind for those trying to catch the selectors' attention, reports G Krishnan. More... RP takes centerstage against West G Krishnan, Hindustan Times Bangalore, March 13, 2008 First Published: 22:23 IST(13/3/2008) Last Updated: 22:32 IST(13/3/2008) ALL ATTENTION will be on Rudra Pratap Singh as Central Zone take on holders West on the opening day of the Deodhar Trophy inter-zonal limited-overs tournament at the Chinnaswamy stadium here on Friday. Chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar will watch how the left-armer from Uttar Pradesh shapes up before finalising the squad for the Test series against South Africa. Singh missed the tri-series Down Under due to a hamstring injury. He played in two one-dayers for Uttar Pradesh in the Central Zone tournament early this month. With almost no slots in the team up for grabs, the tournament may prove to be a tough grind for those trying to catch the selectors' attention. Most of the triumphant India one-day players will be in action a week upon returning from Australia as there is not much ahead for them till after end of the Indian Premier League in early June. Some of these include Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir for North; Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and S Sreesanth for South; Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla for Central; Rohit Sharma and Munaf Patel for West and Manoj Tiwary for East. Both West and Central were forced to practice at the 'B' ground as the main ground was taken over by the Bangalore IPL team, Royal Challengers for a promotional photo shoot. It seemed that IPL had already begun to take precedence over the Deodhar Trophy and players were left to fend for themselves when it came to practice facilities. The pitch was watered just before West used it in the morning and less than ideal. "The ball was flying all over the place. What if someone got seriously hit?," asked a West player. "Even the outfield was uneven," he said. To add to the confusion neither team knew if the fixture was a day match or a day-night game. While Bangalore is to host three matches, the other seven matches are scheduled at Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam which do not have flood lights. For the sake of uniformity the BCCI decided to change Bangalore matches into day games, keeping the players guessing. West Zone came to know this was a day match late on Wednesday evening while some players from Central were still in the dark. Teams (from): West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (captain), Ajit Agarkar (vice-captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Parthiv Patel (wk), Y Venugopala Rao, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Mohnish Parmar, Iqbal Abdulla, Munaf Patel, Sandip Maniar, Siddarth Trivedi, Kedar Jadhav and Pinal Shah. Central Zone: Md Kaif (captain), Murali Kartik, Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Tanmay Srivastava, Faiz Fazal, Praveen Gupta, Sandeep Singh, RP Singh, Deepak Yadav, Naman Ojha (wk), Himalaya Sagar, Ravi Jangid, Rajesh Kanojia. Deodhar Trophy schedule (all day games): March 14: Central vs West (Bangalore); East vs South (Hyderabad). March 17: Central vs North (Bangalore); East vs West (Hyderabad). March 20: Central vs South (Hyderabad); North vs West (Visakhapatnam). March 23: Central vs East (Hyderabad); North v South (Visakhapatnam). March 26: East vs North (Visakhapatnam); South vs West (Bangalore). Strars in East vs South tie HT Correspondent There will be no shortage of stars when East Zone take on South on the first day of the all-star series for the Deodhar Trophy. Sourav Ganguly brings glamour to the East while the South is packed with India cricketers. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman from the Test set-up and the likes of Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and Sreesanth from the one-day squad ensure that memories of India's recent triumph in Australia will be close at hand. The two teams square off at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad on Friday. It will be a return to cricket for some of the stars who have been involved in one promotion event after the other for their respective IPL teams. Teams (from): East Zone: Laxmi Ratan Shukla (captain), Sourav Ganguly, Anustup Majumdar, Arindam Das, Manoj Tiwary, Ranadeb Bose, Wriddhiman Saha, Shib Shankar Paul, Ireash Saxena, Haladhar Das, PR Sinha, Saurabh Tiwary, Ishank Jaggi, Manish Vardhan, SS Rao, Deeraj Goswami, S. Purkayastha. South Zone: S Badrinath (captain), Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, M Vijay, S Vidyut, C Raghu, Saurabh Bandekar, Bharat Chipli, PN Sarvesh Kumar, Gnaneswara Rao, Doddapaneni Kalyanakrishna, Pragyan Ojha, Sreesanth, Vinay Kumar.

[Guest HariSampath]

As the test is starting on March 26th, I dont see any of the Indian players playing for their zones on or after March 23rd . In this case, what happens to many open slots in all zonal sides for their last 2 games each ? Standbyes ?

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Central Zone attack sets up easy win West Zone's total of 98 was an aberration in a high-scoring domestic one-day season, and Central got to the target without any major hiccups, as the opening Deodhar Trophy match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium finished half an hour after lunch. More... Central v West, Deodhar Trophy, 1st match, Bangalore Central Zone attack sets up easy win Sidharth Monga at the Chinnaswamy Stadium March 14, 2008 Central Zone 99 for 4 beat West Zone 98 (Chawla 3-11, Praveen 3-18) by six wickets Scorecard Praveen Kumar hit his straps immediately in the Deodhar Trophy opener, which Central Zone won by six wickets © AFP The Central Zone swing bowlers utilised a helpful surface, a 9am start, and overcast conditions to push the West Zone innings right to the edge of the cliff, before the spinners came and pushed it over swiftly. A total of 98 was an aberration in a high-scoring domestic one-day season, and Central got to the target without any major hiccups as the opening Deodhar Trophy match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium finished half an hour after lunch. Central won by six wickets, with a bonus point, while defending champions West were docked a minus point. Right from the moment Praveen Kumar bowled the first over, after Mohammad Kaif had put West in, it was obvious West were going to have a hard time. Yusuf Pathan, in prodigious form throughout the season, was embarrassed by two in-swingers that preceded an out-swinger, and seemed to have no clue about which way Praveen swung the ball. Wasim Jaffer hit two beautiful cover drives off the back foot before he got a peach from Praveen in the third over. This one swung late after having angled in, as opposed to the early swing that Jaffer was leaving alone, and took the edge for a low catch for Kaif at first slip. RP Singh soon trapped Pathan with an in-swinger to pull West down to 15 for 2. Rohit Sharma, fresh from 235 runs in the CB Series in Australia and Ajinkya Rahane, also in good form, got a mini partnership going. It wasn't a convincing one, however, as regular edges kept the bowlers interested. The duo had added 24 before Praveen changed sides and came on from the BEML end. He needed little time if forcing Rahane to chip one to point, and that dismissal triggered a frenzy. Two more wickets fell at the same score and the No. 7, Abhishek Nayar, was caught unawares and just about avoided being timed out. Rohit played an expansive drive and edged Sandeep Singh, Parthiv Patel followed a Praveen in-swinger, and 39 for 2 became 39 for 5. Nayar might have taken a long time in coming in to bat, but he did stay in the longest to help West get close to 100. Together with Venugopal Rao he forced Kaif to opt for the spinners as they batted sensibly to add 31 for the sixth wicket. Kaif wanted to finish the game off with swing bowlers only, as he continued with Praveen (3 for 18), RP (22 for 1), and Sandeep (21 for 1) for 22 overs. The introduction of spin, normally a reason for cheer given the way the medium-pacers bowled, proved to be the kiss of death for West. Piyush Chawla bowled Rao round the legs with his first delivery, continued to get Iqbal Abdulla caught down the leg by wicketkeeper with his third, and a one-sided contest was reduced to a no contest. Murali Kartik enjoyed the situation with a number of dangerous arm-balls, one of them trapping Ajit Agarkar in front. When he tossed one up to Munaf Patel, the tail-ender obliged by skying it to mid-off. Another collape, as West slipped from 70 for 5 to 81 for 9 in four overs. Nayar hit two boundaries and a six before being caught at the boundary off a full toss from Chawla, who finished with 3 for 11. When Nayar and Rao were batting, it seemed West might struggle and bat out the 50 overs, but their innings ended in the 30th over. By the time Munaf, Agarkar and Siddharth Trivedi started bowling, the pitch had lost much of its early-morning freshness, the sun had come out, and the only thing going for them was the good bounce. But the minimal target meant that Faiz Fazal and Naman Ojha, the Central openers, were under no pressure and they negotiated the new ball well. Fazal looked more intent at finishing the game early, and by the time he edged Trivedi to second slip, he had scored 24 off 30 balls, and Central had reached 41 in 7.5 overs. That Central lost Ojha, Suresh Raina and Kaif just at the brink of the win will leave West wondering what could have happened had they batted through the innings and struggled their way to perhaps 170-odd.

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East clinch victory despite Dravid ton Rahul Dravid took South Zone close to their target of 275 with a battling 139, despite suffering cramps, but East Zone regrouped well during the death overs to cut them off when it really mattered. More... East v South, Deodhar Trophy, 2nd match, Hyderabad East clinch victory despite Dravid ton Cricinfo staff March 14, 2008 East Zone 274 for 5 (Saurabh Tiwary 73, Shukla 72) beat South Zone 252 (Dravid 139) by 23 runs Scorecard Rahul Dravid took South Zone close to their target of 275 with a fluent 138-ball 139, despite suffering cramps, but East Zone regrouped well during the death overs to cut them off when it really mattered. Where East had been so clinical during the latter half of their innings, after struggling initially, South offered little support to Dravid and they fell 23 runs short of victory in Hyderabad. East's decision to bat didn't go down too well at the start and they were 28 for 2. Sourav Ganguly was tangled up in a poor call and ended up at the same end as his opening partner, Arindam Das, and Anustup Majumdar was excellently held by Robin Uthappa at gully off state mate R Vinay Kumar. Das was run out next for 32. It took some counter-aggression from Manoj Tiwary (40 from 48 balls), who went over the top quite well inside the Powerplays, and Under-19 star Saurabh Tiwary (73 from 90) to get East towards a competitive total. After Manoj's dismissal Saurabh was joined by his captain, former India international Laxmi Ratan Shukla, and a frenetic 101-run stand followed. Tiwary was in good nick, setting himself in before going for his well-placed hits, whereas Shukla was looking for runs early in his innings. His attitude paid off and some clean hitting at the end got him five sixes in an unbeaten 72 from 66 balls. It was truly a captain's knock. Wriddhiman Saha, the young wicketkeeper from Bengal, hit 21 in a sixth-wicket stand of 48 in four overs to get East to 274 for 5. With VVS Laxman unable to bat after injuring a finger when he took Manoj's catch earlier in the day, South were always under pressure chasing a stiff target. Their two explosive openers, Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik, fell playing aggressive shots and it was left to Dravid's experience and class to see them out of danger. Dravid added 53 with Subramanian Badrinath, but their workmanlike stand was snapped when Ganguly bowled Badrinath for 20 in the 21st over. That brought Arjun Yadav to the crease, and his energetic style of play kept runs ticking over comfortably. Yadav put on 83 with Dravid, scoring 42 from 51 balls, but a poor shot against Dhiraj Goswami sent him back in the 36th over. Dravid cramped up and required Karthik as a runner and the run rate quickly began to escalate. Dravid was all compusure as he crossed his 21st List A century, sharing a fruitful stand with Vinay. A superb flick off the pads by through midwicket for four and a couple scampered singles in the 43rd over, followed by a deft nudge with short fine leg up off Ganguly's final over, kept the run rate within striking distance. But it was Ranadeb Bose's crucial dismissal of Vinay, bowled attempting an ugly swipe across the line to the last ball of the 47th over, that completely shut out South. Running out of partners, Dravid swatted Goswami between midwicket and mid-on for four but fell just after, spooning a weary lofted drive to Ganguly, running back in the covers. Two needless run outs later and East where whooping it up on the field. East took four points from this match and South none.

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Praveen, Piyush rout West Zone Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla picked three wickets each as Central Zone beat defending champions West Zone by six wickets in the Deodhar Trophy at M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Friday. Sent into bat, the Wasim Jaffer-led West Zone were bundled out for 98 in 29.1 overs. Mohammad Kaif's Central Zone hit up the required runs in 20.1 overs, losing four wickets. More... Praveen, Piyush rout West Zone March 14, 2008 19:21 IST Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla picked three wickets each as Central Zone beat defending champions West Zone by six wickets in a lacklustre opening match of the Deodhar Trophy at M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Friday. Sent into bat, the Wasim Jaffer-led West Zone were bundled out for 98 in 29.1 overs. Mohammad Kaif's Central Zone hit up the required runs in 20.1 overs, losing four wickets. Praveen ripped apart the top order, dismissing Yusuf Pathan (3), Ajinkya Rahane (10) and Parthiv Patel (0). Five West Zone batsmen were back in the pavilion with only 39 runs on the board. Chawla then joined the party, picking the scalps of Venugopala Rao (9), Abhishek Nayar (39) and Iqbal Abdulla (2). Rao and Nayar put on 31 runs for the sixth wicket. Nayar, who top-scored for his side, hit Murali Kartik [images] for a four and a six off successive deliveries in the 28th over of the match. Though they lost three quick wickets towards the end of the innings, Central overhauled the target. Brief scores: West Zone 98 all out in 29.1overs (Nayar 39, Rahane 10; Chawla 3/11, Praveen Kumar 3/18, Kartik 2/20, Sandeep Singh 1/21, R P Singh 1/22) vs Central Zone 99 for four in 20.1 overs (Naman Ozha 25, Faiz Fazal 24, Suresh Raina 18; Ajit Agarkar [images] 2/35, Siddharth Trivedi 2/41).

[Lurker]

Praveen Kumar, Murali Karthik, Chawla, RP Singh!! Damn thats a powerful bowling line-up for Central zone.

[coffee_rules]

That's no weak WZ team as well. RG Sharma, Jaffer, Rahane, YV Rao, PA Patel, Agarkar, MM Patel. Nayar.

[f.b.m]

Somehow, there were two Rohit G. Sharmas playing in the match. The other one is here I think they confused the pic though.

[amits]

imagine if the other rohit sharma made it into the indian team. he is only 24. that will create all types of confusions:hysterical:

[Guest HariSampath]

Excellent innings from Dravid, probably the best limited overs inngs I had seen after his 65 ball 90 in England. Although this was a FC match, the bowling was not all that bad, maybe decent, Ranadeb Bose bowled very well, as did Goswami. SZ were down 2 wkts and with not much support from the other end, Dravid played a lone hand , without Laxman too, and playing at a run-a-ball , kept SZ in the hunt till last 10 minutes. SZ never got close I would say at it was a comfortable 23 run win, and the moment 40+ was needed in 24, I never thought Dravid would get big hits. He was cramped too, and played well. Good win for EZ, I was impressed by Saurabh Tiwary and LR Shukla played very intelligent and aggressive cricket. SZ....DROP KKD , pick Murali Vijay who is in great form with 2 matchwinning 100s in Ranji ODI against strong teams like Hyderabad etc in last one week.

[Guest HariSampath]

Very strong WZ batting lineup, but a very good bowling attack for CZ. Beating WZ is always big, but crushing them like this must make CZ think on top of the world and the trophy too. Praveen and RP were superb today, they are perhaps today's best India bowling pair ( Ishant too , of course) Even a strong SZ side was beaten by EZ today, and with all zones playing almost their best players , the Deodhar trophy is set up nicely.

[fineleg]

KKD in ODIs is USELESS! Great knock by RD. Hope his Test form will be good against SA. Getting ODI runs against domestic is one thing, rediscovering Test form is another. Hope he does get it back.

[Kartikey]

RD is back. Wait and see, he will kill SA, and his time in ODI's will come again.

[Cricketics]

fineleg.. there is nothing like odi form and test form.. it's just that u have to have a diff mind set according to the game.. and dravid is too good a player

[fineleg]

fineleg.. there is nothing like odi form and test form..

Well, isn't it said that they are two different ball gamez? And playerz periodically have different form in both gamez? (some may not be suited to a format outright, but others who are suited to both have displayed different formz in both) So, is it correct to say " there is nothing like odi form and test form" ?

[Cricketics]

thats diff th ing.. however i don't see odi and test being totally different for a player.. as i told u above.. u have to have a different mind set.. and dravid is too good a player to do it..

[bunny]

The difference is the bowling attack and the pitch conditions. RD it seems has lost a little bit of class (not form) and it will be interesting to see how he fares against SA. I would want him to bat at #6 though.

[Zakhmi]

Lage raho PK and PC...they are really encouraged and damn confident now after australian tour.