Deodhar Trophy, 2007-08

[Kartikey]

Does anyone have a video of this innings???

[Guest HariSampath]

I saw it live, he did play well, but I thought he fell away after 100, and didnt accelerate beyond the run-a-ball level, so sz lost, but Dravid played a very good inngs at fc levels. Whether his level of ability in ODIs or against high quality Int'l attacks in tests, he still has to prove in SAF tests, regarding ODIs I think he is over and finished.

[eternalhope]

Is Zee Sports showing the Deodhar Trophy live in the US?

[Cricketics]

Is Zee Sports showing the Deodhar Trophy live in the US?

yes

[eternalhope]

yes

Thanks. I just subscribed for it yesterday:yay:

[eternalhope]

Agarkar bowling crap as usual, Munaf fielding is so pathetic. Abdulla looks good.

[mister]

North vs Central, Deodhar Trophy : Rp Singh Back With Bang!!! 5/36 The Central Zone batsmen, led by a century from Naman Ojha, set up an interesting chase of 294 for a strong North Zone batting line-up, but RP Singh killed the contest with three wickets in his first over. North couldn't recover and lost by 70 runs despite Virender Sehwag's 73-ball 81. RP finished with 5 for 36. RP got Shikhar Dhawan to tickle one down the leg side, and then produced two classical swing bowler's dismissals: Gautam Gambhir went for a drive and edged to third slip while Rajat Bhatia was bowled, done in by the movement. Overs two, runs 0, wickets three. In his third over, RP trapped Aakash Chopra lbw with another inswinger to reduce North to 12 for 4. Sehwag then launched an assault, as clever as it was brutal, which overshadowed Ojha's innings. Sandeep Singh was the first to face Sehwag's barrage, in the ninth over, in the shape of an upper-cut followed by a pull to midwicket. Praveen Kumar, impressive till then, saw his figures of 4-1-10-0 get messed up, going for 28 in his next two. Sehwag's batting was clearly of a higher standard than what most Central's bowlers are used to. His six off Praveen was a case in point: with no footwork, bending the knees a bit, he launched him over cow corner. Even after Virat Kohli got out, Sehwag continued in the same vein, treating the spinners with disdain. He got a perfect partner in Uday Kaul, who rotated the strike well, as the duo kept the asking-rate in check. When Mohammad Kaif brought back Sandeep in the 27th over, the two had added 86 in 88 balls. The first ball took the edge and went over wicketkeeper Ojha, who dropped a chance two balls later, but on the fifth ball Sandeep got Sehwag lbw with one that jagged back in. Kaul, with the help of a cameo from Amit Mishra, continued the good work, but it proved too stiff a target. Kaul fell to Suresh Raina for a 75-ball 55, and Mishra scored 43 off 39. Earlier, Ojha and Faiz Fazal gave Central an ideal start, putting on 163 for the first wicket in 29.5 overs. It was Ojha who converted a watchful start into an explosive one when he tucked into the first-change Bhatia. Ojha plundered 21 from Bhatia's two overs, with one six and three boundaries, and forced Sehwag to bring back Pradeep Sangwan who had been erratic in his first three overs. Sangwan was also not spared with Ojha punishing anything loose. In the 18th over, Ojha reached his half-century, hitting seven boundaries and a six, in 52 balls. At the other end, Punjab's medium-pacer Manpreet Gony bowled a controlled spell and kept the runs down, giving away only 12 runs in his first five overs. By the time spinners were introduced from either end, after the Powerplays, both batsmen were well set. Ojha hit Mishra for a six dead straight and Fazal, having grown in confidence, went after Sehwag. Fazal accelerated after a slow start, and in the 24th over he reached his half-century off 75 balls. When he got out in the 30th over, for 66 off 93 balls, Central were set for a big total. Ojha started to show signs of fatigue and was slowing down while running between the wickets. But No. 3 Suresh Raina didn't let that hurt the progress and scored briskly. He hit five boundaries in his 39-ball 42 before mishitting a pull off Sangwan to fine leg. Mohammad Kaif, who came in to replace Raina, did not get as much strike as he would have wanted, and with Ojha not being able to hit the big shots, the expected onslaught didn't come. Ojha got out soon after reaching his century, in the 46th over, and Praveen failed to either hit the big shots or give Kaif the strike. Ultimately, the failure to maximise the score in the slog overs didn't matter, but it would have given them some anxious moments when Sehwag was around.

[eternalhope]

How I wish I could see RP, IS and SS bowl in a Test Match for India. They dropped IS for such a minor injury :sad_smile:.

[theguyinallblue]

i think Ishant got a break...and IMO he needs it....after such a long tour..he is a bowler..and a fast bowler...so his body needs recovery time...fro the strains he puts on his body..he looks so fragile...so i guess him sitting out of first match is good form him..

[Dhondy]

How I wish I could see RP' date=' IS and SS bowl in a Test Match for India. They dropped IS for such a minor injury :sad_smile:.[/quote'] I share that yearning, EH. These are three wonderful bowlers- not many can make the ball move prodigiously at speeds in excess of 87 mph, but these three can, RP and Sreesanth with their swing, and Ishant with his seam and bounce. Time to reiterate why I rate Sreesanth so highly. It's because of his absolute commitment to staying fit and playing for his country. You may not know this, but he had a serious injury to the soft tissues around his right shoulder and was advised surgery by every orthopaedic surgeon he consulted. Surgery would have put him out of the Oz series altgether and endangered his participation for SA at home. What does he do? He stakes career and health on Ayurvedic treatment, shuts himself off from the world for two weeks and lets nature heal him, so his recovery is not protracted. People thought he was a fool. Now, not only is he back, he is bowling as well as ever and regularly breaching 140 kph. It's a triumph of willpower over accepted wisdom. I don't think any other player would have had the courage to buck the odds as he did. Ishant is only 19, and may have felt diffident in the face of advice given by experienced physios such as Gloster, but it was his call really if he wanted to play or not. Look how Yuvraj almost forcibly pushed his way into the XIV to avoid being marginalised by one of his competitors? If Ishant was desperate to build on what he started in Australia, he would have stepped forward, as McGrath did after twisting in his ankle in that horrible accident in Ashes 2005, and told BCCI, "Look here, I'm fit. I want to play- please don't leave me out". But he didn't. Could be he is genuinely injured, but it seems surprising that an injury that was only mentioned in passing as an inconvenience alongside dactylitis in his finger when he sat out the 2nd final, has kept him out of an important Test match. Is he happy to sit back on his laurels? Has the promise of instant millions from IPL blunted his hunger? Could it even be that he fears coming down from the lofty perch that the Indian and world media has built for him, and doesn't feel confident enough to take on world class batsmen on batting friendly tracks unless he is 110% fit? He'll find out soon enough that if you are a fast bowler, it's a constant battle between your mind and body, wherein, most of the time, perfect fitness and health is a chimera that's unreachable because of the workloads that the modern game imposes. It's too early to make a judgement on all that, but I know a little sore toe wouldn't have kept Sreesanth out of this series if he could help it. If the latter now goes on to take 5-fers in the SA series, and Zaheer comes back, Ishant's place in the XI is no longer assured. As I never tire of saying, sport is ruthless. Sporting history is replete with the tales of high achievers who thought they had done enough to get second and third chances, only to find that hungrier, leaner men had displaced them to the backwaters of selectors' and public's affections. It' a lesson the 19 year old would do well never to forget.

[theguyinallblue]

Dhondy ..do you really think Yuvi merits a selection in the XIV ?? i think he is given a special treatment for some thing beyond pure cricketing matters.. do you think some regional politics or personal choices of selectors being forced upon some logical thoughts?

[Dhondy]

Dhondy ..do you really think Yuvi merits a selection in the XIV ?? i think he is given a special treatment for some thing beyond pure cricketing matters.. do you think some regional politics or personal choices of selectors being forced upon some logical thoughts?

Hi GIB. Yuvi essentially pushed himself into the reckoning because he badly wanted to play. Remember, this is a guy who is a multi-millionaire, getting richer as we speak, and has no conceivable reason to risk serious injury to turn out for India. Except pride and hunger. Dunno if you read the Gloster report or not, but he has a pretty serious injury- involving the anterior cruciate ligament. Nobody would begrudge it if he pulled out, went for rest and surgery. But he's decided to carry on, knee strapped with a neoprene splint, because he knows that if Rohit is railroaded into the XI tomorrow following an injury to one of the big four and scores a ton, he, Yuvi, is history. He has essentially decided that he's not going to give up what he has without a fight. You can't begrudge that kind of attitude. That's the way winners think. Also, do not forget that this is a man who has a wonderful record on subcontinental tracks. All his three tons have come in India or Pakistan, and moreover, were scored from positions of great adversity. The last time around, he rescued India from certain defeat against their arch rivals at Bangalore, while they were staring down the barrel at a precarious 61 for 4. Selectors don't forget that kind of thing. Yuvraj would always be an automatic pick on Indian tracks. Horses for courses, as they say. Yes, Rohit and Badrinath might deliver if the given the chance, but Yuvraj has been there and done it in Test cricket. The other two haven't.

[Feed]

Deodhar Trophy : Central vs North and East vs West RP Singh left north's dressing room wore a nonchalant as they suffer 70 runs victory while Jaffer maintained the momentum despite an early setback in west Zone win. HT bring the Deodhar trophy Roundup. More... Deodhar Trophy, match 3 and match 4 Hindustan Times March 17, 2008 First Published: 22:51 IST(17/3/2008) Last Updated: 23:00 IST(17/3/2008) RP singes North with five (Varun Gupta in Bangalore) IT WAS a case of sleight of hand, and twist of fate. Set an imposing target of 294 by Central Zone in their Deodhar Trophy game, North's dressing room wore a nonchalant look during the lunch break, a look of a team supremely confident of its abilities, blissfully unaware that fate, or just one man - RP Singh - was about to make a mockery of the hubris. With a batting line-up boasting of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Aakash Chopra, Shikhar Dhawan, Rajat Bhatia et al, one cannot find fault with North fancying their chances of overhauling the target, even on a wicket that had more than its fair share of grass and was a tricky proposition. But even they would not have anticipated that the same wicket which appeared so docile when Central's Naman Ojha, Faiz Fazal and Suresh Raina ran riot in the first session, would so easily be demonized in the second session by one man who beguiled, hustled and eventually broke the back of their batting to earn his side a valuable 70-run victory on Monday that also helped them cull a bonus point. Ojha also played a stellar role in the win as he dovetailed his attacking and defensive instincts to perfection to stroke a masterful century. However, the sight to behold today was RP. Powered by the wind generated by his arms and newly-acquired blond hair, RP got the ball to talk, swerve, and kink at high pace, things that leave even the very best feeling queasy. And North's top-order certainly felt the heat as he struck thrice in his first and innings' 2nd over, snaring Dhawan, Gambhir and Bhatia to leave North in tatters, and eventually bagged a five-wicket haul for himself inside eight overs. First to go was Dhawan who got a slight nick on a delivery going down legside. Two balls later, Gambhir followed, caught at second slip while prodding tentatively at an away-going delivery. Bhatia's defence was breached on the very next ball as the scorecard read a sorry, 0-3! His next victim was Chopra, who looked solid before playing slightly across a sharp in-ducker to be trapped in front. However, what ensued was utter carnage from the willow of a man who scoffs at pressure and winks at trouble. Batting at number five but still coming out to bat when the scorecard read zero, Sehwag had that rare opportunity to fight fire with fire, and boy, how he did so. On a day when all the talk surrounded fitness, Sehwag decided not to exert himself, dealt in only fours and sixes, and left Central quivering in their boots for a good hour or two. Knowing that he had nothing to lose, Sehwag unleashed his full array of strokes, biffing anything short through covers and point, clumping anything full over mid-on and mid-off, and flicking anything down the leg with utter disdain. In fact, out of his 50, he scored 44 of them in boundaries and sixes! Virat Kohli gave him good support but just when the precocious youngster was looking good for a big one, he was done in by a Sandeep Singh snorter that clipped his offstump. Uday Kaul joined Sehwag and the duo put together a refreshing 92-run partnership that looked threatening before Sehwag, who was dropped a couple of balls earlier by keeper Ojha, was adjudged lbw off Singh for a superlative 81, although the ball did look to be missing offstump. After that, the match became a mere formality although Kaul and Mishra hung around defiantly. Earlier, Ojha and Fazal laid perfect bedrock for Central as they put together 163 runs for the first wicket, an effort that enabled Central to post 293. Ojha was cheeky as well as authoritative as he cooked the goose of North bowlers with aplomb. Raina and Mohd Kaid chipped in with neat knocks later on. SCORECARD Central Zone: Fazal c Kaul b Sehwag 66, Naman Ojha c Kaul b Gony 110, Raina c Malik b Sangwan 42, M Kaif not out 34, P Kumar not out 13. Extras (b-2, lb-5, w-12, nb-9) 28 Total (for 3 wkts; 50 overs) 293 Fall of wkts: 1-163, 2-229, 3-266 Bowling: Sangwan 10-0-67-1, Malik 9-1-49-0, Bhatia 2-0-21-0, Gony 10-0-45-1, Mishra 10-0-48-0, Sehwag 9-0-56-1 North Zone: Chopra lbw b RP Singh 11, Dhawan c Ojha b RP Singh 0, Gambhir c Sharma b RP Singh 0, Bhatia b RP Singh 0, Sehwag lbw b SR Singh 81, Kohli b SR Singh 16, Kaul b Raina 55, Mishra c Ojha b Kumar 43, Sangwan lbw b RP Singh 4, Malik b Chawla 0, Gony not out 1. Extras (lb-3, w-9) 12 Total (all out; 42.2 overs) 223 Fall of wkts: 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-12, 5-60, 6-152, 7-210, 8-219, 9-220 Bowling: P Kumar 8-1-45-1, RP Singh 7.2-1-36-5, SR Singh 9-0-43-2, M Kartik 4-0-15-0, Chawla 10-0-63-1, Raina 4-0-18-1 Rahane helps West better East (G Krishnan in Hyderabad) THE FUTURE of Mumbai cricket, Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar carried West Zone to a six-wicket win with a bonus point against East in the Deodhar Trophy second round match here on Monday. West, coming here with minus-1, chased East's lowly 225 in 39.2 overs. West needed the bonus point badly and Nayar was there in the end, smashing an unbeaten 49 off 27 deliveries with seven fours and a six after Rahane (60, 72b, 6x4) and captain Wasim Jaffer (48, 43b, 10x4) laid a strong base. West now have four points from two games while East have three. A victory for West was never in doubt after they came back strongly to dismiss East cheaply despite openers Arindam Das (30) and Sourav Ganguly (47) adding 63 in 14 overs. The duo found runs hard to come as Munaf Patel worked up a good pace and bounce. Ajit Agarkar provided good support, not giving batsmen width to play shots. Under-19 World Cup star Sourabh Tiwary top-scored for East with 65 (58b, 4x4, 2x6), a majority of his runs coming in the midwicket region. Tiwary added 65 for the fifth wicket but a lower order collapse gave East such a low score that they could not deny West the bonus point. Jaffer's boys needed to score at 5.65 for the extra point. Jaffer maintained the momentum despite an early setback as the otherwise big-hitting Yusuf Pathan flopped for the second successive game, snicking Dhiraj Goswami to second slip S Tiwary. Jaffer was wristy as usual and each of his 10 boundaries was graceful, helping his confidence going into the Test series against South Africa. He picked the gaps beautifully and made batting look simple. The only mistake he made was when he made room to cut medium-pacer SS Paul and was bowled by the incoming delivery, ending his 61-ball 59-run partnership with the ever-improving 19-year-old Rahane. With the result of the match beyond doubt, East fought hard to deny West the bonus point. But that was not to be as Nayar slammed every bowler in sight. He received tremendous support from Venugopala Rao (37, 49b, 5x4). Nayar, the 24-year-old left-hander, paced his innings intelligently, picking out the empty spaces in the field and scored the winning run by pulling a full toss from Paul to the mid-wicket buondary. Rohit unwell West Zone's Rohit Sharma was forced to sit out of Monday's game against East due to upset stomach. Sharma, one of the stars in India's tri-series triumph in Australia, did not attend practice on Sunday but was expected to play on Monday. "He was down with diarrhoea," said West manager Atul Bedade. "He was alright by afternoon."Sharma will travel with the rest of the West squad to Visakhapatnam, where they will face North on Thursday. SCOREBOARD East Zone: A Das st P Patel b Abdulla 47 S Ganguly c Jaffer b Trivedi 30 A Majumdar lbw Abdulla 21 M Tiwari b Nayar 13 S Tiwary c Rahane b Agarkar 65 LR Shukla c M Patel b Rao 25 W Saha c Trivedi b Rao 3 D Goswami b Agarkar 7 R Bose run out 0 SS Paul run out 3 I Saxena not out 0 Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-4) 11 Total (all out, 49.2 overs) 225 Fall of wickets: 1-63, 2-98, 3-111, 4-124, 5-189, 6-198, 7-216, 8-217, 9-221. Bowling: M Patel 8-0-26-0, Agarkar 9.2-0-46-2 (w-3), S Trivedi 9-1-39-1 (w-1), I Abdulla 10-0-45-2, A Nayar 6-0-26-1, YV Rao 5-0-16-2, Y Pathan 2-0-20-0. West Zone Y Pathan c S Tiwary b Goswami 6 W Jaffer b Paul 48 A Rahane c sub (Jaggi) b Shukla 60 P Patel run out 18 Y Venugopala Rao not out 37 A Nayar not out 49 Extras (lb-5, w-3) 8 Total (for 4 wkts, 39.2 overs) 226 Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-66, 3-123, 4-157. Bowling: R Bose 8-1-51-0, D Goswami 6-1-36-1, SS Paul 7.2-0-43-1 (w-2), S Ganguly 6-0-24-0, I Saxena 7-0-38-0 (w-1), LR Shukla 5-0-29-1.

[kumble_rocks]

Yes, Rohit and Badrinath might deliver if the given the chance, but Yuvraj has been there and done it in Test cricket. The other two haven't.

A career average of 32.83 from 22 tests and you call it done it , Wow ! If Rohit and Badrinath are given a chance , I didn't think it will be hard for them to exceed his test record....

[Dhondy]

A career average of 32.83 from 22 tests and you call it done it ' date=' Wow ! If Rohit and Badrinath are given a chance , I didn't think it will be hard for them to exceed his test record....[/quote'] I did qualify "On the subcontinent", KR, where he averages 45.26. That's decent.

[kumble_rocks]

I did qualify "On the subcontinent", KR, where he averages 45.26. That's decent.

Fair enough . But , I think he has been too inconsistent for my liking for a long time now . Even I had strongly advocated his test claim for the Aussie series after his stupendous match winning century against Pakistan only to be abjectly disppointed. Time and again he has faltered to deceive. Another example that comes to my mind was after the Pak series couple of years ago .. he was actually selected over Laxman in the home series against England because of his excellent ODI performance in that series And he failed miserably. Their is a pattern here and his average speaks for itself.And , if we have to confine ourselves to sub-continental tracks then I would gamble on Badrinath instead of Yuvi simply because he is a better player of spin bowling or that's the predilection I get after watching him in the domestic circuits.

[King Tendulkar]

How I wish I could see RP' date=' IS and SS bowl in a Test Match for India. They dropped IS for such a minor injury :sad_smile:.[/quote'] How quickly people forget our actual best pacer. Zaheer Khan!!! Who knows the dream could be a pace battery of ZK, RP, IS and SREE! I am licking my lips already:D

[Laaloo]

RP singh is DA MAN!!!!!

[Sachinism]

awesome cant wait to see him back in action

[fineleg]

How quickly people forget our actual best pacer. Zaheer Khan!!! Who knows the dream could be a pace battery of ZK, RP, IS and SREE! I am licking my lips already:D

I hope ours does not turn out like the AAG attack where one or two are missing alwayz. Yes - hope to see ZK, RPS, IS and SS bowl to NZ in NZ Test seriez whenever we get to play those idjets, need revenge for the time they put us on green-is-for-cow pitchez.