Cricket lobbies in India

[Throwaib_Chuckter]

Indian cricket has long been influenced by regional lobbies, which have shaped team selection and stifled talent from less dominant regions. Historically, Mumbai cricket wielded immense power, producing a steady stream of players who benefited from strong infrastructure, coaching, and political backing. The dominance of Bombay (now Mumbai) in Ranji Trophy translated into national team selections, sidelining deserving cricketers from smaller states.  

During the 1970s and 1980s, Delhi emerged as another power center, with key selectors favoring players from North India. The South and East zones often struggled to gain recognition despite producing talents like Erapalli Prasanna and Sourav Ganguly. States like Bihar, Odisha, and Himachal Pradesh rarely had national representation, despite their local talent pools.  

Even in the 2000s, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka faced challenges in getting consistent representation, while Mumbai and Delhi continued to dominate. However, the rise of the IPL and decentralized scouting has somewhat diluted these historical biases. Today, players from smaller cricketing centers, such as Jharkhand (MS Dhoni) and Uttar Pradesh (Bhuvneshwar Kumar), have broken through.  

While regional favoritism still exists, potentially IPL franchise-based selection maybe taking its place.

[singhvivek141]

I think with the zone based selection committee, lobby based picks would have been less.

Problem happens because some zones like East & Central has been historically weaker. In the entire East Zone...except Bengal none of the teams are strong.

Central Zone has seen the rise to some extent as Vidarbha, Rajasthan, UP & MP has improved and are now regarded as decent teams, not good enough to win tournaments though.

 

Selectors mostly go and watch semis and finals of domestic tournaments, hence even though the above mentioned teams may have one or two good players, they can't shine simply coz their team isnt good enough.

 

Thanks to IPL though, players like Riyan Parag & Tilak Varma are able to get some limelight.

[Mariyam]

Lobby of the CCI

 

@rangeelaraja, you a fan right?

 

 

 

 

[rangeelaraja]

9 hours ago, Mariyam said:

Lobby of the CCI

 

@rangeelaraja, you a fan right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, been here alot of times during college days thanks to a friend who's dad was a principal secretary in the Maharashtra govt ...and used to live in the govt quarters opposite CCI.  Love the place. 

 

 

 

[Mariyam]

On 2/12/2025 at 8:41 PM, rangeelaraja said:

 

 

Yes, been here alot of times during college days thanks to a friend who's dad was a principal secretary in the Maharashtra govt ...and used to live in the govt quarters opposite CCI.  Love the place. 

 

 

 

For your eyes only.

 

My company is one of the sponsors of the WPL. Have been visiting the CCI in that regard, Sharing some of the pictures so that you can relive your nostalgia.

 

Paddle ball is a new hit all over the city.

 

They've opened a children's library in the Admin block. 

 

And the Pavillion.

 

 

[putrevus]

On 2/11/2025 at 10:37 AM, singhvivek141 said:

I think with the zone based selection committee, lobby based picks would have been less.

Problem happens because some zones like East & Central has been historically weaker. In the entire East Zone...except Bengal none of the teams are strong.

Central Zone has seen the rise to some extent as Vidarbha, Rajasthan, UP & MP has improved and are now regarded as decent teams, not good enough to win tournaments though.

 

Selectors mostly go and watch semis and finals of domestic tournaments, hence even though the above mentioned teams may have one or two good players, they can't shine simply coz their team isnt good enough.

 

Thanks to IPL though, players like Riyan Parag & Tilak Varma are able to get some limelight.

IPL started way back in 2008, Verma and Parag emerged in 2022 or there abouts what great talents were missed out in those 14 years.

 

FYI I wanted Tilak Verma to be part of world cup squad in 2023 itself instead of Prassid Krishna.

[singhvivek141]

2 hours ago, putrevus said:

IPL started way back in 2008, Verma and Parag emerged in 2022 or there abouts what great talents were missed out in those 14 years.

 

FYI I wanted Tilak Verma to be part of world cup squad in 2023 itself instead of Prassid Krishna.

S Badrinath
Baba Indrajith
Rajat Paliwal
Karun Nair
Abhimanyu Easwaran
Priyank Panchal
Dhruv Shorey
Rahul Shukla
Krishnakant Upadhyay
 

Edited February 21, 2025 by singhvivek141

[Vk1]

On one or two occasions in late 90s I think, we had 6 cricketers from Karnataka alone in playing 11.

[putrevus]

36 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

S Badrinath
Baba Indrajith
Rajat Paliwal
Karun Nair
Abhimanyu Easwaran
Priyank Panchal
Dhruv Shorey
Rahul Shukla
Krishnakant Upadhyay
 

None of them are even decent odi players or t20 players. We wonder why we did not win any trophy since 2011.

 

Edited February 21, 2025 by putrevus

[singhvivek141]

2 hours ago, putrevus said:

None of them are even decent odi players or t20 players. We wonder why we did not win any trophy since 2011.

 

Karun Nair was.

And if we can play Ajinkya Mediocre Rahane as a T20 opener in two world cups. I think Nair or even Mayank Agarwal was better than him for T20's.

 

Plus players improve, Abhishek wasn't this monster of a hitter. He improved upon it.

 

 

Edited February 21, 2025 by singhvivek141

[putrevus]

37 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

Karun Nair was.

And if we can play Ajinkya Mediocre Rahane as a T20 opener in two world cups. I think Nair or even Mayank Agarwal was better than him for T20's.

 

Plus players improve, Abhishek wasn't this monster of a hitter. He improved upon it.

 

 

You really are clutching at straws there.Really Karun Nair lol. Rahane was useless and him being there as opener was another gift from Great Kaptaan.

 

Nobody stopped Karun Nair or others to improve just Abhishek and showcase their hitting in IPL.

 

We just saw 38 year Shami being better bowler than anyone in the country after Bumrah.You blame Shami for being there?

 

 

[singhvivek141]

8 hours ago, putrevus said:

You really are clutching at straws there.Really Karun Nair lol. Rahane was useless and him being there as opener was another gift from Great Kaptaan.

 

Nobody stopped Karun Nair or others to improve just Abhishek and showcase their hitting in IPL.

 

We just saw 38 year Shami being better bowler than anyone in the country after Bumrah.You blame Shami for being there?

 

Shami has been an exceptional ODI bowler for ages.

But we also can't ignore the fact that we lost several years wasting on mediocre bowlers like Bhuvi just coz he was able to bowl some knuckle deliveries in IPL and succeed. We even prioritized Sid Kaul & Jaydev Unadkut type bowlers.

 

Batting wise, IPL has always been dominated by batters who bat at top, play risk free cricket and score runs no matter at what SR leaving everything to the lower MO to manage. So it always has been lead by likes of KL, Kohli etc who are stuck in 130-140 SR...only exception was Pant in 2018 when he blasted with an SR of 160+ and Raina in early years.

 

Hence scores of 54 (40) & 75 (54) took precedence over 35 (20). Basically T20 was being played just as a shortened version of ODI.

 

It's only now when we fell flat twice in 2021 & 2022 T20 WC that "some" emphasis were given to hitters and now Abhishek, Jaiswal type players were given more deliveries to cause an impact

Edited February 22, 2025 by singhvivek141

[tweaker]

15 hours ago, Vk1 said:

On one or two occasions in late 90s I think, we had 6 cricketers from Karnataka alone in playing 11.

1996-97

 

Rahul Dravid

Anil Kumble

Javagal Srinath 

Venkatesh Prasad

Johnson

Doda Ganesh

Sunil Joshi.

 

At that time Vishwanath was selector

[putrevus]

6 hours ago, singhvivek141 said:

 

Shami has been an exceptional ODI bowler for ages.

But we also can't ignore the fact that we lost several years wasting on mediocre bowlers like Bhuvi just coz he was able to bowl some knuckle deliveries in IPL and succeed. We even prioritized Sid Kaul & Jaydev Unadkut type bowlers.

 

Batting wise, IPL has always been dominated by batters who bat at top, play risk free cricket and score runs no matter at what SR leaving everything to the lower MO to manage. So it always has been lead by likes of KL, Kohli etc who are stuck in 130-140 SR...only exception was Pant in 2018 when he blasted with an SR of 160+ and Raina in early years.

 

Hence scores of 54 (40) & 75 (54) took precedence over 35 (20). Basically T20 was being played just as a shortened version of ODI.

 

It's only now when we fell flat twice in 2021 & 2022 T20 WC that "some" emphasis were given to hitters and now Abhishek, Jaiswal type players were given more deliveries to cause an impact

 

Yes , we have now seen change in approach in t20s.Cricket evovles but why are people people blaming these two for lack of hitters or sucess from 2008-2020.

 

But guys like Kohli or Rohit were successful for decade with their style and Kohli was one man army in 2014 and 2016, if he had any support from his teammates and ace bowler Bumrah in 2016, things would have been different. 

 

See the biggest problem was guys like Bhuvi and KL Rahul became automatic selections for doing nothing .KL Rahul still is automatic selection.

 

They scored around same runs in 2022 and 2024 semis against same team, Bhuvi was bowling to miss the bat with new ball and Bumrah was bowling to get the wicket that is only difference. 

 

Let us hope the new generation can win more titles with their new approach but unless they find bowlers who can take wickets they are not going to win knock out matches.

[diga]

3 hours ago, tweaker said:

1996-97

 

Rahul Dravid

Anil Kumble

Javagal Srinath 

Venkatesh Prasad

Johnson

Doda Ganesh

Sunil Joshi.

 

At that time Vishwanath was selector

Nobody can doubt the selection of Dravid/Kumble/Srinath/Venkatesh Prasad

 

Joshi had twice achieved the double of 500 runs + 50wkts in Ranji and was rated very highly by Bishen Bedi. Johnson was 140+ bowler when such bowlers were rare and Dodda Ganesh was the only one I would say was an iffy selection.