Zal Irani Trophy, 2009

[zaheer]

que?

i think he forgot to add 'not'

[Sachinism]

Sehwag's scared to bat, so he's pushing others ahead of him :headshake: edit: damn I didn't know finey was already being mocked :((

[vvvslaxman]

Sehwag's scared to bat, so he's pushing others ahead of him :headshake: edit: damn I didn't know finey was already being mocked :((

:haha:

[vvvslaxman]

So Badri flopped twice in this match. Sabash. Way to get the attention from selectors.

[msb1991]

So Badri flopped twice in this match. Sabash. Way to get the attention from selectors.

I don't like this attitude. If he doesn't get runs, he is bottling it and must be blamed for not getting picked and if he does get runs, let's throw bottles at the selectors.

[vvvslaxman]

I don't like this attitude. If he doesn't get runs' date=' he is bottling it and must be blamed for not getting picked and if he does get runs, let's throw bottles at the selectors.[/quote'] I think Mukund will find his way into the side ahead of Badri. Irani Trophy is an important domestic match where performance is given additional weightage. Fact is he has no other choice but to deliver in each and every outing due to his age. Seems like he has worked lot harder for his runs where two of his statemates put up a huge partnership.

[Chandan]

Again an hour has been lost due to wet outfield and still no chance of play. I think this match is drifting towards draw because half the time has been lost due to rain, bad light and wet outfield! What a pitiful situation! This is a brand new stadium but no attention was given to quick drainage. In fact grass is so lush in the outfield that even the outfield is generally heavy. Bad situation!!

[Chandan]

Report of Day 4 Rest of India 260 and 352 for 4 (Tiwary 80*, Saha 5*) lead Mumbai 230 by 382 runs Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Rest of India consolidated its hold on the rain-affected Irani Trophy match, accumulating runs against an exhausted Mumbai attack on Sunday. Rest used up 121 overs in piling up 352 for four for an overall lead of 384 with the final day left. Abhinav Mukund knocked off the expected century (126, 250 balls, 10x4), fellow opener M. Vijay came close (91 runs, 211 balls, 10x4), Manoj Tiwary hit his stride after early caution (80 not out, 132 balls, 10x4). Mukund century Abhinav Mukund hit his seventh first-class hundred and, though M Vijay fell short of three figures, Rest of India had taken complete control of the Irani Cup on the fourth day. The openers were dismissed late in the first session and S Badrinath went in the second, but Manoj Tiwary ensured that ROI further tightened their grip on the game with a patient half-century. Rain looms A persistent drizzle brought a slightly early end to the first session and it returned later to prevent any play from happening in the last. With only a day left, and the weather looking iffy, this game appeared to be moving towards a draw. Rain will decide the fate of this five-day game thereafter. Rest rules The day had everything that you could expect in domestic cricket when one team moved towards gaining complete ascendancy. The pace of cricket was gentle, batsmen simply cantered along, the bowling lacked sting, there was no one watching and if only a dog had invaded the field it would have made for a picture-perfect session. It was a day to bring books, your ipod, some good food and drinks, and perhaps, even take an afternoon siesta. The only bright spot came at the end of the second session when the television flashed a glimpse of a padded-up Virender Sehwag which teased you with the hope of some fireworks in the last session. But the rain played kill joy. Abhinav, who has now hit seven hundreds and two fifties from 17 first-class games, moved towards the landmark without any trouble. In fact, he didn't even realise that he had reached his hundred - when he clipped Dhawal Kulkarni off his pads - until the players in the dressing room started clapping. He celebrated the landmark with a lovely off drive before unfurling an airier one past mid-off and a clipped boundary to deep square leg. Slice of luck for Vijay Chasing the ball around the huge VCA stadium ground seemed to deplete Mumbai energy. ROI was in so much control that Vijay even tried, successfully, a switch hit when he was on 88 and Tiwary played two consecutive reverse sweeps. Vijay didn't hit any boundaries today, instead moving along in dabbed singles. He did have a slice of luck on 79 when Vinayak Samant failed to hold on to a low catch off Kulkarni but fell pulling a long hop from Iqbal Abdulla straight to deep midwicket. Abhinav too departed soon, chipping Ramesh Powar straight to long-off. However, with the fall of Abhinav and Vijay, ROI pulled down the shutters completely for quite a while till Tiwary got things moving again. Tiwary's assault after early caution Tiwary started off slowly, reaching 6 from 63 balls, before he got going with an edged boundary to third man. That boundary seemed to turn the tide for him and he began to play shots more frequently. He used his feet well against the spinners, driving straight and lifting them inside-out over covers. By the end of the second session, ROI's lead had reached 382 and they still had six wickets in hand. The third session, however, was completely washed out. With the conditions looking overcast and overnight rains continuing, the prospects of play on Day Five -- Monday -- look extremely dicey. Sreesanth penalised Mumbai’s Dhaval Kulkarni and Rest’s Sreesanth received a warning and penalty respectively for exchange of words and gestures on the third day. The hearing took place after stumps on Saturday. According to match referee K.P. Bhaskar, Kulkarni was officially warned for a Level I offence (Section 1.4), pertaining to wrongfully accusing the bowler, and reprimanded. Sreesanth was fined 60 per cent match fees for a Level II offence (2.8), pertaining to insulting language towards another player as reported by umpires. He has been given a strict warning that the next time he repeats the act it will be treated as a Level III offence. Kulkarni slogged on the fourth day, bowled 15 overs and pulled off one diving catch. Sreesanth was confined to the Rest dressing room, waiting for his turn to bowl at Mumbai in the second innings on the concluding day at Irani Cup 2009.

[Chandan]

Pitch: Extremely dissappointed with the pitch. There is no bounce for the bowlers. Yes it has some grass, does help seamers. But ball hardly carries to the keeper. Ground: The new Nagpur Stadium is awesome and what more its very big ground with lush outfield. Superb conditions except for the pitch. well atleast pitch will product result

At the same time it must be added that the ground is 25-28 kms outside the main city, is not spectator friedly and most importantly has terrible drainage! In the last 4 day and half a session 100 overs of game has already been lost. The last three innings have seen just 285 overs being bowled instead of 385. And this is not the first time BCCI has bungled with venue! None of us can forget the Chennai match vs Australia in 2004 which got washed out on the last day, Lanka match in 2005 at the same venue couldn't even witness 2 innings being completed there. And everyone in India apart from BCCI knew that it'd rain at Chennai in that period. And England test at Mohali last year? Even a 5 year old kid knew about the fog problem in North India in December. But BCCI is not even that knowledgeable! After a long long time few fans got interested in the domestic cricket and what do we witness? Rain marred Irani tie which could have an exciting finish. When will BCCI learn to choose venue keeping the weather into account?

[Lord]

Rest of India wins the 2009-10 Irani Cup, on their first innings lead.

[Gambit]

Great writeup kabira. I'm joining the Sreesanth wagon now. Get this loony back into the team. Absence and incumbent short/wide 110 kmpb specialists make the heart grow fonder. :icflove:

[Guest Shivani]

Rest of India wins the 2009-10 Irani Cup' date=' on their first innings lead.[/quote'] :two_thumbs_up:

[kabira]

hmm, I don't think it ever rains in October in Vidharbha. But this is just an exception.

[Chandan]

Report of Day 5 and Conclusion Rest of India 260 (Jadeja 77, Agarkar 3-45) and 352 for 4 (Mukund 126, Vijay 91,Tiwary 80*) beat Mumbai 230 (Jaffer 68, Sreesanth 3-46, Munaf 5-70) by first-innings lead Scorecard and ball-by-ball details Rest of India (ROI) lifted the Irani Cup on the basis of a first-innings lead after the final day was abandoned because of overnight rain in Nagpur. Hindsight conclusion The interest started to evaporate away from the game in the afternoon of day 3 when Mumbai couldn't break the opening partnership between Abhinav Mukund and M Vijay and the match was dead by day 4 as ROI showed no interest in declaring. There was no cricket on the final day as heavy overnight rain left the outfield, and the bowler's run-up, unfit for play. Focus on seamers The match had started with the background of the bowling crisis gripping the national team and all interest was, obviously, on Sreesanth and Munaf Patel. Both lived up to the billing; Sreesanth was the best bowler on view, hitting a full length and getting the ball to seam both ways. Munaf, too, improved after a slow start and teased the batsmen with his accurate seam bowling on the off-stump channel to end up with a five-wicket haul. Sreesanth also revealed his other side, getting into a tiff with Dhawal Kulkarni and being fined 60% of his match fee for that. Along with Munaf, he has done his best to push for a spot in the Indian team but one has to wait and see how the selectors view this incident. There was, also, some interest in the third seamer, the talented Sudeep Tyagi, but he had a bad game as he never came to terms with the slightly slow wicket, often bowling too short. Mumbai had Dhawal Kulkarni and he was steady without ever looking too threatening. He had two catches dropped off his bowling and, had they gone in his favour, we might have seen him up his game further. Sehwag The other sidelights prior to the game were Virender Sehwag's return from injury and how Rohit Sharma would bat. Sehwag didn't score much and later went down with fever and couldn't take the field. He was padded up, though, at the end of the second session on the fourth day and appeared at the post-match ceremony where he said he would play in the Champions League. Rohit Sharma didn't make use of his opportunity, edging behind a full length delivery that straightened and will now have to score consistently in the domestic circuit to force his way into the Indian team. Virender Sehwag enjoyed the high of a victory in the Irani Cup 2009 on first innings lead over Mumbai, despite a low-key performance individually in the five-day season opener against Mumbai on Monday. Sehwag scored 10 in the first innings, sat out the next three days due to fever and did not get a chance to bat in the second innings. “I enjoyed each one of the 14 balls I played,” said Sehwag about his contribution to the Rest’s total on the first day. Good delivery “Ajit (Agarkar) bowled a really good ball (to dismiss me). It happens in cricket,” he said, singling out Jadeja’s 77 in the first innings as the crucial factor which helped Rest take first innings lead. “We were in a winning situation due to Jadeja, whose runs enabled us to post a decent total.” The left-hander top-scored in Rest’s score of 260 on the opening day. S. Badrinath, the acting captain for Rest in Sehwag’s place, talked about the similarity in the bowling approach of Munaf Patel and S. Sreesanth and then noted the different way both respond to situations. Focus on the job “Munaf has mellowed down. It was seen in the way he focussed on the job. Sreesanth has to do the same. I keep telling that he should be making his point by taking wickets. That is the maximum I can do.” Munaf’s five-wicket haul, supported by three wickets from Sreesanth, restricted Mumbai to 230, giving Rest a first innings led of 30 runs. Sreesanth was fined a portion of his match fee for an incident involving Mumbai all-rounder Dhaval Kulkarni, who was also warned. Sehwag lauded youngsters Ravindra Jadeja, Abhinav Mukund, Murali Vijay and Manoj Tiwary for their application in batting. “I am happy the way Rest youngsters Jadeja, Mukund, Vijay and Tiwary shaped up.” No play was possible on the final day, leaving Tiwary just 20 runs short of a century. Positives Four other players got among runs: Mukund, Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, and Manoj Tiwary. The consistent Mukund was again steady, Vijay didn't look fluent but fought on, Jadeja played a very responsible hand, and Tiwary played a very patient hand. The positives to take out from this Irani Cup, though, would be the form of Sreesanth and Munaf.