How to improve standard of domestic cricket in India?

[Old guy]

See, there are two things: a) The pitch thing has to be improved from a grassroot level. The state boards make the pitches dependent on their home/away strategies. For example, a few years back Delhi would be creating green tops at Kotla all the time since they didn't have a quality spinner but had decent seamers. They all have to sort out the red soil/black soil issue as well. The main point is that pitches should have bounce which is dependant on soil, and there has to be a centralised policy about the soil that should be used for pitches. Most of the state boards are run by corrupt sarkari people, who are more interested in filling up their coffers than anything else. So, unless we have cricket-loving people who'll be in the state organisations for the love of the game and the country, nothing can be done! b) Zonal selection ensures that every zone gets a look-in, because the zonal guy is based there and understands local leagues, infrastructure and culture. Also, the plurality of India is so humoungous, you need people from specific zones to look into the kind of cricket that is played within that zone and spot talent. If you randomly select 5 top cricketers to be selectors, you can be rest assured that they'll never travel through the lengths and breadths of the country to see all the matches.

but dont selectors use other persons for information like scouts (whtever its called) its impossible for 4-5 guys to keep track of 27 teams if u want to search talent u can only do that by watching live.. highlights or stats dont tel u full story and why make srikanth selector? wht are the actual basis of selection of selectors :P :haha:

[Magneto]

Srikkanth has been a former Indian captain and was in a league of his own. He used to do what Sehwag does now, albeit at a lesser proportion. The first player I had been a fan of :P But anyway, I think these selectors only look at stats and nothing else. No scout/informer thing, only hearsay. If there is a buzz around a cricketer, they do look at him. They are normally present for the important matches, and select the Top 11 of the Rest of India teams and the zonal teams at the venues.

[Old guy]

Srikkanth has been a former Indian captain and was in a league of his own. He used to do what Sehwag does now, albeit at a lesser proportion. The first player I had been a fan of :P But anyway, I think these selectors only look at stats and nothing else. No scout/informer thing, only hearsay. If there is a buzz around a cricketer, they do look at him. They are normally present for the important matches, and select the Top 11 of the Rest of India teams and the zonal teams at the venues.

lol scouts are must in selection imo u cant go with stats...stats will show munaf was better bowler than bresnan in odis or even better than anderson etc (talking about 2011) but he isnt even close to me there is no need for making ex test cricketers selectors, people who are closer to ranji tournaments are better choice who stay close to players have eye for good talents its not like u are coaching them that u need people who are good players

[Magneto]

You do have state-level selectors and national selectors, and a lot of times the state-level guys graduate to the national selector post. Good international cricketers normally have an eye for good talent, they can spot a good young budding cricketer when they see one. That's why all the boards in the world have good international cricketers as selectors. The system is not too bad, to be honest; selection is a pretty much thankless job. When they get things right, they don't get praised; but when they screw up, we jump at them. There is a bit of an issue with quota selections with each zonal selector trying to push their players, but honestly, we don't have a better system right now to replace it. It's like democracy, it's not so good, but there is no better alternative.

[Old guy]

You do have state-level selectors and national selectors, and a lot of times the state-level guys graduate to the national selector post. Good international cricketers normally have an eye for good talent, they can spot a good young budding cricketer when they see one. That's why all the boards in the world have good international cricketers as selectors. The system is not too bad, to be honest; selection is a pretty much thankless job. When they get things right, they don't get praised; but when they screw up, we jump at them. There is a bit of an issue with quota selections with each zonal selector trying to push their players, but honestly, we don't have a better system right now to replace it. It's like democracy, it's not so good, but there is no better alternative.

system isnt bad its just corrupt.. thts the prob with this whole country...:((

[Magneto]

Fast with Anna :P

[Old guy]

Fast with Anna :P

thats not my style :--D

[Vilander]

That is not going to go down well on ICF. How can Chopra take a dig at one of the big 3 in Indian cricket? :omg:

Big in what ? pot belly ?

[mishra]

In India, I think it all boils down what kids and their parent think about how secure the profession is? If parents start believing that there is a future in sports(at least cricket), Automatically Cricket pool becomes larger... Play more international games. Hence create more local Heroes. Strengthen IPL. More revenues from IPL and International games should go to domestic cricket.

[1983-2011]

The case for a 12-team Ranji Trophy To revive the Indian team, the board must first reorganise the domestic structure. How about fewer teams and a shorter, better planned season?

Two options present themselves before those who are supposed to love and cherish Indian cricket. They could take the easy way out and skim the surface, make cosmetic changes; drop a player here or there; pass the blame to the selectors, the IPL, the senior players, the captain; and wait for the tide to turn. Or they could view the results from England and Australia as a magnificent opportunity to introspect honestly. Both words are important, for if you don't introspect honestly, you merely benefit airlines, hotels and incapable people. The board could make the systemic changes that Indian cricket, like an orphaned child, has been crying out for. They could begin the process of trying to become No. 1 again, which, even if not always apparent, is not a bad objective. Critically, they could begin the process of transformation; from looking at profit-loss statements to win-loss statements. Inevitably the second takes care of the first. Top of the list, when it comes to looking for change, is intent. If you have it, nothing else matters, for paths present themselves. If you don't have it, you meander your way through, occasionally stumbling onto success but not recognising it well enough to build a home there. Let us then assume intent. The first priority is to produce ready cricketers, and therefore to search for the process most likely to produce them. The current system has worked in parts; some extraordinary players have been spotted and nurtured over the years. It is not a wicked system but it only works up to a point. Being consistently excellent seems to elude it. The key to any resurgence is not to seek to produce the best national team but the best set of players immediately below it. If your first-class system is strong, the national team is automatically strong; the unfashionable always comes first. You cannot produce great leaders without a sound moral base, and you cannot build the first floor without the foundation below it. An intensely competitive Ranji Trophy will automatically produce a sound national team. And so that is where we need to begin. And that is where we need to be armed with intent. Rather than have many teams playing many games, we need to have fewer teams playing more games. We currently have 27 teams split into Elite and Plate groups. It was an idea worth trying, but it is still too many teams and few know who plays in the Plate group anyway. There is a system of promotion and relegation, again sound in theory, but it does nothing to improve the quality of cricket. Hardly anyone in the Plate group, in spite of Rajasthan's fairytale, threatens to break into the national team. With 27 teams you should have had about eight fast bowlers, eight spinners and five wicketkeepers fighting to be in the national team. It is time to separate the wheat from the chaff. I suggest no more than 12 teams in the Ranji Trophy - and that means no Elite or Plate groups. Just 12 teams. I can hear objections about 27 associations, the need to spread the game as deep as possible, the organisational hurdles... but it is precisely by listening to such voices that Indian cricket has remained inconsistent. That is why intent must lead the way. Having 27 associations and teams is a decoy; it promises only numbers, not excellence. With 12 teams, you will get 11 first-class games each and that is good enough. It also means there is no room for the Duleep Trophy, the zonal first-class tournament that outlived its utility many years ago. The Duleep Trophy fills dates in a calendar; it does little else. It was meant to be a higher standard of cricket than the Ranji Trophy, but if you improve Ranji, the Duleep Trophy becomes redundant. It will mean merging some of the existing teams, and the major deterrents here are the vote at the annual general meeting and the grant each state body gets. Neither is necessarily conducive to producing great cricketers. Yes, you will lose some cricketers, but if the top 150 players in the country cannot produce a competitive national team then the top 400 won't. You cannot dilute a system to protect its non-performing assets. My first 11 teams for the Ranji Trophy are Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh (including Hyderabad), Maharashtra (including Mumbai), Gujarat (including Vadodara and Saurashtra), Central India (including Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand), Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal. That leaves a 12th, and I think Railways, for their sheer determination and ability to fight the odds, and their commitment to employing cricketers, deserve to be the 12th, but with a share of the grant from the BCCI so they can look the other teams in the eye. It will mean no place for Kerala, Goa, Tripura, Assam, J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Orissa and Services. But their recent contribution to Indian cricket has been negligible, so they must go into a catchment area. It is not discrimination, just a search for the best. Accordingly, the Ranji Trophy season could be played from mid-October to end-January, with maybe, only maybe, an Irani Trophy match immediately following, so that the best players in a season get rewarded in the same season. The scheduling will be a bit tricky since you will also need to play a 50-over game along with the Ranji game, but that is an area the BCCI has been pretty good at. After a little gap, I propose an A series against a visiting side, from mid-February to mid-March, which will allow a clear two to three weeks of rest before the IPL. June remains free for everyone and the best players then embark on an A tour in July to either Australia or England. Maybe the A tours at home and away can be in alternate years, to ensure the calendar isn't too packed. And to round it off, a month between mid-August and mid-September will be completely free. This is merely the draft of a thought process, but it will allow the Test players to play the first two or three games in the Ranji Trophy and will require the BCCI to ensure the itinerary they want. It shouldn't be difficult. There are many other issues. The composition of the selection committee - the most potent arm of Indian cricket - the direction the National Cricket Academy needs to take, the amount of international cricket, the clear window pre- and post-IPL, the quality of pitches, the training of Indian coaches, the appointment of a permanent manager, the right media partners, etc. If each of these is approached with intent as the guiding light, there cannot be darkness. Maybe thoughts next week on those. But Indian cricket has to move away from its obsession with the profit-loss statement and towards an obsession with a win-loss statement. Everything else will follow.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/550112.html

[Crookbond]

BCCI to solicit players' views on domestic cricket http://es.pn/AzywM2

The meeting will give the players and support staff the chance to air their views on the domestic game, potentially ranging from the kind of ball that is used (Kookaburra or SG) to the quality of pitches to whether Ranji games should be played over four or five days. "The views of the captains and coaches, with regard to senior domestic cricket, will be discussed during the conclave," Sanjay Jagdale, the BCCI secretary, said in a statement.

[Feed]

BCCI shifts focus to making better domestic wickets No sooner did the IPL get over, the BCCI shifted its focus to the next domestic season. The Board conducted a two-day workshop for state association curators for bettering wickets in domestic cricket. More... BCCI shifts focus to making better domestic wickets Firoz Mirza/Amol Karhadkar, Hindustan Times Mumbai, May 31, 2012 No sooner did the IPL get over, the BCCI shifted its focus to the next domestic season. The Board conducted a two-day workshop for state association curators for bettering wickets in domestic cricket. The move was prompted by India’s recent dismal away run and poor-quality pitches for most domestic tournaments. One of the important decisions was to conduct a certification course for groundsmen. For now, the BCCI has announced a three-week training-cum-certification programme for graduates in agriculture science to attract trained professionals for preparing wickets. The initiative is scheduled between July 9 and 29 in Mohali. “It was agreed in principle that the three-week programme should be followed by a training programme for the maalis (groundsmen),” Venkat Sundaram, chairman of BCCI's ground and pitches committee, told HT. “Besides having trained professionals heading various units of curators, the need is also to train most of those who end up working on preparation and maintenance of grounds and pitches.” To make the curators alive to the need to maintain the outfield and wickets, the BCCI has tied up with the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. Representatives of the premier institute have collected samples of soil and grass from major venues and will suggest means to improve the quality. In a way, the BCCI has been forced to address the issue after it suspended the Karnail Singh Stadium in New Delhi --- home ground for Railways --- for consistently producing poor pitches last season. A warning was also issued to the Hyderabad Cricket Association for preparing sub-par wickets.

[jj_28]

Please BCCI we need more bounce and pace in our pitches

[Sidhoni]

Nice to see them taking initiative right away.

[bangladeshifan]

our pitches :((