Ranji Trophy 2012-13

[Raghav_12]

Congrats to Mumbai for fantastic win :hatsoff:

[Lord]

No he didn't. As for Dhawal, i am still not sure. Hasn't looked as impressive as Shami or Sidarth Kaul did despite the wickets. Pankaj Singh basically does the same thing as him with more accuracy and also a 6 feet 6 height. Same with Ishwar Pandey. Might be worth keeping in consideration though.

both Pankaj n Pandey have only outswing AFAIK

[express bowling]

both Pankaj n Pandey have only outswing AFAIK

Pandey was bowling off-cutters too.

[The Outsider]

Congrats to Mumbai for fantastic win :hatsoff:

All because of your dumb team who wanted to go for glory instead of playing out a draw and knock Bombay out. :poink:

[password]

thanks thanks for the info guys

[Chandan]

LINK Renewed hope or false dawn? The Ranji Trophy format was changed to ensure more decisive matches but a look at this season's statistics shows that it may not have worked Chetan Narula 30 2013. The 2011-12 Ranji Trophy season had ended with a whimper when eventual champions Rajasthan out-batted Tamil Nadu over five days in the final at Chennai. That the summit clash ended in a drab draw reflected on the overall tournament: 88 matches played, 53 drawn, only 35 results: Ând the biggest turn-off was that seven of the nine knock-out matches were decided on the basis of the first-innings lead. The hue and cry forced the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take note and swing into action. Their Sourav Ganguly-led technical committee, of which former cricketer Anil Kumble was a part and W.V. Raman (also Bengal coach) a consultant, mooted changes in June. Since its inception in 1934, the Ranji format had undergone modifications on seven occasions. In this eighth instance, a more streamlined tournament was introduced: Three groups, nine teams each, with a balanced promotion and relegation system, and a definitive increase in the number of matches. There was another minor alteration. The points awarded for an outright win were increased from five to six. It was but a cosmetic change, as Delhi coach Vijay Dahiya pointed out. The whole points system needs an overhaul. You cannot award points based on an entire innings spanning three days. Possibly, it should reflect the English county system, where the runs scored or wickets taken in only the first 90 overs count. I am not asking to copy their system, but a more keen approach needs to be worked out. Raman had suggested an overhaul of the points system to the committee but that was kept on hold. If you talk in terms of qualifying for the knock-outs, the system more or less remains the same, he had told ESPNcricinfo in the preview to the 2012-13 season. The big positive is that everyone will be playing the same number of games. I doubt if it will change anything though. But I am interested in seeing the quality of pitches that are laid out this season. At the time of approving the format changes, the BCCI sent out a clear directive that the host associations ought to provide sporting wickets for all matches, league or knock-out. The intent to gain as many outright results as possible was clear, so much so that the duration of all knock-out matches was extended from four to five days. Considering the league games and knock-outs together, 115 matches have been played this domestic season; they have produced 45 outright results and 70 matches have been drawn, including three in the quarter-finals (and one in the semi-final owing to inclement weather), never mind the extra day of play. In comparison with last season, there is some consistency?0% of the matches were drawn in 2011-12 and that figure remains the same in 2012-13, despite all the changes. Sporting wickets aren't made overnight, said Dhiraj Prasanna, chief curator at the Sardar Patel Stadium, on the sidelines of the first India-England Test at Ahmedabad in November. For example, we have relaid this pitch at Motera in 2012 and we worked hard for it to be up to scratch for this coming season. We have watered it and rolled it, yet the bounce is only satisfactory and we have to keep working on the square to get more out of it. It won't happen in this Ranji season for sure. The veteran hinted that the problem might also lie elsewhere. Sporting wickets don't really assure you of results, particularly in Ranji Trophy league matches, in which matches only last four days and the first-innings lead rule gives you the desired points in away games, Prasanna added. He will make a fast-bouncy one or a square-turner, and one of the two captains whose team cedes an early advantage will go on the defensive and play for a draw. Changing the pitches alone won't help. You have to change the whole mindset. There is a glowing example from this season to explain this phenomenon. In the second round of Ranji matches, the Maharashtra-Uttar Pradesh (UP) match at the new Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune saw 1,433 runs being scored for the loss of 13 wickets, without a single first innings completed in four days. There were five centuries, with Kedar Jhadav (Maharashtra) scoring 327 runs. The scorecard underlines the lack of life in the pitch. What it fails to highlight is Maharashtra's tactics. Despite a commanding first-innings score, they batted on for two and a half days and made sure UP never had a chance of getting points even on account of a first-innings lead, leave alone a result. UP captain Suresh Raina and bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad cried foul over their opposition's exasperating methods and the need for some action against such motives. Did the BCCI, so quick to unleash a pre-season directive, take any action? No, is the definitive answer. It is easy to draw conclusions from one or two games. Instead we should look at the whole picture, said former Test cricketer Sanjay Bangar and recently retired Railways player. It has to be considered that the number of matches has gone up. Some teams only played five matches in one season, this year all teams have played more games. In that light, if one out of three matches is giving you a result that is a good percentage. Also, you have to consider that Indian cricket has a tradition of slow wickets, with spin always the preferred mode of attack. Today, the directive is to prepare grassy wickets for domestic competitions. Somewhere a balance needs to be found, he added. The basic problem is that you cannot alter pitches all across the country, Dahiya said. What you can do, however, is identify centres that have a history of churning out draws, and either penalize them or invest for better wickets there. Dead and lifeless pitches also bring another factor to the fore, and that is disparity between any two teams, he added. Why will a team, with three spinners as their frontline attack, make pitches not suited for their bowlers? Some teams are not strong enough to ever win the Ranji Trophy or even progress to the next group. For them, it is a matter of survival, with a first-innings lead an easy mode to garner enough points. Some teams even use this method for knock-outs qualification. Equality in competition has never been more essential for cricket, with so many one-sided matches on the international scene sapping fans energy. On the domestic front, things continue to slip beneath the radar. This year's Ranji final too ended on a sombre note. Not for 40-time champions Mumbai, but for Saurashtra, who had made their first final in 76 years. As the runners-up failed to come to terms with the bounce at Wankhede Stadium, their one batsman of international repute who could have made a difference, Cheteshwar Pujara, sat miles away in Dharamsala, twiddling his thumbs. The BCCI's stubborn stance in not releasing him from national duty to play in the showpiece final hollowed out their honest attempts to spruce up the Ranji Trophy. The words "lack of intent" never held more meaning.

[CG]

In the end its all about the pitches.

[Old guy]

group tournament was good...finals were boring mostly :p services played a thriller...mumbai should be banned from playing at home at pattas

[diga]

Renewed hope or false dawn? The Ranji Trophy format was changed to ensure more decisive matches but a look at this seasonÃÔ statistics shows that it may not have worked Chetan Narula 30 2013. .

Pls quote the source for copyright issues...

[vayuu1]

group tournament was good...finals were boring mostly :p services played a thriller...mumbai should be banned from playing at home at pattas

yes :hitler:

[I6MTW]

If Saurashtra had Jadeja and Pujara then they would've had a better chance.

[Chandan]

LINK The Ranji Trophy needs neutral venues And a tweak to the points system so that there are more outright wins Aakash Chopra February 4, 2013 Ranji champions Mumbai won only two games outright this season To stake a claim on the illustrious Ranji Trophy is no mean feat. To be able to play quality first-class cricket consistently for three months you need to put in plenty of effort into your pre-season preparation and fitness training, work on your team combinations, and ensure you have a strong bench of reserves to endure the backbreaking schedule. So when a team like Mumbai win the trophy 40 times - the second-best side, Delhi, haven't won half as many - other state teams should be looking at the reasons behind their successes and turning them into a blueprint to follow. Things were a little easier till a few years ago with regards to the standard of competition and scheduling of matches, but massive changes to the tournament's rules, points system, pitches and scheduling have made winning it much more challenging today. So kudos to Mumbai for not only winning the Ranji Trophy this year, but also for reaching the finals of all the junior age-group tournaments. Undoubtedly the Mumbai Cricket Association is doing something right to be able to enjoy such consistency. But as much as Mumbai's victories reinforce their dominance on the Indian domestic circuit, they also highlight the pitfalls in the prevailing structure. Mumbai had only two outright wins from 11 games this season. The rest were decided on the basis of first-innings leads. There is no denying that on many occasions Mumbai must have played better cricket than their opponents to get three points for the lead, but is that how we'd like our first-class cricket to be set up - where pitches aren't good enough to produce outright results and where there is an inherent flaw in the points system, which encourages teams to get three "safe" points rather than aim for an outright win? Pitch imperfect Acting on the recommendations made by its technical committee, the BCCI directed curators across the country to prepare sporting pitches this season, and all matches were scheduled on a home-and-away basis. After India's recent overseas debacles, it was imperative to take a closer look at the kind of tracks the country's young players were fine-tuning their skills on, and the consensus was that there was an urgent need to spice up pitches in India. Unfortunately it seems the curators didn't take the brief as seriously as they should have, because this season's outright win percentage of 40% is the same as last season's. While Mohali produced results throughout the season, Rajkot had three draws and three results. And for every pitch like Mohali, we have five others like Rajkot, which is why India's below-par overseas performances shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, a player is a product of his environment. The board needs to start penalising state associations for dishing out highways in the guise of cricket pitches. Dock the team points, slap financial penalties on the association, and treat the grounds at par with those like Karnail Singh Stadium, which was found guilty of hosting matches on underprepared pitches. After India's overseas debacles, the consensus was that there was an urgent need to spice up the pitches in India. Unfortunately, this season's outright win percentage of 40% is the same as last season's Not enough points Before the season began, there was a lot of talk about changing the points system, and it was decided an extra point would be given for outright wins. While it is a noble idea to encourage teams to go for wins, the actual number of outright victories haven't gone up significantly. In fact, Mumbai found their way into the knockouts by winning only one game in the league phase. Perhaps there's a need to add a few more points for an outright win or to revamp the points system completely to raise the level of competition. I suggested a new system for points on my blog on ESPNcricinfo. Go back to neutral venues The decision to play knockout matches at neutral venues was a sensible one, because otherwise the hosts have an unfair advantage. The pitch for the Ranji final between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh at the Wankhede in 2007-08 had something in it for everyone and allowed Delhi to win the game even after conceding a first-innings lead. If UP had hosted the match, they would probably have prepared a turner to take advantage of Delhi's limited spin resources. But a few years ago, on Sachin Tendulkar's suggestion, the board decided to revert to the home-away system for knockouts to bring crowds into the stadiums. Tendulkar said neutral venues kept the teams' die-hard fans away from the grounds. But most home games are still played in empty stadiums, and now the problem of unsporting pitches has returned. In the 2010-11 Ranji semi-final, Baroda, backing their superior spin bowling attack, dished out a dustbowl to Karnataka, who were a stronger team overall. The match lasted five sessions. Such radical surfaces even out the playing field, but the outcome was harmful for the game. There are many such examples of hosts dictating terms at the cost of the quality of cricket. If state associations aren't ensuring substantial footfalls, it might be prudent to host these matches at neutral venues - perhaps in tier II cities. That way not only can the pitch preparation be regulated, there will probably also be decent turnouts for the games. This Ranji Trophy was said to be the year of transformations. But while some changes proved effective, like dividing the 27 teams into three groups of nine each so that every team got enough first-class games, others left a lot to be desired.

[Chandan]

LINK National duty comes first - Sunil Gavaskar by DreamCricket USA Feb 04, 2013 By Sunil Gavaskar Novak DjokovicÃÔ win in the first major of the year gives him the chance of the Grand Slam of winning all the four majors in the year. With Rafael Nadal just making a comeback to tennis with some events in South America it may well be some time before he gets back to his ferocious self. How his knee stands up to the rigours of running back and forth, which is his game, will soon be seen and no doubt not just the tennis aficionados but also the top players like Djokovic, Federer and Murray will be following with more than just passing interest. Djokovic had a dream run last year when he won the Australian and All England Opens but lost early in the French open and in the finals to Murray at the US Open in a pulsating five setter. Here in Australia he won in four sets against the same opponent but what is quite clear is that both Djokovic and Murray have just moved a step ahead of the others including Federer though of course nobody in his right mind would ever write off Federer at Wimbledon. The women's field looks a bit more open despite the domination of Serena Williams last year. She was surprised by a teenager from America who seems to have taken after Serena and if she stays injury free then she could well dominate as the Williams sisters did for much of the last decade. The Russian brigade is still around with their screaming and loud grunting. Victoria Azarenka retained her title with a hard fought win in the finals so she has a chance to repeat what Djokovic has done and win it three years in a row if she triumphs next year. She had to play a tough opponent and the crowd which was in the corner of her Chinese opponent not just because the Chinese is not getting younger but also because the crowd thought that she had resorted to gamesmanship by taking longer than the permitted three minute break for treating an injury in the semis against the American teenager. Reading about the way the crowd was stacked against Azarenka for her so called gamesmanship brought a smile because the Australians donÃÕ find anything wrong in the sledging and abusing that the Australians do on the cricket field. If that is not gamesmanship then tell me another but that is supposed to be macho and now we are told that it is also a mark of respect when players get into a slanging match on the field as happened in the second T20 game that the Lankans won. So quite clearly during the years that I played against the Australians they had no respect for the Indians since they hardly ever said a word to us. Correct me if I am wrong but we all thought that the matches were pretty competitive and hard fought be it in India or Australia. With the Australian team due to play four Tests in India in a few weeks time we will soon see how much respect they have for the Indians. Mumbai won the Ranji trophy with great ease showing that there is a huge difference between playing league games where the players are aware there is another game next week and playing in the knockouts where a loss means that they are out of the event. There will be those who will say that if Saurashtra were playing with Jadeja and Pujara it would have been tougher for Mumbai. Maybe the result would have been a bit delayed but wouldnÃÕ have been different looking at the manner in which Mumbai played. As usual BCCI bashers found fault with BCCI refusing to release Pujara and Rahane for the finals but national duty comes first. The last ODI match was also in a place where it would not be easy to fly in a replacement and it was an early start too so if anybody came down with illness or injury in the morning of the game then the team would have been short and even if they had already won the series, no team wants to go in with a second string lineup. The domestic programme is fixed in May since there are so many tournaments including junior cricket and the venues and logistics have to be planned well in advance. If anything, once the international schedule was finalised and it was seen that there was a three week gap between the English tour ending and the Australian tour arriving, then it should have been brought to the notice that the Ranji finals could start a couple of days after the last one-dayer instead of a day before the last one-dayer. For all you know it could have been between two teams who did not have any players in the national team. If they are so concerned about the best players not being made free for the national championships then why are they not asking that the same principle be applied to the Irani Trophy and the best of the rest play the Ranji Champions? The fact is that over the last couple of decades the Irani trophy is used to have a look at the emerging and fringe players and to see how they fare against the best team in the country. That is a sensible move and with the Aussies coming in for four Tests it will give the selectors another look at these players. As said earlier national considerations must come first. Always.

[Crookbond]

The Russian brigade is still around with their screaming and loud grunting.

[Crookbond]

Teams demand less gruelling Ranji schedule http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/623618.html

The captains and coaches of all the domestic teams in India were unanimous in demanding more time between Ranji Trophy matches during the annual captains and coaches' conclave that was held on Tuesday in Mumbai. This was one of the many suggestions put forth at the conclave that was also attended by technical committee chairman Anil Kumble, BCCI president N Srinivasan, secretary Sanjay Jagdale and Ratnakar Shetty, general manager, cricket development. The 79th edition of the Ranji Trophy was played by 27 teams that were divided into three groups of nine teams each. The number of matches played was also more than previous seasons. In about two months, every team played eight games and, except for a week-long break at some stage, teams often played four-day games with a break of only three days in between. The scheduling not only affected the fitness of players but also resulted in some teams opting for a first-innings lead instead of trying to gain an outright victory. For the BCCI, scheduling remains a tricky aspect, given that a plethora of domestic tournaments are played in a limited time frame. However, Kumble assured teams that their concerns would be addressed. One of the options the technical committee and the fixtures committee may explore is to introduce a four-day gap between matches at least in the latter half of the league stage. "We could have some matches played after a gap of three days, while others could have a four-day break in between. We will have to see how it works," Kumble told reporters after the two-hour meeting. Former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, who has been coaching the Hyderabad team for the last two seasons, endorsed Kumble's suggestion. "Ideally, every team would want at least a break of four days before every game but since it's practically difficult to implement, it would help a lot if the teams got longer breaks in the latter half of the season," Joshi said. "The fatigue starts creeping in as the tournament progresses. That is where the additional break can be helpful." While Bengal coach WV Raman suggested that both captains and managers should be asked to submit their assessment of the wicket after every match, a section of coaches felt the teams needed extra motivation to go for an outright victory rather than settling for drab draws after attaining the first innings lead. "We have seen several instances of teams opting against enforcing a follow-on, despite gaining a big first-innings lead, and opting to bat on instead. If an additional point is rewarded for enforcing the follow-on, it could make such games more interesting," Joshi said. Another suggestion, which was backed by almost everyone present at the meeting, was to stage the Ranji Trophy knock-out games at neutral venues. "There was a suggestion and the technical committee will discuss the issue during its meeting," Kumble said. Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni suggested that the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the national limited-overs championship, also be staged in a format similar to the Ranji Trophy. While the Ranji Trophy is played in a three-tier league stage followed by knock-outs, the Vijay Hazare Trophy starts with a zonal league that covers five regions. The two top teams from each zone then progress to the national knock-outs. "It pits the same teams against each other in the preliminary stage, like the old Ranji Trophy format," Kulkarni said. The suggestion, however, is unlikely to be implemented. "It will be a logistical nightmare," Kumble said. Some of the teams raised concerns over umpiring standards. The major concerns centred around the decision-making abilities of umpires and uniformity in judging the quality of light during matches. "Everyone went by their own experiences and made their suggestions. The teams who were affected expressed their concerns. But the overall standards of umpiring have improved," Kumble said. The suggestions will now be discussed in detail by the technical committee which could meet in the third week of March, according to Kumble.

[Sidhoni]

We could do with giving longer breaks between the matches. The time span of the tournament could be elongated from November - Jan to October - Feb. Vijay Hazare trophy lasts about 15-20 days and can also be played in March. Same with Irani trophy,just the one match, can be played in March.

[NareshK]

27 teams and too many mediocre players. It doesnt ensure good quality of competition and produces batsmen and bowlers with inflated averages. Divide the teams into groups and lessen the number of games.

[Sidhoni]

27 teams and too many mediocre players. It doesnt ensure good quality of competition and produces batsmen and bowlers with inflated averages. Divide the teams into groups and lessen the number of games.

They are already divided into groups. 3 teams each qualify from groups A & B but only 2 qualify from group C.