Ranji Trophy, Super league, 2007-08 [Ranji SS available]

[Tapioca]

Unlike the last round, not a good match in sight. Most of the matches will be over by lunch tomorrow, and the rest are dull draws.

[Chandan]

ROUND VI, DAY THREE Cricinfo staff December 19, 2007 On the third day of the sixth round, Saurashtra closed in on a semi-final spot by beating Maharashtra outright. Saurashtra now have 20 points, three more than Delhi and five more than Mumbai, whose matches are yet to be completed. In Group B, Uttar Pradesh made a late charge towards the semi-finals as they beat Bengal by an innings and 152 runs and moved to 14 points with one match to play. Punjab turned the game against Orissa on its head after bowling them out for 76 in the second innings. They look good to chase the 175 runs easily on the fourth day, a result which will give them an excellent chance to avoid relegation. They don't play a match in the last round, having already completed their fixtures, and will have to await other results. Saurashtra 253 and 68 for 2 (Vaghela 29*, Bahutule 2-35) beat Maharashtra 136 and 182 (Kanitkar 62, Dhurv 5-37, Jadeja 3-45) by 8 wickets Scorecard The covers were on for most of the day in Chennai and Bangalore © Cricinfo Ltd Saurashtra sailed to the top of Group A after completing an eight-wicket win over Maharashtra in Nagothane. The hosts, trailing by 117 on the first innings, resumed at 34 for 1, and were bundled out for 182, with left-arm spinner Rakesh Dhurv picking up career-best figures of 5 for 37 in 13.4 overs. Allrounder Ravindra Jadeja chipped in with three wickets, as Maharashtra once again failed to go beyond 200. Hrishikesh Kanitkar top-scored with 62, with only three other batsmen going past single figures. Needing 66 for the win, Saurashtra lost two wickets to Sairaj Bahutule before sealing the win and gaining five crucial points in the process. Uttar Pradesh 494 (Praveen Kumar 67, Paul 7-113) beat Bengal 149 and 193 (Gupta 5-11, Tyagi 4-38) by an innings and 152 runs Scorecard Uttar Pradesh stretched their overnight score of 437 for 7 to 494 before bowling out Bengal for 193 to win by an innings and 152 runs at Eden Gardens. UP gained the bonus point and are now placed second behind Baroda in Group B. For Bengal, SS Paul bagged 7 for 113. Bengal's openers put up a spirited reply in their second innings, putting up a 100-run partnership, but Praveen Gupta and Sudeep Tyagi then ran through their batting line-up as the rest folded meekly. Anustup Majumdar top-scored with 60. While it was Tyagi who broke the resistance with the first four wickets, Gupta ended with exceptional figures of 9.3-6-11-5. Bengal batsmen paid for their ineptitude and lack of application as Uttar Pradesh won by an innings and 152 runs with a day to spare in the Ranji Trophy tie at the Eden on Wednesday.

The defeat left Bengal staring at the prospect of relegation from the Super League. They now need an outright victory in their final match against Andhra Pradesh to stay afloat.

It was pathetic as the batsmen competed with the bowlers in their listless display. There was no effort to turn the tide after the first innings disaster. Like in the first innings, the Bengal batsmen lasted just a little more than two sessions. This, despite there being no devil in the wicket and the bowling a little above average. A 100-run opening stand between Anustup Majumder and Arindam Das did raise hopes of a draw but the rest of the batsmen showed no intention of staying at the wicket. Poor shot selection was the prime reason as left-arm spinner Praveen Gupta - who did not get to bowl in the first innings - returned with five for 11 from 9.3 overs and mediumpacer Sudeep Tyagi grabbed four. “This was totally unexpected. It hurts.,” said Deep Dasgupta, who led in the past two seasons when Bengal finished runners-up. Sambaran Banerjee, Bengal’s last Ranji Trophy winning captain, shared Deep’s sentiments. There was no pride on display as Bengal crashed to their second consecutive defeat. Apart from the openers, none showed the mentality to play a long innings or bat session by session. The team looks disjointed in the absence of some inspiring leadership from Shukla. There appears no quick fix solution in sight. Manoj Tiwary managed only 24 in front of national selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar. He batted for 71 minutes and hardly looked to instil confidence in his teammates. A gentle edge to Mohammed Kaif in the slip off an insipid Praveen delivery ended his vigil and with it, Bengal’s chances. Shukla tried to make amends with a dodgy 41, but he too succumbed in the face of lack of support. Bengal had started 345 runs in arrears after Uttar Pradesh batted for more than an hour in the first session to finish at 494. Praveen Kumar made 67 as Shib Shankar Paul finished with seven for 113. No doubt the players will have to perform out of their skins against Andhra Pradesh. The selectors have already rung in a few changes and it remains to be seen how the players respond to the challenge. Coach Bharat Arun felt the mindset of the players needs to change for a turnaround in the final game. Deep has agreed to come forward with suggestion to the players. The onus now lies with the CAB. Himachal Pradesh 214 (Hussain 6-58) and 236 for 5 (Gupta 53, Paras Dogra 50*, Mannu 42*) lead Mumbai 370 by 80 runs Scorecard Mumbai managed to take a healthy first-innings lead in Dharamsala and enforced a follow-on, but an 81-run sixth-wicket partnership between Paras Dogra (50*) and Ajay Mannu (42*) kept the game alive for Himachal Pradesh. Himachal, resuming on 180 for 7 in the first innings, were bowled out for 214. Murtaza Hussain, playing his third first-class game, finished with 6 for 57, his maiden five-wicket haul. In the second innings, Himachal's openers Manish Gupta and Hemant Dogra led a dogged reply with an opening stand of 76. The spinners - Ramesh Powar and Iqbal Abdullah - then struck for Mumbai, as Himachal slumped to 155 for 5 before Paras and Mannu propped them to 236 at stumps. Pace bowler Murtuza Hussain's lethal spell of 6-58 left Himachal Pradesh in tatters in their Super League game against Mumbai in Dharamsala. Reply to Mumbai's first innings total of 370, HP could manage just 214. Hussain removed the top four of HP's batsmen and then came back to wipe off the tail to complete his maiden five-wicket haul in first class cricket. With a deficit of 156 runs, HP were asked to follow on, after which they came up with a sturdier performance. They were 236-5 with a lead of just 90 runs and a day left in the game. Manish Gupta (53), Hemant Dogra (47) and Paras Dogra (50*) made the biggest contributions. Openers Gupta and Hemant added 76 in good time. Ramesh Powar made the first strike, picking up Hemant caught and bowled in the 26th over. Punjab 225 (Basanth Mohanty 5-48) and 117 for 2 (Inder 47*) need another 58 runs to beat Orissa 323 and 76 (VRV Singh 5-25, Gangadeep Singh 3-25) Scorecard VRV Singh rattled Orissa in the second innings to put Punjab on the threshold of a stunning win after they had conceded a 98-run first-innings lead. Orissa were bowled out for 76, while Punjab had scored 117 of the 175 runs required for the loss of two wickets by stumps. VRV took 5 for 25 to trigger a collapse after a solid start, while Gagandeep Singh took 3 for 25. The last nine entries on the Orissa scorecard read: 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4, 6, 0, 0*. The difference in his approach was evident, unlike his first innings spell, where he looked out of sorts, VRV Singh (5/25) bowled a fiery spell to send five Orissa batsmen packing, and got a hat-trick to boot. His exploits helped Punjab restrict Orissa to 76 on the third day. Punjab need just 58 more runs to earn an outright victory and with it five points to take their tally to 13. VRV Singh trapped RR Parida leg before on the last ball of the 12th over, and came back in the 14th to send back RR Das and SV Sehgal in consecutive balls to complete his hat-trick. For good measure, he went on to add another wicket — that of P Jayachandra — in the 14th over itself. He also sent back Haldhar Das. At close of the third day’s play, Punjab were 117/2 with Ravi Inder (47) and skipper Pankaj Dharmani (8) at the crease. Earlier Punjab, resuming at 207 for 8, managed only 225, with Basanth Mohanty taking his second five-for in as many matches at the first-class level. Ravi Inder, with an unbeaten 47, had taken Punjab close to what will be their first win this season. More importantly, it will take them off the bottom of the table. Baroda 136 for 2 (Williams 75*, Solanki 51*) trail Andhra 469 for 9 dec (Prasad 121*) by 333 runs Scorecard After two days of grinding out the opposition, Andhra declared their first innings at 469 for 9, with former India wicketkeeper MSK Prasad remaining unbeaten on 121, but met an even more dour reply from Baroda who recovered well from two early blows. If Andhra's run-rate of 2.53 during their innings was slow, Baroda outdid them, scoring 136 for 2 in 77 overs. Connor Williams was resolute during his 256-ball 75, and put on 133 runs for the unbroken third-wicket partnership with Rakesh Solanki, after D Kalyankrishna had struck twice to leave Baroda reeling at 3 for 2. Andhra captain M.S.K. Prasad compiled an unbeaten century as the team declared its first innings at 469 for nine, early into the third and penultimate day of its Ranji Trophy Elite group B match against Baroda at the ACA-VDCA stadium here on Wednesday. Baroda overcame initial setbacks, with opener and captain Connors Williams and Rakesh Solanki finishing the day with half centuries, and posted 136 for two at close. D. Kalyan Krishna, who added 61 runs for the ninth wicket with Prasad, was highly impressive with his medium pace when he opened the Andhra attack. He removed opener Satyajit Parab, with Hemal Watekar at second slip accepting an edge, and two balls later, Azhar Bilakhia drove straight to M. Suresh in the covers. Baroda had lost two wickets for just three runs and Andhra’s plan of scoring a big total and then restricting Baroda, as laid out by its coach Abid Ali earlier, seemed to be working. But Williams and Solanki, who are in good form this season having already scored two centuries each, did not allow Andhra further success. Andhra played for 10 overs in the morning after resuming at 434 for eight and M.S.K. Prasad reached his century (254b, 9x4, 1x6) with a single off medium pacer Hamid Ali . This was M.S.K. Prasad’s sixth century in his 94th Ranji match. Karnataka 0 for 0 trail Delhi 538 by 538 runs Scorecard Continual rain dampened Delhi's hopes of a semi-final spot as play was washed out on the third day in Bangalore. This means that Delhi have one day left to dismiss Karnataka to gain the points for a first-innings lead. They currently have 17 points, three less than Saurashtra's 20, while Mumbai, too, have high chances of reaching 20 points at least by the end of the round. Tamil Nadu 324 for 4 v Rajasthan Scorecard Rain continued to play spoilsport in Chennai, as only 8.2 overs were possible on day three after day two was washed out. Rajasthan struck once in that period, with Gajendra Singh removing overnight centurion M Vijay for 123.

[Cricketics]

Delhi had a great chance to wint he game and take a good lead.. rain playz the spoil sport.. damn it..

[Chandan]

Delhi match and chances terribly ruined by rain and I think they'll miss the bus to semis what with Saurashtra having qualified already. Second team would be Mumbai from this group.

[Tapioca]

Delhi match and chances terribly ruined by rain and I think they'll miss the bus to semis what with Saurashtra having qualified already. Second team would be Mumbai from this group.

There is one more round Chandan. Four teams have a realistic chance of qualifying from this group, and TN has an unrealistic one.

[Chandan]

ROUND VI, DAY FOUR Cricinfo staff December 20, 2007 On the final day of the sixth round, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra secured what could prove to be crucial results. In Group A, Himachal hung on for a draw, denying Mumbai the lead in the points table. Mumbai, with three points from the match, are now tied with Delhi, who were frustrated by rain at Bangalore, at 18 points. Himachal got themselves one point too, which could help them in the fight to avoid relegation, when they face competitors Rajasthan next. In Group B, Andhra took three points off leaders Baroda and came back into the semi-finals race, after having lost two successive matches outright. Punjab completed an easy win over Orissa to ensure they won't be relegated this season, even though they don't play in the next round. One of Bengal, Hyderabad and Andhra will be relegated this season. Mumbai 370 and 65 for 1 drew with Himachal Pradesh 214 and 430 (Mannu 103, Malik 48, Thakur 46*) Scorecard Ajay Mannu frustrated Mumbai with a defiant 103 as Himachal held on for a draw © Cricinfo Ltd Ajay Mannu denied Mumbai the outright win they were badly after with a defiant maiden century as Himachal Pradesh, following on, batted Mumbai out of the game. Himachal, resuming on 236 for 5, leading by 80, lost overnight half-centurion Paras Dogra after only three runs were added. Mannu stuck in, though, and got support from Sarandeep Singh, after which Ashok Thakur and Vikramjeet Malik put the matter beyond Mumbai. Ther last-wicket pair of Thakur and Malik played out 24.1 overs and added 79 runs, just when it looked like Mumbai could dismiss Himachal and go for a final dash. As it turned out, they were set a near-impossible 275 in a minimum of 13 overs. They managed 17 overs, and scored 65 runs. Punjab 225 and 175 for 3 (Inder 47*) beat Orissa 323 and 76 by 7 wickets Scorecard Riding on a five-wicket haul by pacer V R V Singh, Punjab defeated Orissa by seven wickets on the final day of the Ranji Trophy Super League Group B match in Mohali on Thursday. Requiring 175 for victory, Punjab resumed at their overnight score of 117 for 2 and got the remaining runs quickly. Ravi Inder, who was playing on 47, took his individual score to 74 before falling leg before wicket to Niranjan Behera. His knock was studded with 10 boundaries. The other overnight batsman skipper Pankaj Dharmani did not bat after injuring his ankle during the warming-up session before the start of play. Uday Kaul (21) and Ravneet Ricky (3) completed the rest of the formalities to give an easy win to Punjab, who earlier faced the threat of relegation. Wicket-less in the first innings, it was VRV Singh's haul, which included a hat-trick, that helped to dismiss Orissa for a very low total of 76 in their second innings. Orissa had scored 323 in their first innings and despite having a lead of 98 runs failed to capitalise on their advantage. The match also saw 17-year-old Siddharth Kaul make his debut as a bowler. Ravi Inder saw Punjab through to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Orissa, and with that avoided the relegation that had loomed large during the last two rounds. When Punjab began the final day, they required 58 to win, which they did easily after the loss of one more wicket. Inder was dismissed for 74, when they needed seven to win. Yesterday, VRV Singh's hat-trick (5 for 25) had rattled Orissa in the second innings to put Punjab in charge after they conceded a 98-run first-innings lead. With Andhra only managing three points against Baroda, Punjab were assured they would not be relegated. Baroda 270 (Gaekwad 91, Shankara Rao 5-50, Kalyankrishna 4-69) and 126 for 2 (Williams 53*, Solanki 52*) drew with Andhra 469 for 9 dec (Prasad 121*, Sumanth 72) Scorecard G Shankara Rao and D Kalyankrishna ran through the Baroda lower order to secure first-innings points from a slow-paced match. After Andhra had batted for more than two days to post 469, Baroda, 126 for 2 overnight, looked like batting out the final day without a first-innings result. But once the overnight pair of Connor Williams and Rakesh Solanki were dismissed, Shatrunjay Gaekwad, former India batsman Aunshuman Gaekwad's son, who scored 91, lacked support. Shankara Rao took 5 for 50 and Kalyankrishna 4 for 69 to dismiss Baroda for 270 and enforce the follow-on, but Baroda batted out 43 overs in the second innings to ensure a draw. Karnataka 0 for 0 drew with Delhi 538 (Dhawan 148, Kohli 169, Manhas 124) Scorecard Delhi moved to second place in Group A with 18 points while Karnataka remained sixth with 10 after damp conditions ruled out any chance of play on the final day between Karnataka and Delhi at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The umpires inspected the damp conditions six times, the covers came on and off repeatedly but the weather, which was predominantly wet with scanty dry patches, remained unsuitable for play. The teams got a point apiece. Delhi needed 10 wickets to secure first-innings points, but heavy rain on the third day, and a light drizzle this morning, had left the field wet. When the covers were finally removed, it was discovered that water had seeped on to the pitch and left a damp patch at one end. Even though the sun came out briefly and artificial methods of drying were used, the progress was slow. And when it began to rain steadily at 3.00 pm, the slim chances of salvaging some play vanished. Not a single ball was bowled over the last two days as persistent rains frustrated and forced Delhi to finish with only one point. They had dominated the Karnataka bowling to score 538 in the first innings, but didn't get a bowl. With their semi-final competitors catching up and even overtaking them, this has been a crucial loss of play for Delhi. Tamil Nadu 324 for 4 (Vijay 123, Badrinath 138) drew with Rajasthan 229 for 6 (Bist 79*, Saxena 71) Scorecard After rain finally relented in Chennai, Tamil Nadu declared on overnight 324 for 4, bowled 101 overs at Rajasthan, but could not get them out to gain the first-innings points. Robin Bist and Vineet Saxena scored half-centuries to ensure Rajasthan would not be bowled out. Bist finished unbeaten on 79.

[Chandan]

POINTS TABLE

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[The Outsider]

Half the matches have been drawn. Really disappointing to see these dull draws being played out.

[apocalypse]

blame it on weather also

[Cricketics]

chanda, mumbai gotta play Saurashtra.. if they lose to them or fail to earn 2 points.. Delhi are on their way then to semis.. Well Delhi would have topped the table of group a.. they deserved to.. rain ruined their chances.. game against karnataka.. they would have earned 2 points with ease..

[chanakya]

ICL has really hurt Bengal i guess. But they should still prepare juiced up tracks seaming tracks.

[Tapioca]

Makarand Waingankar in Hindu yesterday : Pitches in India will keep killing cricket

Looking at the dismal record that India has abroad preparing good cricket pitches would be the right approach. But even in the Ranji Trophy matches, after the third round, pitches are horribly doctored. The reason is that teams are either fighting for promotion or against relegation. And at that point all means, fair and foul, are deemed acceptable. Last season, one of the champion teams tried to prepare pitches to suit their attack, but the whole thing boomeranged and the team was relegated to the plate division.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/21/stories/2007122160912100.htm

[Chandan]

A look back on the off field as well as on field incidents during round VI Bose's odd week, and a boost for Plate League November 27, 2007 Many uses of a bat: Acknowledging team-mates, as above, and also to suggest an inside edge, as Manoj Tiwary tried to do in vain when given out lbw in Kolkata © Cricinfo Ltd No more Plate finals The Ranji Trophy Plate League will have semi-finals and a final for the last time this season. Under the new system, ratified by the BCCI Working Committee last week, the leaders of the two groups in the Plate League will qualify for the Super League quarterfinals along with the three top teams from each Super League group. This means a team from the Plate League could end up winning the Ranji Trophy if it is on the favourable side of three draws. The positive of the move, though, is that the teams get rewarded immediately for a good performance in the Plate League, as opposed to a promotion to the Super League the following season. But it's open to debate if the best team in the Plate League group is better than the fourth-placed team in a Super League group. This year's points standing provides an immediate case study. If rain severely affects the match between Delhi and Tamil Nadu in Chennai, Delhi could finish fourth in Group A of the Super League, even though they are a strong team and have done well. If the ruling were to be enforced this year, they could have lost a quarter-final spot to Railways, who are leading Group B in the Plate League. This move doesn't really remove the original problem of too many teams diluting the competition in the Super League. Long arm of the law When given out lbw off Praveen Kumar at Kolkata, Manoj Tiwary stood aghast - bat slightly pointing towards umpire, words on his lips, and anger in his eyes - and walked off reluctantly. PTI reported he had words with both umpires on his way back and more when the umpires were headed in for lunch. Chhota dada lost 50% of his match fee for his antics but there seems to be some previous between him and Ranade. cricketnext.com reports that it was the latest in a string of contentious decisions by Ranade involving Tiwary. Earlier this season, when India A played South Africa A in a one-day match at Rajkot, Tiwary was given out caught - though apparently off the helmet - by Ranade. Last year in Hyderabad, Ranade declared Tiwary out lbw while there seemed to be a deflection, the website reported. Elsewhere Aakash Chopra was sawn off for the second time in two matches, adding to his woes a week after Delhi team-mate Virender Sehwag made it to the squad ahead of him for the Test series in Australia. While Chopra sought to be philosophical and saw it as just another occupational hazard, Pravin Amre, Mumbai's coach, lashed out at the umpires. After Mumbai failed to bowl Himachal Pradesh out in their second innings, Amre was quoted as saying in the Times of India: "[Abhishek] Nayar and Ramesh Powar had both got [Ashok] Thakur early on - lbw and caught behind respectively -- but they were denied. Earlier, Rohit Sharma, Amol Muzumdar and Ajit Agarkar were incorrectly given out. This is the sixth match and I have not spoken against the standard of umpiring so far. But it has hurt us badly in every game. We are having to take 15 wickets in every innings." While the umpiring standards are not surprising, it is surprising that only Tiwary has been fined for showing dissent. It could have to do with that being the only match being shown live on TV. What's in a name Over the last week or two, Ranadeb Bose has been compared to Sourav Ganguly in terms of pace by a national selector, omitted from the invitees' list for the BCCI awards night where he was an winner, and his second name was changed on the team list in the match against Uttar Pradesh. He was called Ranadeb Mondal on the official list given by Bengal, which could have resulted in a protest by the UP team. On the first afternoon, the Bengal officials desperately went about trying to get the mistake corrected by the match referee Inderjit Singh Sachdeva, the Indian Express reported. In case of a factual error on the team list, the team at fault has to play without that particular player. In an earlier game, against Punjab at Siliguri, Bengal had failed to mention Bose's name in the team-list, the paper reported. The mistake was rectified during the match. Hat-trick season VRV Singh became the third bowler to take a hat-trick in two rounds of Ranji Trophy matches. And like the previous two - by Sony Cheruvathur and Parvinder Awana - this one too set up a win and also helped Punjab avoid relegation. VRV dismissed Niranjan Behera off the last ball of his fifth over and Rashmi Parida and Rashmi Das with the first two of his sixth, as Orissa collapsed from 24 for 0 to 76 all out in the second innings. Quotehanger "To be honest, it wouldn't have been as bad had Gautam [Gambhir] made it ahead of me.": Aakash Chopra told Mid-Day about his exclusion from the squad for the Tests in Australia. "But Viru [sehwag] - although he is a very good friend of mine - being picked ahead of both of us is a bit shocking. He was not even named in the provisional squad. In that sense, I have every right to be disappointed." ------------------------------------------------------- Again the poor umpiring has been criticised badly and BCCI is still not doing anything about this.

[msb1991]

There should be a ground rule set up and each selector watching the match should be handed a speed gun - anyone who averages less than 80 mph (a bit harsh' date=' but at least 77 mph) should be automatically disqualified regardless the wickets or movement he gets.[/quote'] Sarcasm? If not, that is very harsh. A much simpler way to solve the problem will be to judge their performances in the Duleep Trophy (which I would extend the length of, by making each team play each other twice and perhaps add another team) which is close to international level as Indian domestic cricket gets. If they succeed in that, whose to say they won't at international level? In a rather contradictory request, may I request a rough idea of the paces of the following bowlers. I cannot watch Indian domestic cricket since I live in England: -Ranadeb Bose -VRV Singh -Gagandeep Singh

[Chandan]

In a rather contradictory request, may I request a rough idea of the paces of the following bowlers. I cannot watch Indian domestic cricket since I live in England: -Ranadeb Bose -VRV Singh -Gagandeep Singh

Bose--120 to128 kph V Singh--in 130s, can bowl occasional deliveries at 140-142 too G. Singh-- 125-135

[Mr. Wicket]

Haven't seen Gagandeep recently, but when I last watched him, he was in the low 120s for the most part. Bose recently was mostly 117 to 125, with very few deliveries in the 125-128 range. I've seen VRV go as high as 142/143, but he's mainly in the 130s. BTW msb, part of the reason is that the pitches and conditions can often help new ball bowlers a lot. SS Paul and Ranadeb Bose are both medium pacers at best who have benefited from domestic games being played at Eden Gardens. Bengal always relies on its seamers more than anything else, and the Eden Gardens wicket always is a greentop aiding them (same in the Duleeps). Mohali's also similar in that aspect, designed for Punjab's seam and swing bowlers - so just numbers alone can't be used like that. For example, Bose had a far superior record to Balaji in the domestics for a couple of seasons some years ago. Bose's record was due to the pitches provided. Balaji played at the much flatter Chepauk in Chennai, and instead was a bit quicker than Bose, needing pace and a lot more tools on more unforgiving wickets to succeed. Sreesanth had a very average f/c record for Kerala/SZ when he was picked - think he came in with a f/c average of 35, which is far higher than what the likes of Bose, Gagandeep and Paul have. But he played again on far different surfaces, had a good deal more pace and variety to succeed in less helpful conditions - hence why he got picked and has been a big success so far, while the likes of Bose/Paul look like troubling nobody except A-level batsmen. Averages can be misleading. SS Paul was picked as a fringe player to the Indian test side in 2004, and his figures in the recent UP/Bengal game were impressive. But nobody who watched it would have thought of him as *near* international class. Mostly bowled in the 118-122 range, rarely troubled the batsmen once the new ball lost its hardness and stopped moving and looked completely innocuous most of the time, lacking any tricks or variety. But he has a fine Duleep and Ranji record.

[msb1991]

Thanks for the information about the seam bowlers. Although I am against discrimination against medium pacers, I have to agree that, realistically, 115kph will not do well at international level unless it has a tonne of international experience to go with it, so perhaps it is right not to select Bose. I think it should be well known to domestic cricketers that you need to be at least touching 130kph to be selected as a front line seamer for the Indian team, I have read Bose interviews that are under the impression that he did not really know that. On the topic of home pitch advantages, I recently did a statistic comparison of home and away, with Bose and Gagandeep. Away: Bose - 7798 balls (1299 overs and 4 balls). 138 wickets at 25.97. SR = 56.51 Gagandeep - 6586 balls (1097 overs and 4 balls). 133 wickets at 21.08. SR = 49.52 Gagandeep seems to do quite well away from home too, and a pace in the 120s kph is by no means poor. With such a great record, it is truly a mystery why he has not been picked even in squads recently.

[msb1991]

V Singh--in 130s, can bowl occasional deliveries at 140-142 too

Would you say he is the quickest bowler in Indian domestic cricket?

[Chandan]

Would you say he is the quickest bowler in Indian domestic cricket?

No. Not at all. There are many bowlers who bowl that way in India and VRV is not exclusively just a domestic cricket bowler--he has represented India and that too in tests. In tests we have Sree, much faster than him; RPS who has been bowling quick in last 6-7 month, even Pathan has touched 141 a couple of times. But why does pace draw so much attention? Bowler who might be quick but are one dimensional with no tool of variety are of no use.

[msb1991]

No. Not at all. There are many bowlers who bowl that way in India and VRV is not exclusively just a domestic cricket bowler--he has represented India and that too in tests. In tests we have Sree, much faster than him; RPS who has been bowling quick in last 6-7 month, even Pathan has touched 141 a couple of times. But why does pace draw so much attention? Bowler who might be quick but are one dimensional with no tool of variety are of no use.

By domestic cricketer, I mean outside the current Indian setup. I assume the answer is yes:dance:. Notice, also how Sreesanth rarely touches 140kph in Tests and so does RP Singh. Bowling fast in unlimited overs cricket requires stamina. Natural pace draws attention to me because it tells of an action which wastes little energy in going straight toward the batsman. This provides potential of good accuracy and good vertical bounce. It goes without saying that a fast bowler with good accuracy is the most dangerous weapon a side can have, just look at Dale Steyn. You cannot ignore the effect of VRV Singh's bowling either, he has a brilliant FC strike rate, the economy is an issue and I feel it will take merely the slightest tweaking to the action and good training drills to sort that.