Over four wonderful days in Mysore last week, Indian cricket reconnected with its romantic past. With every season, the past recedes further and the romance is strengthened by distance. We remember things that never happened, recall events through the filter of fantasy. Heroes of the past are larger than life; the triumphs they authored take on a hue that current successes will take a long time to match.

Yet, except for the detail that Karnataka failed to win the title, the Ranji Trophy final was probably the best the team was involved in. Especially since unlike in the past triumphs, the heroes were future stars rather than established players. But it was more than that. For one, there was more action, more excitement than in the entire one-day tournament that was being held around the same time in Bangladesh.

The final was at the other end of the scale from the IPL – it needed no gimmicks, no hype, no commentators paid to sing its praises. Spectators didn’t have to be enticed into the stadium with promises of heart-stopping action on field and off it. There were no cheer leaders, and yet fans clung on to trees, occupied nearby structures, hung on to every available space.

More importantly – a throwback to an earlier era – they cheered good cricket from both teams. After Ajit Agarkar’s final catch, there was a stunned silence where disappointment, relief (from tension), excitement were all nicely mixed. The faces said it all. And then there was spontaneous applause, as the visiting team were given a standing ovation.

It is tempting to say that the Ranji final transported us back into a more innocent time but that would be taking it too far. This was no innocent knock in the park; some of the player behaviour was appalling. The teams played hard, and sought to take every advantage in the modern fashion. Quick reaction from the umpires and the match referee might have kept the emotions of an Agarkar in check. There was too the terrible sight of a team lining up to hurl abuse at a dismissed batsman.

But when this match is recalled years from now, it will not be the player behaviour or the official weaknesses that will be recalled, but the quality of the batting and bowling, and Read more…

Administrator India Domestic Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhishek Nayar, Agarkar, Blogs.CMDN.com, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, Dilshan, IPL, Javagal Srinath, Jonty Rhodes, Karnataka, Manish Pandey, Mumbai, Mysore, Ranji

Pace-bowling all-rounder Ganapathi Chandrasekar has improved with each match

“I want to be a hero for my State in pressure situations,” he declares. The words are as forthright as the man himself.

Ganapathi Chandrasekar has walked the talk this season. The transformation in the pace-bowling all-rounder as he journeyed from the fringes to the centre-stage has been remarkable.

The 28-year-old cricketer has grown in belief. The feisty cricketer has been all heart and commitment when it matters. “Ganapathi now thinks he can make a real difference to the side. This is important,” says State coach W.V. Raman.

Tamil Nadu was a dominant force in Group ‘A’ of the Ranji Trophy Super League, and Ganapathi put his hand up for the side in critical junctures.

His figures this season during the league phase are impressive. Ganapathi has 18 wickets in seven matches at 21.16. He has also notched up 502 runs at 83.66 with two centuries; only S. Badrinath has scored more runs than Ganapathi in the league for the State this season.

The statistics stand out, but do not tell the complete story. They do not quite reflect the fact that Ganapathi delivered under great duress.

Tamil Nadu had conceded the first innings lead to Himachal Pradesh at Dharamshala. Then, with little hope of forcing a win, the side set Himachal a target of 247 in a maximum of 60 overs.

Enter Ganapathi. He sliced through the Himachal top and middle-order with the new ball and then L. Balaji blew away the tail. The host were bundled out for just 155 in 47.4 overs.

“The mood in the dressing room was electric. There was great joy and relief. I was happy to have played a part. I love challenges,” says Ganapathi.

He relished the sniff of a combat with the willow as well. Tamil Nadu was reeling at 50 for five on day one against Mumbai in Mumbai. Ganapathi joined S. Badrinath in the middle and Read more…

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Sandeep Dwivedi pieces together the diverse stories of 15 young cricketers who have come together to represent India in the under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in January

At the Bandra-Kurla Complex, the Ranji Trophy match between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu had been reduced to another mundane race for the first-innings lead, and the mood around the stadium reflectedthe predictability of the looming draw.

Providing a stark contrast to that, on the sidelines, were a bunch of chatty boys wearing India colours. These 15 had been picked from among several budding talents spread across this one-sport country to represent India and the under-19 World Cup in New Zealand next month. The starry-eyed optimism was evident as well as infectious, and a welcome distraction from the action on the field.

In the past, the junior World Cup has regularly proven to be an elevator capable of taking players right up to the big league, and these child actors were aware of the opportunity that could make them superstars.

Different strokes

That Indian cricket has moved out of the cities and into smaller corners is no secret anymore; even so, the cricketing journeys of some of these players are as remarkable as they are diverse. If it wasn’t for cricket, most of them wouldn’t have crossed each others’ paths, forget being constant companions on what is likely to be an exciting journey.

Skipper Ashok Meenaria, for example, is one of the first people from Udaipur’s community of temple priests to take up sport as a career, while the team’s premier spinner — left-armer Harmeet Singh — is the son of a Mumbai-based property dealer and an exception in his own family for his choice of vocation.

Meenaria’s coach, Manoj Chaudhary, says his ward hasn’t missed a single day of practice since he first came to him as a nine-year-old, and adds that the way in which he turned a docile Read more…

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It was an evening when lesser-known players overshadowed the individual efforts of the established ones, including the rejuvenated Ishant Sharma. Maharashtra’s Harshad Khadiwale and Jharkhand’s Ishank Jaggi, threw away the opportunity to make big scores after having begun well in their Challengers debut.

Tamil Nadu’s Suresh Kumar ought have stayed till the end and taken India Blue home. His dismissal for 87, 13 shy of the target, led to an exciting finish, but Blue scraped through by one wicket with three balls to spare. S Badrinath’s India Red were bowled out for 248.

Suresh held Blue’s hopes, thriving in the company of the promoted Harbhajan Singh and later with Dhoni. Shouldering the responsibility after seeing both Harbhajan and Dhoni fall, the 24-year-old was at ease while tackling Munaf Patel and Ishant Sharma.

Earlier, Khadiwale (55, 51b, 7×4), batting above Badrinath at number three, was up against India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh as early as the 11th over. The 21-year-old from Pune showed tremendous confidence and maturity required at this level. His exposure trips with Maharashtra Cricket Association to Bangladesh in May and Australia in June this year made him more confident. This offset the limited List A experience he had coming into this game. Any youngster, who has been involved in the run out of a senior player, especially the captain, is bound to get jittery. But not Khadiwale. After being involved in a mix-up that resulted in his Badrinath’s dismissal, the Pune lad carried on to score his fifth half-century.

Jaggi, the 20-year-old from Jharkhand, derived strength from the presence of his illustrious State-mate in the opposition camp, Dhoni. Using his height to the advantage, Jaggi did Read more…

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An early exit in the recent Champions Trophy has opened a can of worms in Indian cricket. At a time when the raging debate is about the future of the 50-over cricket, India’s failure to go beyond the league stage has raised a lot of questions, mainly in the bowling department.

In this backdrop, the Challenger Series for the NKP Salve Trophy among the best available India players, including M. S. Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Ishant Sharma and Suresh Raina who returned from South Africa, will acquire much significance.

Otherwise, the tournament, at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium here from Thursday — that coincides with the richest cricketing event, the Champions League — would have been reduced to just another in the BCCI calendar.

Eight of the India players involved in the Champions Trophy — Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, Ashish Nehra, Amit Sharma, R.P. Singh, Rahul Dravid, Praveen Kumar and Virat Kohli — will be turning out for their respective franchisees in the T20 competition, giving more players, some hardly known outside their states, a chance to rub shoulders with the likes of Harbhajan and Dhoni.

Dhiraj Goswami from Assam, Jalaj Saxena from Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand’s Ishank Jaggi and Maharashtra’s Ameya Shrikhande are a few of the little-known players who would be keen to make an impression.

Performances in the Challengers have often been considered for India selection. Though major changes in the Indian squad are not expected as Dhoni’s men look to bury the forgettable Champions Trophy and take on the winners Australia in a seven-match ODI series starting in Baroda on October 25, the selectors also do not want to send wrong signals by Read more…

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Rest of India batsman Manoj Tiwary left the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium here on Monday cursing his luck.

The fifth and final day of the Irani Cup was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to wet outfield, following heavy overnight rains.

The title was awarded to Rest of India for their 30-run first innings lead over Mumbai.

Tiwary missed out on what would have been his 10th first-class century.

The Bengal left-hander was batting on 80 in Rest’s second innings total of 352 for four on Sunday night.

“Am obviously disappointed at not being able to get those 20 extra runs for the hundred,” Tiwary told Hindustan Times. “A century at the start of the season increases the confidence level for the rest of the season. But that’s okay.”

Tiwary was very well aware of his impressive conversion rate whenever he reached a fifty. In 32 first-class matches before this, the 23-year-old had only three fifties but nine centuries. He might have had his 10th hundred had he played his natural game, which was to play his strokes rather than get into a shell.

“I was thinking about the good conversion rate I have. I wanted to get my 10th century rather than end up with a fourth half-century. Never mind. There is nothing you can do about the weather. I have a lot of Ranji Trophy matches coming and build up my long innings there.”

Tiwary had to play according to the situation when he joined S. Badrinath in the middle on the fourth day on Sunday. “The pitch was very slow. The outfield was slow. We had lost Read more…

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Two contrasting men led Rest of India’s revival with some lovely exhibition of seam bowling. If Sreesanth, of late, is trying to avoid getting into a hyper-aggressive state and tries to remain calm and focused on his craft, Munaf Patel, who is generally laid-back, seems to bowl better when he gets more aggressive. Both hit the right notes today in slightly overcast conditions to turn out impressive performances on what still is a decent batting pitch.

Watching Sreesanth bowl is a fascinating experience. You know what he is capable of in his bowling art - that proud seam and the rest of it - but you also know that he is prone to self-destruction. The entire package is so sizzling that you can never turn your eyes off him when he is on the field.

The day started with that familiar sinking feeling as Sreesanth featured in a newspaper supplement talking about his ambition of acting and his thoughts on marriage. On the ground, though, Sreesanth the bowler turned out in full force.

Right from the start, he was switched on. With Sreesanth, as always, you don’t only notice his bowling but the entire package of quirky traits. Today, those signature self-exhortations at the top of the run-up were not seen too often, nor was there any special celebration on claiming a wicket. Not that there is anything wrong in either trait, but of late, he has been waging a battle within himself to avoid anything that could be seen as evidence against his attitude.

And he didn’t offer any room for criticism of his bowling either. He judged the pitch correctly and knew that full-length was the way to go on this surface. The seam rushed on straight and landed on a good length before cutting either way as the flick of the wrist at the release had wanted it. Sahil Kukreja couldn’t pick him yesterday and his harassment increased today before Sreesanth terminated his misery with a peach that cut in to hit the top of the off stump.

He returned in the afternoon to lead Rest of India’s revival with yet another probing spell. He later said that after his stint under Allan Donald for Warwickshire, he has tried to Read more…

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