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

Stories of international sportsmen in their schooldays are revealing. We know of Sachin Tendulkar’s sleep-walking and running singles in his mind when asleep. The bowler who complained to five-year old Tiger Pataudi’s father that “If I bowl fast, I could kill him; if I bowl slowly he hits me to the boundary” is part of folklore too.

The revealing anecdote of Sunil Joshi, Karnataka’s remarkable cricketer, concerns the 110-kilometre train ride he took everyday from Gadag, his birthplace, to Hubli so he could attend nets and be back in time for school. In one sweep, it reveals the player’s temperament, his passion for the game and his willingness to work hard at it.

Today, when small-town India produces international players regularly, it might be difficult to fully unerstand the struggles of a Sunil Joshi to break into the big time. Hubli was the backwaters of the game in Karnataka and Gadag was the backwaters of the backwaters.

Amazingly, at 40 Joshi continues to inspire Karnataka, and is the sole survivor of the team which won the Ranji Trophy final of 1998-99, the last time Karnataka triumphed.

There was a time after a Dhaka Test (92 in an innings and eight wickets for the match) when he was seen as a potential India all rounder, but it is as a left arm spinner of impeccable style that he continues to serve Karnataka, a pillar around whom the team revolves.

Recently overtook the great Bhagwat Chandrasekhar as Karnataka’s highest wicket taker in the Ranji Trophy. His 444 wickets from 107 matches is topped only by S Venkatraghavan’s 530 and Rajinder Goel’s 637.

On his Ranji debut in Hubli, he remained unbeaten on 83 but the match was called off following the upheaval on the demolition of the Babri Masjid. He made his Test debut on his 27th birthday in Birmingham, broke a finger while batting, could not bowl and had to return home. It was an anti-climax to a season when he scored over 500 runs and claimed 50 wickets in the Ranji Read more…

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Until Jonathan Trott plays some more emphatic innings for England, Michael Vaughan’s caustic observations will continue to ring in his ears.

Having revealed that Trott celebrated with the South Africans when they won the Test series in England in 2008, and that “it hit home what English cricket has become like”, Vaughan was having a pop at England’s open-door policy towards overseas opportunists.

He was not the first to cast aspersions on Trott’s patriotism. During Trott’s Test debut at the Oval in August, Ricky Ponting strolled past him and said loudly enough to wicketkeeper Brad Haddin to ensure Trott overheard: “Does he speak like a Pom or a Yarpy?”

Undeterred, Trott contributed a confident 41 in his first Test innings, and that unflappable, Ashes-clinching hundred in his second. What he achieved on such an occasion is a testament to him and the men who chose him and should eclipse any doubts about an expatriate South African’s commitment to the England cause.

We have been here many times before. There was a vivid irony in the 1890s when KS Ranjitsinjhi, born and raised in India but making mountains of runs for Cambridge University and Sussex, was blocked from England selection by the president of the MCC, Lord Harris, because he said only “native-born” players could be chosen.

Harris, a former England captain, was born in Trinidad. Harris was overruled for the next Test, and Ranji exceeded even Trott’s debut, making 62 and 154 not out.

Ranji never got to play a Test against the country of his birth, and neither did Basil D’Oliveira, Tony Greig or Allan Lamb. But you would never have questioned their resolve against Read more…

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Rahul Dravid, M.S. Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and alike have possibly never entered or seen a corporate board room. They have probably never had to make any decision regarding cement sales, Air India flight schedules, or oil pipelines. For all you know, they may never have stepped into one of the corporate offices that they supposedly represent but they all gathered in four different cities to play a bizarre tournament called the BCCI Corporate Trophy. As though there is a shortage of tournaments in India, this is an add on an already packed schedule. I failed to see the motivation behind this tournament, I would have rather preferred the India A, B, C, D teams play.

Having said that some of the games have certainly been entertaining. It is certainly refreshing to see Rahul Dravid back in the thick of things captaining a side and not losing much of his competitiveness. His attack on Suresh Raina’s short pitch stuff weakness has certainly been a highlight so far. Badrinath has been very consistent. I would wished to see Abhinav Mukund get a few more runs for India Cements. MS Dhoni is back at hitting big sixes again and Joginder Singh has been a surprise package. Some of the ICL folks are back in business with Rohan Gavaskar brightening his chances of representing West Bengal again in the Ranji season.

All in a all, the loyal employees of some of the big corporate giants seem to have earned their daily wages by putting in their 8 hr day on the field and are ready to go on a vacation to Sri Lanka and later on to South Africa. I personally am keenly looking forward to the start of another India season (even if a big chunk of it may be domestic in nature). Cricket, in general, gets to Read more…

Administrator Indian Cricket Abhinav Mukund, Badrinath, BCCI, Blogs.CMDN.com, Corporate trophy, Cricket, Cricket Blogs, icl, Joginder Singh, MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Ranji, Rohan Gavaskar, Suresh Raina, West Bengal, Yuvraj Singh

The reaction from the honourable officials of the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) to Virender Sehwag’s threat to abandon Ferozshah Kotla has been revealing in itself.

He’s got land for a cricket academy, he’s been bought over!

His parking spot got taken up by the second cousin of the SHO Daryaganj, so this is his revenge!

Okay, the last two were made up, but you get the drift. Or rather you get how the DDCA mind works.

What Sehwag is saying is well-known. It has been endured by its cricketers and well- documented by generations of long-suffering cricket reporters. Amongst the frontline cricket associations in the country, Delhi is the undisputed and undefeated champion of maladministration, nepotism and corruption. Their benchmark is exemplary: earthworms would struggle to go lower.

A few years ago, goons were sent to rough up the coaches of the Ranji one-day team because a playing XI spot promised ‘higher up’ did now follow through.

Last season, the son of a DDCA sports committee supremo had been picked in the Ranji squad because Daddy had the selectors do so. He was then kept out of every playing XI Read more…

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