Daily Archives: 21 November 2010

Another round of matches got over in the Ranji trophy. Some interesting games. The best being UP’s fantastic “come from behind” victory against Baroda. Assam overhauled a 562/6 decl by Bengal to get the first innings leand! Gujarat after being all out for 71 managed to draw the game by 1 wicket against Delhi. Punjab are languishing at the bottom with another bad game this time against HP! Cmon Yuvi wake up!!! Mumbai won after a nervy chase against Railways. BTW Jaffer did not score even a fifty! In the Plate Saurabh Tiwary continues to fail and Shadab Jakati (of CSK fame) got 10 wickets against Jharkhand to win it for Goa. And for some of us to feel nice about, Hyderabad won a game against Tripura.

Ranji Super League

Bengal

Wriddhiman Saha – 36 (Delhi) 11 (Mumbai) 178 no (Assam)

Manoj Tewary – 69 (Delhi) 14 (Mumbai) 50 (Assam)

A Dinda – 4/132 off 45 (Delhi) 1/130 (Mumbai) DNP (Assam)

Delhi

V Kohli – 173 (Bengal) 139 & 7 (TN) 6 (Gujarat)

S Dhawan – 42(Bengal) 41 & 88 (TN) 149 (Gujarat)

P Sangwan – 23 no & 0/86 (Bengal) DNP (TN) 3/16 & 1/57 (Gujarat)

Mumbai

Rohit Sharma – 93 & 74 no (Saurashtra) 200 no (Bengal) 1 & 31 no (Railways)

Ajinkya Rahane – Did not play (Saurashtra) 110 (Bengal) 43 & 94 (Railways)

Iqbal Abdulla – 150 no & 1/33 (Saurashtra) 81 & Did not bowl (Bengal) 4/42 & 1/74 (Railways)

Saurashtra

Jaydev Unadkat – 0/116 (Mumbai) 3/46 & 2/55 (Gujarat)

Ravindra Jadeja – 40 & 4/189 off 56 (Mumbai) 13 & 0, 3/49 & 5/59 (Gujarat) 63 & 0/134 (Saurashtra)

Baroda

Ambati Rayudu (playing for Baroda) – 4 & 200 no (Orissa) 22 (Haryana) 91 & 0 (UP)

Yusuf Pathan – 10 & 27 (Orissa) 195 (Haryana) 15 & 49 (UP)

Irfan Pathan – Did not play

Tamil Nadu

R Ashwin – 1/51 off 19 & 2/74 off 34 (Assam) 5/94 & 6/87 (Delhi) 2/118 (Saurashtra)

Abhinav Mukund – 22 & 32 (Assam) 2 & 59 (Delhi) 232 (Saurashtra)

Dinesh Karthik – 4 & 0 (Assam) 6 & 23 no (Delhi) 30 no (Saurashtra)

S Badrinath – 83 & 6 no (Assam) 104 & 25 no (Delhi) 195 (Saurashtra)

Punjab

Yuvraj Singh – 52 & 24 (UP) 39 & 79 (Karnataka) 27 & 92 (HP)

Sarabjit Ladda – 1/55 (UP) DNP (Karnataka) 2/101 (HP)

UP

Praveen Kumar – 5/72 & 1/51 (Punjab) DNP (Orissa) DNP (Baroda)

RP Singh – 2/82 & 1/71 (Punjab) 6/50 & 3/29 (Orissa) 1/73 & 0/14 (Baroda)

Piyush Chawla – 2/51 & 2/78 (Punjab) 0/65 & 2/31 (Orissa) 0/71 & 0/40 (Baroda)

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar – 0/54 & 2/52 and 35 (Punjab) DNP (Orissa) 47 & 55 and 4/51 & 4/37 (Baroda)

Karnataka

Robin Uthappa – 149 (Punjab) 42 & 48 (Haryana)

Abhimanyu Mithun – 0/52 & 4/94 (Punjab) 2/61 (Haryana)

Manish Pandey – 49 (Punjab) 37 & 55 (Haryana)

Vinay Kumar – 5/61 & 3/64 (Punjab) 2/57 (Haryana)

 

Ranji Trophy Plate

MP

Naman Ojha – 88 (Goa) 73 (Rajasthan)

Monish Mishra – 71 (Goa) 8 (Rajasthan)

Rajasthan

Deepak Chahar – 8/10 & 4/54 (Hyderabad) 4/67 & 0/75 (Goa) 1/136 (MP)

Pankaj Singh – 2/11 & 4/45 (Hyderabad) 5/58 & 2/89 (Goa) 0/86 (MP)

Jharkhand

Saurabh Tiwary – 20 (Tripura), 45 & 32 (Hyderabad) 4 & 12 (Goa)

Vidarbha

Umesh Yadav – 2/73 (Andhra) 7/74 & 0/30 (Maharashtra) 1/22 (Kerala)

 

 

The team for SA tour has also been announced.

Squad for South Africa Tests: MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, M Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, Umesh Yadav, Jaidev Unadkat, Pragyan Ojha.

This time I really don’t have any problems with the side, though  am not sure if Umesh Yadav deserves a place. He plays for Vdarbha in the Plate division. I would rather have Vinay Kumar or Abhimanyu Mithun in the team. I think Mithun is getting a raw deal. He bowled his heart out on lifeless pitches in SL and really deserves a chance.

Sanjay

The team for the NZ ODI series has been announced. Dhoni wanted a break and has been given. Afterall Dhoni is in a position to ask and getting anything he wants from the BCCI. Given the current state of the game at Nagpur, a win only confirms this more than anything else. Zaheer, Harbhajan and Sachin have also been rested. Gambhir has been named the captain out of seniority. Raina had led the side in Zimbabwe but with Yuvraj and the likes in the team Gambhir’s appointment makes sense. Coming to the team, most of it is along expected lines except for the following.

1. Saurabh Tiwary – He is being picked in the squad consistently but has not a got a game. We had already indicated that his selection is based only on the IPL. His Ranji performances are nothing to write home about. That too after playing for Jharkhand in the Plate division which supposed to be easier!

2. Wriddhiman Saha – After repeated failures from Dinesh Karthik it is good that the selectors are finally looking at someone else. But should it be Saha? Has he done enough to get a place in the ODI squad. Given that the selectors are picking people based on the IPL, Naman Ojha could have been a better choice. The Cricinfo correspondent however thinks  Saha “is fresh from a century against Assam in the Ranji Trophy Super League.”

3.  Munaf Patel – He keeps coming back into the Indian team on a regular basis without any real great performances to speak about. I would have like Abhimanyu Mithun, Sudip Tyagi or even Bhuvaneswar Kumar to get a look in.

4. Sreesanth – Now his Test performance has got him a place in the ODI team? But no place for Ishanth Sharma, Jaidev Unadkat or Umesh Yadav? I think it is a big risk playing Sreesanth in a one day side. BTW can someone tell me why Nehra is not in the team?

5. Yusuf Pathan – He gets another chance. I would rather have a batsman like Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, or Badrinath in the team.

Squad for first two ODIs v New Zealand: Gautam Gambhir (capt), M Vijay, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Saurabh Tiwary, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, R Vinay Kumar, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja.

Your comments are most welcome.

Sanjay