India's abject performance in Tests played on foreign soil has led to a furious debate: Are the domestic tournaments giving the requisite preparation for our cricketers? Is there fresh talent coming through the ranks every now and then? While it is difficult to answer in totality, we take a look at the ones who did make a mark in this year's Ranji Trophy, which is regarded as the 'selection nets' of the Indian Test side.
Ranji Trophy:-
The Ranji Trophy consists of 4 day games with the finals being a 5 day affair. In the 2011-12 season, Rajasthan were crowned champions for the second year in a row after they managed to get a first innings lead against Tamil Nadu in the drawn final. Haryana and 39 time Ranji champions, Mumbai were the two other semi-finalists who were defeated by Rajasthan and TN respectively. Karnataka, another side which played really well, was run down by Haryana in the quarters.
Batsmen in Ranji Trophy:-
Rajasthan, a side which was considered quite weak, managed to win the premiere competition for the second consecutive year. They were able to achieve this feat despite the lack of big ticket players. The team management had hired India discards like Aakash Chopra and Hrishikesh Kanitkar to play as professionals and that seemed to bring a much-needed solidity to the side. The following table lists the top 12 run scorers of this season.
An interesting tidbit: Bist has the highest number of hundreds to his name in this season (4), but could not carry on to a gigantic score. Mukund, on the other hand, has just two, but both have been double hundreds.
Incidentally, Mukund failed to strike big when his side needed it the most as he registered scores of 4,42,0 and 1 in the semi final and final. The efforts of Saxena (257, 13) and Bist (57 and 92) were instrumental in Rajasthan putting up a big first innings total and Rajasthan won the final on the first innings lead.
For 39-time Ranji champion Mumbai, they found a relatively unknown hero in Suryakumar Yadav, who put his hand up and shouldered some responsibility when needed. Yadav, in only his third domestic season, displayed the courage to play counter-attacking knocks in tight situations and was hailed as someone in the mould of Virender Sehwag. The 4th highest run-getter this year, his run tally came at an almost unheard-of strike rate of 85 and included a match winning double hundred against Orissa.
Another youngster who impressed was Karnataka's Stuart Binny, an ex-ICL recruit, who turned in his best Ranji showing till date. Not only was he 5th on the list of run-getters, he also snapped up 20 wickets at an average of 20.10
Another interesting tidbit: In this year's Ranji trophy, 16 double centuries were scored, but only 3 resulted in an outright victory for that player's side. The matches which were drawn, despite a batsman crossing 200 mark included the season's highest score, 314 by Saurashtra's Ravindra Jadeja against Orissa and 267 by Bengal's Manoj Tiwary against Madhya Pradesh. Tiwary struck two more hundreds in the three further first-class games that he played and a maiden hundred for India against West Indies in the ODI at Chennai. Tiwary might consider himself unlucky that he is not sitting at the top of the Ranji run-getters list, but as they say, nation comes first.
Bowlers in Ranji Trophy:-
It was not that only the batsmen came to the Rajasthan party, the bowlers also played an equal part in lifting their team to glory. Rajasthan had three bowlers in the top 12 wicket-takers list; all three of them front line medium pace bowlers. None of the other semi-finalists are represented by more than one name on the top 12 list.
TP Sudhindra, who sits pretty at the top of the above list, was key to his side's fortunes. He picked up 9+ wickets in three games out of which two resulted in victories for Madhya Pradesh and was instrumental in taking his team till the quarters.
The second name on the list, Ashok Dinda has been in prolific form throughout the season. He carried over his rampaging form into the Duleep Trophy where stats will indicate, he was miles ahead of his nearest competitor. Such has been the gulf between Dinda and his contemporaries that it leaves the Bengal pacer's selection to the ODI squad for the Asia Cup in little doubt.
The wickets prepared for domestic games have always come in for a lot of criticism. The fact that Indian cricket has not been able to produce fast bowlers capable of running through oppositions in foreign conditions has been much of a worry. But if one were to look at the statistics for 2011-12, they paint a different picture. Of the top 12 wicket-takers only 2 are spinners: Karnataka's KP Apanna and Mumbai's Ramesh Powar. Though it might come as a pleasant surprise to the Indian fan, it also raises serious questions regarding the quality of spinners in our domestic circuit.
While the BCCI has come under the scanner for the use of highways disguised as cricket pitches, the following stat is sure to come as a pleasant surprise: Of the ten 10 wicket hauls picked up by bowlers in Ranji games this year, only Haryana's Harshal Patel's effort in the semi-final went in vain. Ironically, in the same game Rituraj Singh from Rajasthan went one up on him taking 12 wickets leading Rajasthan to victory. This effectively means that a team is more likely to avoid defeat if a bowler picks up a 10 wicket haul, or better, win the match rather than a batsman scoring a double hundred.
Keepers:-
Since there has been limited coverage of the Ranji trophy, it has been impossible to judge the skills of the wicketkeepers. But the total effectiveness of a keeper can be judged by the number of dismissals and the amount of runs he scores. Given below are the statistics.
Source
Ranji Trophy:-
The Ranji Trophy consists of 4 day games with the finals being a 5 day affair. In the 2011-12 season, Rajasthan were crowned champions for the second year in a row after they managed to get a first innings lead against Tamil Nadu in the drawn final. Haryana and 39 time Ranji champions, Mumbai were the two other semi-finalists who were defeated by Rajasthan and TN respectively. Karnataka, another side which played really well, was run down by Haryana in the quarters.
Batsmen in Ranji Trophy:-
Rajasthan, a side which was considered quite weak, managed to win the premiere competition for the second consecutive year. They were able to achieve this feat despite the lack of big ticket players. The team management had hired India discards like Aakash Chopra and Hrishikesh Kanitkar to play as professionals and that seemed to bring a much-needed solidity to the side. The following table lists the top 12 run scorers of this season.
An interesting tidbit: Bist has the highest number of hundreds to his name in this season (4), but could not carry on to a gigantic score. Mukund, on the other hand, has just two, but both have been double hundreds.
Incidentally, Mukund failed to strike big when his side needed it the most as he registered scores of 4,42,0 and 1 in the semi final and final. The efforts of Saxena (257, 13) and Bist (57 and 92) were instrumental in Rajasthan putting up a big first innings total and Rajasthan won the final on the first innings lead.
For 39-time Ranji champion Mumbai, they found a relatively unknown hero in Suryakumar Yadav, who put his hand up and shouldered some responsibility when needed. Yadav, in only his third domestic season, displayed the courage to play counter-attacking knocks in tight situations and was hailed as someone in the mould of Virender Sehwag. The 4th highest run-getter this year, his run tally came at an almost unheard-of strike rate of 85 and included a match winning double hundred against Orissa.
Another youngster who impressed was Karnataka's Stuart Binny, an ex-ICL recruit, who turned in his best Ranji showing till date. Not only was he 5th on the list of run-getters, he also snapped up 20 wickets at an average of 20.10
Another interesting tidbit: In this year's Ranji trophy, 16 double centuries were scored, but only 3 resulted in an outright victory for that player's side. The matches which were drawn, despite a batsman crossing 200 mark included the season's highest score, 314 by Saurashtra's Ravindra Jadeja against Orissa and 267 by Bengal's Manoj Tiwary against Madhya Pradesh. Tiwary struck two more hundreds in the three further first-class games that he played and a maiden hundred for India against West Indies in the ODI at Chennai. Tiwary might consider himself unlucky that he is not sitting at the top of the Ranji run-getters list, but as they say, nation comes first.
Bowlers in Ranji Trophy:-
It was not that only the batsmen came to the Rajasthan party, the bowlers also played an equal part in lifting their team to glory. Rajasthan had three bowlers in the top 12 wicket-takers list; all three of them front line medium pace bowlers. None of the other semi-finalists are represented by more than one name on the top 12 list.
TP Sudhindra, who sits pretty at the top of the above list, was key to his side's fortunes. He picked up 9+ wickets in three games out of which two resulted in victories for Madhya Pradesh and was instrumental in taking his team till the quarters.
The second name on the list, Ashok Dinda has been in prolific form throughout the season. He carried over his rampaging form into the Duleep Trophy where stats will indicate, he was miles ahead of his nearest competitor. Such has been the gulf between Dinda and his contemporaries that it leaves the Bengal pacer's selection to the ODI squad for the Asia Cup in little doubt.
The wickets prepared for domestic games have always come in for a lot of criticism. The fact that Indian cricket has not been able to produce fast bowlers capable of running through oppositions in foreign conditions has been much of a worry. But if one were to look at the statistics for 2011-12, they paint a different picture. Of the top 12 wicket-takers only 2 are spinners: Karnataka's KP Apanna and Mumbai's Ramesh Powar. Though it might come as a pleasant surprise to the Indian fan, it also raises serious questions regarding the quality of spinners in our domestic circuit.
While the BCCI has come under the scanner for the use of highways disguised as cricket pitches, the following stat is sure to come as a pleasant surprise: Of the ten 10 wicket hauls picked up by bowlers in Ranji games this year, only Haryana's Harshal Patel's effort in the semi-final went in vain. Ironically, in the same game Rituraj Singh from Rajasthan went one up on him taking 12 wickets leading Rajasthan to victory. This effectively means that a team is more likely to avoid defeat if a bowler picks up a 10 wicket haul, or better, win the match rather than a batsman scoring a double hundred.
Keepers:-
Since there has been limited coverage of the Ranji trophy, it has been impossible to judge the skills of the wicketkeepers. But the total effectiveness of a keeper can be judged by the number of dismissals and the amount of runs he scores. Given below are the statistics.
Source
