Ranji Trophy
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BCCI’s technical committee’s recommendations
The Times of India, May 30 2016
Home advantage in Ranji Trophy could be a thing of the past from the upcoming season as the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) technical committee has recommended to hold the matches of its premier domestic championship at neutral venues.
The decision, taken during the meeting, will deny the home teams an opportunity to tamper with pitches according to their strengths. The Sourav Ganguly-chaired committee felt the concept would give domestic players experience in varied conditions. BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke too attended the meeting.
“In a bid to make domestic cricket more competitive and rule out issues related to preparing specific wickets for home teams, as well as to expose players to playing in different conditions, the BCCI technical committee has recommended neutral venues for the Ranji Trophy matches,“ the BCCI said in state ment.
In another major change, the Duleep Trophy will return to the first-class cricket calendar this season (2016-17) in a new avatar. The tournament, traditionally played by the five zonal teams, will be a four-team affair in the upcoming season. The tournament will be a daynight affair and will be played in a roundrobin format, the release stated. It is learnt that all matches will be played with kookaburra balls.
The technical committee's recommendations will now be tabled at the BCCI working committee for approval.
Meanwhile, the committee has cleared India A's tour of Australia in August.The team is expected to play two four-day matches and a tri-series. It has emerged that the board is likely to hold talks with New Zealand Cricket for an away series for India `A'.
In the National Cricket Academy committee meeting, the members were updated about the assessment of all the ongoing zonal camps in various age groups and the umpires' refresher course.Members were also briefed about the physiotherapist and trainers course to be conducted by the NCA next month.Physios and trainers of all the state associations will be attending this course.
Statistics, year-wise
2017: Gujarat beats Mumbai
Gaurav Gupta, Jan 15 2017: The Times of India
When Gujarat's Chirag Gandhi smashed Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur past point to the fence, he didn't just score the winning runs in the Ranji Trophy final-he also created history.
For the first time, Gujarat had clinched India's premier domestic championship. And that too vanquishing 41-time winner Mumbai, the most suc cessful team ever. The Davids had humbled the Goliaths.
Gujarat was playing a Ranji final after 66 years and the unthinkable was accomplished, primarily via skipper Parthiv Patel's brilliant 143 and middle-order batter Manprit Juneja's invaluable support act (54) as the team chased down 312 on Saturday , the last day of the match. Patel, who had hit 90 in the first innings, was declared the player of the match.
It is believed that Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) boss Amit Shah was keenly following the score.
The redemption took a long time coming. In a case of tremendous irony , it was on this very ground, Holkar Stadium, that Gujarat lost the Ranji summit clash of 1950-51 to Holkar by 189 runs.
That Gujarat's finest cricketing moment came on the festive occasion of Uttarayan (kite flying), also celebrated as Makar Sankranti, made the triumph sweeter for Gujaratis. It isn't easy to beat Mumbai in a Ranji Trophy final. The last time the defending champions lost a Ranji final was almost a quarter of a century back in the 1990-91 season, when Haryana edged them out by two runs in a thriller.
2017-18
Delhi enters Ranji Trophy final after 2008
From: Archiman Bhaduri, Delhi enters Ranji Trophy final after 10 yrs, December 20, 2017: The Times of India
In January 2008, then skipper Gautam Gambhir smashed an unbeaten 130 as Delhi strolled to a nine-wicket victory against Uttar Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy final. Few could have imagined then that Delhi would not play another final for a decade.
In the intervening years, Delhi cricket often found itself engulfed in controversy and the team struggled to recapture its past glory, even as bright young stars kept appearing every now and then.
One of those stars, Navdeep Saini, was spotted bowling in a tennis-ball tournament by former Delhi player Sumit Narwal (who had himself played in the 2008 Ranji final). An excited Narwal called up Gambhir, who was sufficiently impressed by what he saw in the nets to push Saini into the playing XI.
On Tuesday, the 25-year-old Saini amply repaid the faith shown in him, taking 4 wickets for 35 runs to rip through the Bengal batting line-up and bowl Delhi to victory by an innings and 26 runs — and its first Ranji final in 10 years. Saini, who consistently bowled at 140kmph, finished with 7 wickets for the game to bag the man of the match award.
Pacers give Delhi innings win over Bengal
Saini, Khejroliya End Team’s Long Wait To Make The Final
Gautam Gambhir may no longer be captain but remains a key member of the Delhi team, top-scoring with 127 to drive the side to a winning position. He is the sole player from the last Ranji-winning Delhi squad who’s playing for the team this year (Shikhar Dhawan, the only other survivor of the Class of 2008, is on India duty).
And Gambhir he remains a major influence in the dressing room, as revealed by Sani, who was supposed to go to South Africa as a net bowler for the India side but decided not to on Gambhir’s advice. “I was happy that I would go to South Africa but when I called up Gautam bhaiyya, he said Delhi needs you now for the semifinal and if you do well, you will be automatically be in that Indian dressing room someday,” said Saini, whose grandfather, Karam Singh, was a driver in Subhas Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj.
If Saini’s performance is anything to go by, an India call-up may not be too far away.
Saini was ably backed up by Kulwant Khejroliya, who took 4/40 on a day that saw 17 wickets tumble, ending the five-day match on the third day itself. The Bengal batsmen panicked in the face of some raw pace and were bowled out for 86 in 24.4 overs, nullifying the lionhearted effort of Mohammad Shami.
The India pacer, who was playing his last match before flying out to South Africa next week, bowled his heart out to claim 6 for 122 as Delhi were restricted to 398, a lead of 112 runs only.
With plenty of time and plenty to play for, the stage was set for an intriguing contest. But Saini and Khejroliya turned it into a one-sided show.
Vikas Tokas provided the first breakthrough before walking off injured. He had opener Abhishek Raman trapped in front in the third over of the innings. Then, Abhimanyu Easwaran failed to capitalise on a dropped chance as he played to the same fielder (Kunal Chandela) in the very next ball off Khejroliya.
It was time for Saini to get into his special act. He immediately dislodged Sudip Chatterjee’s stumps, beating the batsman with sheer pace.
To make matters worse, Writtick Chatterjee (1) was run out due to a terrible mix-up with skipper Manoj Tiwary while going for the second run on an overthrow. As both batsmen found themselves at the same end, Chatterjee sacrificed his wicket by leaving the crease. But his sacrifice did not earn any dividends as Tiwary was soon castled by Saini with one that held its line to go past the batsman’s outside edge and hit the top of off stump.
Saini then struck on consecutive deliveries, removing Aamir Goni and B Amit, both being clean bowled. While the former shouldered arms to an inswinger that saw his off-stump dislodged, Amit was beaten by pace.
Brief scores: Delhi 398 (Gambhir 127, Chandela 113, Himmat 60, Shami 6-122) beat Bengal 286 (Sudip 83, Saini 3-55) and 86 (Saini 4-35, Khejroliya 4-40) by an innings and 26 runs
Records
Double-centuries
PUJARA BREAKS DOUBLE-TON RECORD | IndiaTimes/ The Times of India 02 November 2017
Rajkot: Cheteshwar Pujara became the leading Indian double-centurion in first-class cricket -breaking Vijay Merchant's tally of 11 double tons, a record which has stood for more than 70 years -during Saurashtra's Ranji Trophy match against Jharkhand on Thursday. Pujara finished Day Two on 204 off 355 balls, with 28 fours, as Saurashtra declared on 5539.Jharkhand seamers Ashish Kumar and Varun Aaron bowled more than 30 overs each for three wickets. At stumps on the second day, Jharkhand were 522. Pujara batted in total for nine-and-a-half hours before being dismissed.
