Indian Cricket Thread

[Arthur Crabtree]

They won't get those.

BBC usually carries scorecards from domestic competitions, but not covering this.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Never heard of Vidarbha. Internet tells, me it isn't actually a state, but a part of Maharashtra. Main city is Nagpur.

[meninblue]

Vidarbha all out for 368. Mumbai win by 169 runs.

Mumbai wins Ranji trophy for 42nd time

Next is Karnataka with 8 wins.


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[sussexpob]

Never heard of Vidarbha. Internet tells, me it isn't actually a state, but a part of Maharashtra. Main city is Nagpur.

The Ranji Trophy predates the creation of modern India, and was contested originally between the provinces/presidencies of the old British Raj, so the original teams do not conform to the modern day state system. The British Raj is often represented as encompassing the whole of India, but this is not true - the crown only directly ruled (I think) 12 provinces of India which themselves do not have exact modern day equivalents (Bombay Presidency for instance included parts of Pakistan's Sindh province), with the rest nominally independent and ruled by locals under a system known as the princely states, so vast parts of the country were never included in the original first class setup.

Maharashtra was not a province of the Raj, but it did have an original side (named Maharasthra) courtesy of the fact that the summer capital moved to Pune, which is a centre of Maharti language/culture, and movements to create the state were very pronounced at the time, hence I guess they adopted the name before the state existed. Mumbai had a side as provincal capital, and Nagpur had a side because it was the capital of Central Province.... so historically, Maharashtra had three Ranji sides.

While Nagpur is in Maharashtra, I think they see themselves as cultural distinct from them, and combined with the fact they were seperate regions in the Raj days, I would guess that in anticipation of being seperated from the rest of Maharashtra after independence, the Vidarbha team rebranded itself and continued as the possible new representation for the region, but a couple of years later it was absorbed into the state. I know now that the region has campaigned to form its own.

Either way, Nagpur is an emerging cricket centre nowadays. Its widely accepted by players and officials that the stadium there is one of, if not the, best in the world for its facilties.

[sussexpob]

Mumbai wins Ranji trophy for 42nd time

When you look at the winners through history, there is a huge dominance of states/teams from that small belt of Mumbai/Gujurat, old central province, Pune..... a relatively small area of India that has shared cultural/language/political links.... Why is this? Do other areas of India not play as much? Is it a cultural thing? An economic thing? A total fluke?

30 plus titles more is quite embarrassing for the rest of India.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Great info. I mentioned a long time ago I had a patient who had been an international umpire. When I said I'd been to the (old) ground at Nagpur, he told me when he officiated at the ground, there was just a bucket of water in the umpires room, no running water and showers. Sounds like facilities have improved.

[andy]

Random question i know.....but for you guys does Ravindra Jadeja make all an time test Indian XI?

[sussexpob]

Great info. I mentioned a long time ago I had a patient who had been an international umpire. When I said I'd been to the (old) ground at Nagpur, he told me when he officiated at the ground, there was just a bucket of water in the umpires room, no running water and showers. Sounds like facilities have improved.

How did you end in Nagpur so many years ago? Very random place to end up.

I don't know why they decided to build such an expensive, world-class venue outside of the traditional venues, but everyone raves about the VCA stadium being the modern day template for a cricket ground. The BCCI seem increasingly fond of taking matches away from the big traditional test venues, and spreading it around.... England played in Rajkot, Ranchi, Dharamasala (a small town in the mountains) and Nagpur (and Hyderabad, but that's a huge city), none of which would make the top 5 normal test tour venues. I guess, rightly, the BCCI think bringing cricket to the smaller places on rare occasions will boost attendances, based on being a big fish in smaller ponds, while maybe in the Mumbai's or Dehli's, people save their money and time for the big IPL or T20I games in the calendar?

I dont know, its just a guess.

[Arthur Crabtree]

How did you end in Nagpur so many years ago? Very random place to end up.

I went to the Nagpur Test on the England tour of 2006. It was a draw, if I remember correctly.

But what I remember most vividly is the toilets...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Random question i know.....but for you guys does Ravindra Jadeja make all an time test Indian XI?

Doesn't get in as a bat or a bowler though.

[meninblue]

Club cricket setup has been the best in Mumbai than in any other place. There is huge count of club cricketers in Mumbai, unmatched by any other city. Off course being the financial capital of India, Mumbai is very densely populated which also adds to more youth participating in Mumbai's club cricket. Huge playgrounds like "Shivaji Park" in Dadar, "Azad Maidan" and "Oval" at Churchgate are two popular names where many proper cricket matches with season ball gets played at same time. It is very difficult to field there as you need to concentrate whether the ball used i other match is not coming at you. Then there are quarrel's between team playing with proper season ball and tennis or rubber ball. That aside there are grounds with wonderful outfield like Bombay Gymkhana, MIG Club and the new headquarters of Mumbai cricket i.e B.K.C. Apart from these, there are several other grounds like Police Gymkhana, Matunga Ground where club cricket matches and under age level matches are also played.

Second point i feel is that the public transport (heavily crowded trains and bus) and private transport is extremely good. There are trains from one end of Mumbai to Churchgate (Azad Maidan , Oval) which are at the other end of Mumbai at very 3 to 5 minutes interval on both slow and fast train lines. Also, on the other central line, there are trains at 5 minutes interval on slow and fast lines. The frequency is 15 minutes from Navi Mumbai to Churchgate though which is another railway line reaching Churchgate. Add to this the private transport and people staying nearby, traveling isn't a big deal like i have seen in other States in India. Even within Maharashtra, nothing comes close to Mumbai, not even Pune or Navi Mumbai. So this is another differentiating factor between Mumbai and other places.

Kanga League was played in monsoon season only. Which has stopped though since last few years. Vijay Hazare to Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar to Rohit Jaiswal to Yashasvi Jaiswal has played Kanga league at Azad Maidan. The ball won't even bounce one foot for most part of the Kanga league match as it rains and wicket is damp and grass is also not cut in outfield which makes ball more wet. So when other club cricketers in India are resting at home, a very significant number of Mumbai cricketers selected in Kanga league teams are having very tough match practice.


Even when i was playing club cricket, there were boys as young as 5 years onwards enrolled and practicing in our club. That count has alarmingly increased across Mumbai. Young girls are also able to form their own team of 11 in club cricket. Whatever change there ha bene at international level, i have observed that Mumbai has adapted to it quickyl as the demand, craze and competition to play cricket here is unmatched.

[sussexpob]

Thanks for the detailed response, Adi.

I think its fair to say that money plays its part; Mumbai is rich, a capital of wealth, and therefore has some infrastructure. I just wonder how much talent exists bubbling under the surface, and how hard the game in India is looking. Cricket in many ways is a different reality to other worldwide sports; it needs a certain degree of space, and a certain degree of equipment when getting to an organised format .... the big metropolis may have that in India, as you outline... but where it does not, I would guess no one is looking.

Football is much simpler to play, the main reason its the world's adopted sport..... but in football, how many of the best talents came from the slums of South America where no infrastructure existed? In places like Argentina, its the barrios that produce your Maradona's and such....

I wonder how many ridiculously talented cricketers exist outside of the system in India.... and fear that, once India start looking for them, no one has any chance left in the International game.

[andy]

Random question i know.....but for you guys does Ravindra Jadeja make all an time test Indian XI?

Doesn't get in as a bat or a bowler though.

Does he get in as an all-rounder though?

[Arthur Crabtree]

If I was picking an all time India XI, I'd have at least two specialist spinners. Not sure I'd have another who doesn't get in for his batting on merit.

I take it he's in yours!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Impressive bowling stats though. Better than I thought.