Sport Today

by **Srinivas** » Fri, 19 Dec 2003 23:18:12

Am on vacation back to home to stay with parents in India in Mumbai
and I took this oppurtunity to visit ***hede Stadium for the game
between Mumbai and Railways.

I reached the stadium a bit late ..ie around 45 min before lunch and
when I was there, Mumbai were on 302/8 with Ramesh Powar batting in
the eighties with Swapnil Hazare for company.

By this time, the Railwaymen had used Harvinder Singh to good effect
to pick up crucial wickets earlier in the day and obviously Singh was
tiring. So though he got Hazare out snicking to the keeper, he
couldn't bowl further when Munaf Patel came to the crease. What
followed was mayhem with Munaf and Ramesh swatting the bowlers on
either side of the wicket. Powar is particularly a racy powerful kind
of batsman who exudes really good technique a la Gilchrist.

Munaf swept the spinners (Parida of the diabolical action and parttime
Shreyas Khanolkar) with some authority and by lunch these two piled on
a good 60 odd runs for the last wicket (Powar was batting throwing
more caution to the winds after reaching his century). After lunch and
some rest, Bangar brought in Zakir Hussain who got rid of Powar..but
the last wicket partnership was 76 runs..and Mumbai had piled on 388
before getting all out.

Railways Innings:
-----------------

Mumbai started with Usman Maulvi from the Tata end and Munaf Patel
from the other end. Maulvi bowled a good first over testing Amit
Pagnis with incoming deliveries (to the southpaw) and afterwards
wasn't that penetrating. Munaf was bowling it at a nice pace( he was
the fastest I saw today, Harvinder the next fastest)...but was hardly
getting any swing except for the odd incutter.

Bahutule (the captain) shrewdly brought in Hazare instead of Patel and
made Patel change ends to bowl from the Tata end replacing Maulvi.
Patel suddenly got one to dart in at a very fastish pace, which Pagnis
snicked, resulting in a really good catch taken by Jaffer at second
slip diving to his left.

Bangar at the other end was playing with a lot of caution and showing
some solid defensive technique against the likes of both Hazare and
Patel. Patel got one ball however to rear up and hit Bangar somewhere
resulting in a catch at short leg (by Thakkar) but was ruled not out.
I wasn't sure if it hit the bat too..just heard a noise and then the
catch.

Hazare has a comic kind of runup and I dont know how he manages that.
His ankles point sidewards while running toward the stumps!!! But when
he delivers the ball he does it rather smoothly...All three..(Munaf,
Usman and Swapnil) are 6 feet and above (from my estimate) and Usman
and Swapnil were fastish medium while Munaf is pure pace.

The next batsman TP Singh did play one or two strokes (as against
Bangar who hardly played a ball outside the crease except for a flick
in the first few overs)..But suddenly Bahutule brought in Powar who
tossed one up inviting TP Singh to hit it, only for him to miss it and
get stumped for a superb first over. Railways reeling at 25 odd for 2.

That brought in JP Yadav into the crease and he did play a few uppish
drives. JP Yadav is a decentish allrounder but doesn't quite cut the
textbook mode. The drives he played were with an upright stance
without any front or back foot movement and it was only obvious that
Mumbai were going to make him pay for that. Hazare got one to pitch
slightly further than good length and Muzumdar was also standing in a
cover pretty close to midoff..all JP did was to drive it uppishly to
get caught by Muzumdar. 30 odd for 3 and suddenly Railways were
looking down in the dumps.

Bahutule was employing the three ***s for around 22 overs (with
one over by Powar in between)...and all three got a bit
tired...Swapnil lost his footing, I believe and was injured and
replaced by Usman who too lost his rhythm and was struggling a bit.

Bahutule then brought back Powar and suddenly Bangar who was batting
on 13 odd in around 1.5 hours went on the rampage, hitting 12 runs in
just 3 balls...Interestingly the first ball Bangar faced off Powar, he
drove with some venom back to the bowler, who tried to strike a hand
at the rampaging ball only to get hurt on the fingers...Thankfully
though Powar recovered both from the missed catch and the initial
hammering and wrought out some good flighted bowling.

Shreyas Khanolkar on the other end also struggled a bit, particularly
against Munaf (who was really impressive), but got into the groove a
bit later and was playing some lovely drives and flicks either side of
the wicket. Bangar was blowing hot and cold and slowly but steadily
these two built up a decentish 60 run partnership to push Railways to
90 odd for 3 by the end of the day. Bahutule brought himself into the
attack an hour and half before close but though he got some turn and
bounce, he wasn't particularly menacing.

Some thoughts from the day:

1. Ramesh Powar seems to be a nice allrounder. He bats with a great
degree of hand eye co-ordination and also some good sense and
thinking. He bowls very good off spin, not the run-of-the-mill stuff,
but seriously good flighted spin bowling and slight variations of
drift and bounce. He looks India material surely!

2. Munaf Patel is fast. I dont know how fast he is ..but in comparison
to Harvinder Singh, Zakir Hussain, JP Yadav, Usman Maulvi and Swapnil
Hazare, he was the fastest. Though by the end of the day, there wasn't
much bounce in the wicket, he did skid and bowl incutters that were
troubling the batsman. The trouble is that he didn't bowl any ball
that moved away (Hazare and Maulvi were able to do that, albeit with
vastly reduced venom). He also showed some ability to play spin with
the horizontal bat and is certainly a powerfully built lad. He also an
aggro strain about him (the umpire Mahal had a few words with him
after he exchanged some pleasantries with Khanolkar)..and also has a
smooth runup..and nice wrist action while delivering the ball.

3. Sanjay Bangar is blessed with some temperament, I tell you. He
batted dourly holding one end up firmly and then attacked when
necessary and then bottled up again. His defensive technique was nice
and impeccable..though he did struggle against Munaf a bit.

4. Nice ambience in the ground. I sat next to Usman Maulvi's relatives
and they were proud of their boy. His bro Farhan Maulvi was telling me
that Usman had played for some Bhivandi CC before the Mumbai selection
(not sure about the spelling). The entrance was free and the crowd was
intelligent enough to appreciate the action in the center in a cosy
manner. Just felt a tad irritated that none of the crow shit in the
stands seems to be cleaned.

by **Cricketislife** » Sat, 20 Dec 2003 00:21:07

Thanx a lot Srini, that was good stuff. So back in India to catch the
Indian triumph, great!

so Munaf was impressive with his pace n indippers.
How is his line n length? Has he got control?

by **Aditya Basru** » Sat, 20 Dec 2003 00:54:40

Quote:

> Am on vacation back to home to stay with parents in India in Mumbai
> and I took this oppurtunity to visit ***hede Stadium for the game
> between Mumbai and Railways.

Thanks for this report, Srinivasan. It makes me rue having missed watching
any decent Cricket in India even more. However, if things go a certain way,
it's likely my trips will be more frequent in future, in which case I'll
definitely catch some matches.

Quote:

> The entrance was free and the crowd was
> intelligent enough to appreciate the action in the center in a cosy
> manner. Just felt a tad irritated that none of the crow shit in the
> stands seems to be cleaned.

Amen to that.

Aditya

by **Andrew Dunfor** » Sat, 20 Dec 2003 05:20:41

<snip>

Quote:

> Just felt a tad irritated that none of the crow shit in the
> stands seems to be cleaned.

Ah well: this newsgroup suffers the same problem.

An enjoyable report: thanks for posting.

Andrew

by **Amol Cricketwall** » Sat, 20 Dec 2003 12:49:30

Quote:

> Am on vacation back to home to stay with parents in India in Mumbai
> and I took this oppurtunity to visit ***hede Stadium for the game
> between Mumbai and Railways.

Thanks for that, BTW - very cool report. If youre going for any other
days, do write again :-)

BTW, while youre there, can we ask the same of you as we did of Aditya?
That is, look in the paper, and let us know any U22 etc scores - of
which we are apparently getting no reports whatsoever? I believe
Bombay just finished a U22 game (vs Baroda IIRC) a day or two ago.
And a Bombay U17 game ought to be in progress at the moment, actually.
Any such scores would be great :-)

Quote:

> couldn't bowl further when Munaf Patel came to the crease. What
> followed was mayhem with Munaf and Ramesh swatting the bowlers on
> either side of the wicket. Powar is particularly a racy powerful kind
> of batsman who exudes really good technique a la Gilchrist.

> Munaf swept the spinners (Parida of the diabolical action and parttime
> Shreyas Khanolkar) with some authority and by lunch these two piled on
> a good 60 odd runs for the last wicket (Powar was batting throwing
> more caution to the winds after reaching his century). After lunch and
> some rest, Bangar brought in Zakir Hussain who got rid of Powar..but
> the last wicket partnership was 76 runs..and Mumbai had piled on 388
> before getting all out.

Ha! I looked at the card this morning and thought exactly this - that
it must have been some fun watching that end :-) Bombay was 150/5
at one point on the first day, and recovered to 312/9. And then the
last pair put on 76 runs in 10 overs! Powar has hit well with the
tail a few times for Bombay now, but this is the first time for
Munaf. He had a bit of a reputation as a slogger when he arrived,
but he hadnt shown anything with the bat at all - which is why he
is still #11 for Bombay.

Quote:

> Railways Innings:
> -----------------

> Mumbai started with Usman Maulvi from the Tata end and Munaf Patel
> from the other end. Maulvi bowled a good first over testing Amit
> Pagnis with incoming deliveries (to the southpaw) and afterwards
> wasn't that penetrating. Munaf was bowling it at a nice pace( he was
> the fastest I saw today, Harvinder the next fastest)...but was hardly
> getting any swing except for the odd incutter.

How decent was Usman, BTW? Saw him a couple years ago, and all I
really remember is a decent high-arm action, and some fair swing.
Have heard the same comments this year - that he moves the ball
really well etc. How is his pace right now compared with people like
Harvinder, for example?

Munaf does seem to be quicker from everything we've heard - but as
you say, the movement talk hasnt been there much. Bit of a natural
incutter maybe (sort of like Srinath had in his early years), but
that too is cut, not really swing, no? Is there any movement in
the air at all?

Quote:

> Hazare has a comic kind of runup and I dont know how he manages that.
> His ankles point sidewards while running toward the stumps!!! But when
> he delivers the ball he does it rather smoothly...All three..(Munaf,
> Usman and Swapnil) are 6 feet and above (from my estimate) and Usman
> and Swapnil were fastish medium while Munaf is pure pace.

Yes, Swapnil is a big guy too - used to do some karate as a ***ager
IIRC. Used to be a prospect in his U19 days after starting lateish -
he played for India U19 and did ok. But have been hearing for the
past couple of seasons that he took a couple of steps backwards, wasnt
bowling very well anymore in leagues etc. He used to be #1 in line when
he was coming out of U19s - but was passed on the way by Avishkar
Salvi, for one. Has made it back to the side this year, and had the
misfortune to play on some flattish pitches (while Usman got to play
on a friendly pitch last week) - thats probably why theyre playing
all 3 guys together in this game, to judge them properly together.

Quote:

> That brought in JP Yadav into the crease and he did play a few uppish
> drives. JP Yadav is a decentish allrounder but doesn't quite cut the
> textbook mode. The drives he played were with an upright stance
> without any front or back foot movement and it was only obvious that
> Mumbai were going to make him pay for that. Hazare got one to pitch
> slightly further than good length and Muzumdar was also standing in a
> cover pretty close to midoff..all JP did was to drive it uppishly to
> get caught by Muzumdar. 30 odd for 3 and suddenly Railways were
> looking down in the dumps.

JP is a fair Ranji allrounder. Bowls quite military medium - about
Gangulyish pace, really. But moves it around a little bit, wobbles
it etc (he used to be Pandit's teammate for MP, and Pandit warned
his team not to underestimate him, because he does little things with
the ball. But htey didnt listen, and paid the price - 3/36 in 24 overs
on the first day IIRC. With idiot Jaffer getting 20 with 4 boundaries,
and then leaving one alone and getting bowled!). JP Yadav can really
hit the ball very hard however - one of the harder hitters around.
Sort of an ODI-type prospect, and even played a couple of ODIs
for India a year ago, when we were trying pretty much everyone prior
to the World Cup.

Quote:

> Some thoughts from the day:

> 1. Ramesh Powar seems to be a nice allrounder. He bats with a great
> degree of hand eye co-ordination and also some good sense and
> thinking. He bowls very good off spin, not the run-of-the-mill stuff,
> but seriously good flighted spin bowling and slight variations of
> drift and bounce. He looks India material surely!

The thing with Ramesh Powar is, he really doesnt look like a cricketer :-)
And that goes against him a bit. But his attitude is really good, and
he works very hard at his cricket and improves. A couple of years
ago his bowling was really quite ordinary - offspin, but not hugely
penetrative or anything, not enough variation, often flattish. And
he batted very usefully down the order.

Last year he batted great for Bombay - batted mostly at #9, and still
averaged about 45 for the year, 2nd highest on the team, and scored
tons of runs (with a couple centuries IIRC). His bowling was OK, 20
or so wickets, at an average of 26 or so. But they still said his
bowling was quite ordinary.

In the off-season he apparently worked very hard at his bowling. And
also got some advice from Tendulkar etc (at the camp in Bangalore -
Sachin faced him in the nets and told him his normal deliveries were
a little too short). This season his bowling has improved a huge
amount, he flights it much more, gets batsmen to drive more often,
and has looked pretty good at times. He had a wonderful spell in the
first innings of the Irani Trophy, getting something like 4/40 in
25 overs or so (and getting Dravid, Ganguly etc out, quite an
achievement).

For India-A against SL-A he had some useful spells, and one pretty
ordinary one. Didnt do huge damage, but was flighting quite a lot
apparently, and still keeping batsmen quiet with control. And he
batted usefully again - 42 and 62* in 2 innings, both scored very
quickly, average over 100. But he was left out for the last test
against SL-A, and then dropped from the India-A side for the ODI
series coming up! Quite a bad decision IMHO - surely with his hitting
down the order and bowling, he would be *more* useful in ODI style
cricket than even fc cricket. I dont see why they'd pick Sarandeep
Singh over him, especially in ODI-style cricket (but then Delhi has
lots of pull nowadays, they even got Mithun Manhas into the side
ahead of young Ambati Rayudu, who many were talking of as the future
of Indian cricket only a couple of months ago).

Only last week, after being dropped from India-A (and then taking 4/16
to wrap up Kerala in the 2nd innings of the Ranji match), Powar talked
of how he needed to be more careful with his batting - that in Ranjis
he felt he had been playing too many shots this season, and getting
out for 20s too often. In this match Bombay has a shorter batting
lineup, and sent in Powar at #7 - and he came in at 150/5. Yesterday
he made only 32* in 112 balls IIRC, with only 2 fours (I even commented
on it, as maybe the most uncharacteristic innings of his life). It all
paid dividends as you saw the 2nd day morning however - he ended up 131
off 233 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes (so basically 100 on the
2nd day, off about 120 balls, with 10 fours and 2 sixes).

The thing with Ramesh Powar is, the way he bats (like a dhobi, as my
friend once said :-), you would think he wouldnt be able to make runs
quite as easily at the "next level". But so far he has gotten useful
runs at the best levels he has played at - a useful 60-odd in the Ranji
finals last year, another 50-odd against a near-India-attack in the
Iranis this year, average over 100 against SL-A, and I watched him
reach his 50 off 48 balls against the touring Australians two years
ago (Mcgrath, Fleming, Warne, Colin Miller). So, despite being a
very attacking lower-order guy, maybe he *can* make some useful runs
even against better opposition. And his bowling has improved a fair
bit, which ought to help his case too. But really his bowling is not
at Harbhajan's level, and will never be - so it is hard to see him
breaking into the side as an off-spinner.

Quote:

> Hazare, he was the fastest. Though by the end of the day, there wasn't
> much bounce in the wicket, he did skid and bowl incutters that were

BTW, how friendly was the pitch to pacers, if at all? The first day at
least it usually is, and was this time too - and Bombay did go with 3
seamers and 2 spinners, instead of the reverse. But not too friendly?

Quote:

> 3. Sanjay Bangar is blessed with some temperament, I tell you. He
> batted dourly holding one end up firmly and then attacked when
> necessary and then bottled up again. His defensive technique was nice
> and

...

read more »

by **Hindustani Naujawaa** » Sat, 20 Dec 2003 13:34:25

They will get to play in Amritsar in next round against Punjab. The
cold weather with heavy air and earning morning fog means lots of swing
. I presume it will be a very low scoring match.

Quote:

> > Am on vacation back to home to stay with parents in India in Mumbai
> > and I took this oppurtunity to visit ***hede Stadium for the game
> > between Mumbai and Railways.

> Thanks for that, BTW - very cool report. If youre going for any other
> days, do write again :-)

> BTW, while youre there, can we ask the same of you as we did of Aditya?
> That is, look in the paper, and let us know any U22 etc scores - of
> which we are apparently getting no reports whatsoever? I believe
> Bombay just finished a U22 game (vs Baroda IIRC) a day or two ago.
> And a Bombay U17 game ought to be in progress at the moment, actually.
> Any such scores would be great :-)

> > couldn't bowl further when Munaf Patel came to the crease. What
> > followed was mayhem with Munaf and Ramesh swatting the bowlers on
> > either side of the wicket. Powar is particularly a racy powerful kind
> > of batsman who exudes really good technique a la Gilchrist.

> > Munaf swept the spinners (Parida of the diabolical action and parttime
> > Shreyas Khanolkar) with some authority and by lunch these two piled on
> > a good 60 odd runs for the last wicket (Powar was batting throwing
> > more caution to the winds after reaching his century). After lunch and
> > some rest, Bangar brought in Zakir Hussain who got rid of Powar..but
> > the last wicket partnership was 76 runs..and Mumbai had piled on 388
> > before getting all out.

> Ha! I looked at the card this morning and thought exactly this - that
> it must have been some fun watching that end :-) Bombay was 150/5
> at one point on the first day, and recovered to 312/9. And then the
> last pair put on 76 runs in 10 overs! Powar has hit well with the
> tail a few times for Bombay now, but this is the first time for
> Munaf. He had a bit of a reputation as a slogger when he arrived,
> but he hadnt shown anything with the bat at all - which is why he
> is still #11 for Bombay.

> > Railways Innings:
> > -----------------

> > Mumbai started with Usman Maulvi from the Tata end and Munaf Patel
> > from the other end. Maulvi bowled a good first over testing Amit
> > Pagnis with incoming deliveries (to the southpaw) and afterwards
> > wasn't that penetrating. Munaf was bowling it at a nice pace( he was
> > the fastest I saw today, Harvinder the next fastest)...but was hardly
> > getting any swing except for the odd incutter.

> How decent was Usman, BTW? Saw him a couple years ago, and all I
> really remember is a decent high-arm action, and some fair swing.
> Have heard the same comments this year - that he moves the ball
> really well etc. How is his pace right now compared with people like
> Harvinder, for example?

> Munaf does seem to be quicker from everything we've heard - but as
> you say, the movement talk hasnt been there much. Bit of a natural
> incutter maybe (sort of like Srinath had in his early years), but
> that too is cut, not really swing, no? Is there any movement in
> the air at all?

> > Hazare has a comic kind of runup and I dont know how he manages that.
> > His ankles point sidewards while running toward the stumps!!! But when
> > he delivers the ball he does it rather smoothly...All three..(Munaf,
> > Usman and Swapnil) are 6 feet and above (from my estimate) and Usman
> > and Swapnil were fastish medium while Munaf is pure pace.

> Yes, Swapnil is a big guy too - used to do some karate as a ***ager
> IIRC. Used to be a prospect in his U19 days after starting lateish -
> he played for India U19 and did ok. But have been hearing for the
> past couple of seasons that he took a couple of steps backwards, wasnt
> bowling very well anymore in leagues etc. He used to be #1 in line when
> he was coming out of U19s - but was passed on the way by Avishkar
> Salvi, for one. Has made it back to the side this year, and had the
> misfortune to play on some flattish pitches (while Usman got to play
> on a friendly pitch last week) - thats probably why theyre playing
> all 3 guys together in this game, to judge them properly together.

> > That brought in JP Yadav into the crease and he did play a few uppish
> > drives. JP Yadav is a decentish allrounder but doesn't quite cut the
> > textbook mode. The drives he played were with an upright stance
> > without any front or back foot movement and it was only obvious that
> > Mumbai were going to make him pay for that. Hazare got one to pitch
> > slightly further than good length and Muzumdar was also standing in a
> > cover pretty close to midoff..all JP did was to drive it uppishly to
> > get caught by Muzumdar. 30 odd for 3 and suddenly Railways were
> > looking down in the dumps.

> JP is a fair Ranji allrounder. Bowls quite military medium - about
> Gangulyish pace, really. But moves it around a little bit, wobbles
> it etc (he used to be Pandit's teammate for MP, and Pandit warned
> his team not to underestimate him, because he does little things with
> the ball. But htey didnt listen, and paid the price - 3/36 in 24 overs
> on the first day IIRC. With idiot Jaffer getting 20 with 4 boundaries,
> and then leaving one alone and getting bowled!). JP Yadav can really
> hit the ball very hard however - one of the harder hitters around.
> Sort of an ODI-type prospect, and even played a couple of ODIs
> for India a year ago, when we were trying pretty much everyone prior
> to the World Cup.

> > Some thoughts from the day:

> > 1. Ramesh Powar seems to be a nice allrounder. He bats with a great
> > degree of hand eye co-ordination and also some good sense and
> > thinking. He bowls very good off spin, not the run-of-the-mill stuff,
> > but seriously good flighted spin bowling and slight variations of
> > drift and bounce. He looks India material surely!

> The thing with Ramesh Powar is, he really doesnt look like a cricketer :-)
> And that goes against him a bit. But his attitude is really good, and
> he works very hard at his cricket and improves. A couple of years
> ago his bowling was really quite ordinary - offspin, but not hugely
> penetrative or anything, not enough variation, often flattish. And
> he batted very usefully down the order.

> Last year he batted great for Bombay - batted mostly at #9, and still
> averaged about 45 for the year, 2nd highest on the team, and scored
> tons of runs (with a couple centuries IIRC). His bowling was OK, 20
> or so wickets, at an average of 26 or so. But they still said his
> bowling was quite ordinary.

> In the off-season he apparently worked very hard at his bowling. And
> also got some advice from Tendulkar etc (at the camp in Bangalore -
> Sachin faced him in the nets and told him his normal deliveries were
> a little too short). This season his bowling has improved a huge
> amount, he flights it much more, gets batsmen to drive more often,
> and has looked pretty good at times. He had a wonderful spell in the
> first innings of the Irani Trophy, getting something like 4/40 in
> 25 overs or so (and getting Dravid, Ganguly etc out, quite an
> achievement).

> For India-A against SL-A he had some useful spells, and one pretty
> ordinary one. Didnt do huge damage, but was flighting quite a lot
> apparently, and still keeping batsmen quiet with control. And he
> batted usefully again - 42 and 62* in 2 innings, both scored very
> quickly, average over 100. But he was left out for the last test
> against SL-A, and then dropped from the India-A side for the ODI
> series coming up! Quite a bad decision IMHO - surely with his hitting
> down the order and bowling, he would be *more* useful in ODI style
> cricket than even fc cricket. I dont see why they'd pick Sarandeep
> Singh over him, especially in ODI-style cricket (but then Delhi has
> lots of pull nowadays, they even got Mithun Manhas into the side
> ahead of young Ambati Rayudu, who many were talking of as the future
> of Indian cricket only a couple of months ago).

> Only last week, after being dropped from India-A (and then taking 4/16
> to wrap up Kerala in the 2nd innings of the Ranji match), Powar talked
> of how he needed to be more careful with his batting - that in Ranjis
> he felt he had been playing too many shots this season, and getting
> out for 20s too often. In this match Bombay has a shorter batting
> lineup, and sent in Powar at #7 - and he came in at 150/5. Yesterday
> he made only 32* in 112 balls IIRC, with only 2 fours (I even commented
> on it, as maybe the most uncharacteristic innings of his life). It all
> paid dividends as you saw the 2nd day morning however - he ended up 131
> off 233 balls with 12 fours and 2 sixes (so basically 100 on the
> 2nd day, off about 120 balls, with 10 fours and 2 sixes).

> The thing with Ramesh Powar is, the way he bats (like a dhobi, as my
> friend once said :-), you would think he wouldnt be able to make runs
> quite as easily at the "next level". But so far he has gotten useful
> runs at the best levels he has played at - a useful 60-odd in the Ranji
> finals last year, another 50-odd against a near-India-attack in the
> Iranis this year, average over 100 against SL-A, and I watched him
> reach his 50 off 48 balls against the touring Australians two years
> ago (Mcgrath, Fleming, Warne, Colin Miller). So, despite being a
> very attacking lower-order guy, maybe he *can* make some useful runs
> even against better opposition. And his bowling has improved a fair
> bit, which ought to help his case too. But really his bowling is not
> at Harbhajan's level, and will never be - so it is hard to see him
> breaking into the side as an off-spinner.

> > Hazare, he was the

...

read more »

by **Srinivas** » Sun, 21 Dec 2003 18:11:51

Sadiq, CiL, Andrew, Aditya and others,

I am really sorry for not following up early. I was whisked away to
Shirdi to seek the Baba's blessings...and hence couldn't get the net
access to post answers to your queries.. and also couldn't attend the
next phases of play in the Mumbai-R'ways game much as I wanted to do
so earnestly..

Specifically answering some of your queries:

Quote:

> How decent was Usman, BTW?

Usman is pacy..Hefty bowler with an action not different from say Brad
Williams.. Not as fast as Harvinder but better than Hazare and
Hussein...Virtue: Can move the ball both ways ...but again he couldn't
extract that much bounce.. however Bahutule tried him throughout from
the Tata end...while mixing the ends up for Hazare and Patel...

When I watched the game ..ie the late first session and later, the
wicket was not that supportive..in the sense there weren't many
deliveries which made the batsmen hop or even miss exemplarily, but
again the bounce was consistent and true..not that much dust and marks
from what I could see.. To conclude, a true 2nd day wicket with plenty
for all...

I watched the game from the Garware stand after lunch.. I was asked to
show a pass, to which I queried if I could pay for a seat in the
Garware stand...there wasn't any counter however, so I managed to
sneak in after convincing the watchman that I was an amateur
journo..!...I even managed to shout words of encouragement to Bangar,
Jaffer, and Sairaj..(I was seated right above the dressing room
actually).. To their credit, they acknowleged back..

Sadiq.. I shall get you the reports of the Times shield and other
games as soon as I return back to Bombay..

CiL: I am going to be based in Hyderabad from January onwards.. I will
hop on to Chennai sometime in between and hopefully catch you and we
can watch the Tambi studs in Chepauk, what say? Just keep me posted at
my email id and I shall do likewise!.

Tell you , watching FC Cricket was bliss.. I loved every second of
it!.

Quote:

> > Am on vacation back to home to stay with parents in India in Mumbai
> > and I took this oppurtunity to visit ***hede Stadium for the game
> > between Mumbai and Railways.

> Thanks for that, BTW - very cool report. If youre going for any other
> days, do write again :-)

> BTW, while youre there, can we ask the same of you as we did of Aditya?
> That is, look in the paper, and let us know any U22 etc scores - of
> which we are apparently getting no reports whatsoever? I believe
> Bombay just finished a U22 game (vs Baroda IIRC) a day or two ago.
> And a Bombay U17 game ought to be in progress at the moment, actually.
> Any such scores would be great :-)

> > couldn't bowl further when Munaf Patel came to the crease. What
> > followed was mayhem with Munaf and Ramesh swatting the bowlers on
> > either side of the wicket. Powar is particularly a racy powerful kind
> > of batsman who exudes really good technique a la Gilchrist.

> > Munaf swept the spinners (Parida of the diabolical action and parttime
> > Shreyas Khanolkar) with some authority and by lunch these two piled on
> > a good 60 odd runs for the last wicket (Powar was batting throwing
> > more caution to the winds after reaching his century). After lunch and
> > some rest, Bangar brought in Zakir Hussain who got rid of Powar..but
> > the last wicket partnership was 76 runs..and Mumbai had piled on 388
> > before getting all out.

> Ha! I looked at the card this morning and thought exactly this - that
> it must have been some fun watching that end :-) Bombay was 150/5
> at one point on the first day, and recovered to 312/9. And then the
> last pair put on 76 runs in 10 overs! Powar has hit well with the
> tail a few times for Bombay now, but this is the first time for
> Munaf. He had a bit of a reputation as a slogger when he arrived,
> but he hadnt shown anything with the bat at all - which is why he
> is still #11 for Bombay.

> > Railways Innings:
> > -----------------

> > Mumbai started with Usman Maulvi from the Tata end and Munaf Patel
> > from the other end. Maulvi bowled a good first over testing Amit
> > Pagnis with incoming deliveries (to the southpaw) and afterwards
> > wasn't that penetrating. Munaf was bowling it at a nice pace( he was
> > the fastest I saw today, Harvinder the next fastest)...but was hardly
> > getting any swing except for the odd incutter.

> How decent was Usman, BTW? Saw him a couple years ago, and all I
> really remember is a decent high-arm action, and some fair swing.
> Have heard the same comments this year - that he moves the ball
> really well etc. How is his pace right now compared with people like
> Harvinder, for example?

> Munaf does seem to be quicker from everything we've heard - but as
> you say, the movement talk hasnt been there much. Bit of a natural
> incutter maybe (sort of like Srinath had in his early years), but
> that too is cut, not really swing, no? Is there any movement in
> the air at all?

> > Hazare has a comic kind of runup and I dont know how he manages that.
> > His ankles point sidewards while running toward the stumps!!! But when
> > he delivers the ball he does it rather smoothly...All three..(Munaf,
> > Usman and Swapnil) are 6 feet and above (from my estimate) and Usman
> > and Swapnil were fastish medium while Munaf is pure pace.

> Yes, Swapnil is a big guy too - used to do some karate as a ***ager
> IIRC. Used to be a prospect in his U19 days after starting lateish -
> he played for India U19 and did ok. But have been hearing for the
> past couple of seasons that he took a couple of steps backwards, wasnt
> bowling very well anymore in leagues etc. He used to be #1 in line when
> he was coming out of U19s - but was passed on the way by Avishkar
> Salvi, for one. Has made it back to the side this year, and had the
> misfortune to play on some flattish pitches (while Usman got to play
> on a friendly pitch last week) - thats probably why theyre playing
> all 3 guys together in this game, to judge them properly together.

> > That brought in JP Yadav into the crease and he did play a few uppish
> > drives. JP Yadav is a decentish allrounder but doesn't quite cut the
> > textbook mode. The drives he played were with an upright stance
> > without any front or back foot movement and it was only obvious that
> > Mumbai were going to make him pay for that. Hazare got one to pitch
> > slightly further than good length and Muzumdar was also standing in a
> > cover pretty close to midoff..all JP did was to drive it uppishly to
> > get caught by Muzumdar. 30 odd for 3 and suddenly Railways were
> > looking down in the dumps.

> JP is a fair Ranji allrounder. Bowls quite military medium - about
> Gangulyish pace, really. But moves it around a little bit, wobbles
> it etc (he used to be Pandit's teammate for MP, and Pandit warned
> his team not to underestimate him, because he does little things with
> the ball. But htey didnt listen, and paid the price - 3/36 in 24 overs
> on the first day IIRC. With idiot Jaffer getting 20 with 4 boundaries,
> and then leaving one alone and getting bowled!). JP Yadav can really
> hit the ball very hard however - one of the harder hitters around.
> Sort of an ODI-type prospect, and even played a couple of ODIs
> for India a year ago, when we were trying pretty much everyone prior
> to the World Cup.

> > Some thoughts from the day:

> > 1. Ramesh Powar seems to be a nice allrounder. He bats with a great
> > degree of hand eye co-ordination and also some good sense and
> > thinking. He bowls very good off spin, not the run-of-the-mill stuff,
> > but seriously good flighted spin bowling and slight variations of
> > drift and bounce. He looks India material surely!

> The thing with Ramesh Powar is, he really doesnt look like a cricketer :-)
> And that goes against him a bit. But his attitude is really good, and
> he works very hard at his cricket and improves. A couple of years
> ago his bowling was really quite ordinary - offspin, but not hugely
> penetrative or anything, not enough variation, often flattish. And
> he batted very usefully down the order.

> Last year he batted great for Bombay - batted mostly at #9, and still
> averaged about 45 for the year, 2nd highest on the team, and scored
> tons of runs (with a couple centuries IIRC). His bowling was OK, 20
> or so wickets, at an average of 26 or so. But they still said his
> bowling was quite ordinary.

> In the off-season he apparently worked very hard at his bowling. And
> also got some advice from Tendulkar etc (at the camp in Bangalore -
> Sachin faced him in the nets and told him his normal deliveries were
> a little too short). This season his bowling has improved a huge
> amount, he flights it much more, gets batsmen to drive more often,
> and has looked pretty good at times. He had a wonderful spell in the
> first innings of the Irani Trophy, getting something like 4/40 in
> 25 overs or so (and getting Dravid, Ganguly etc out, quite an
> achievement).

> For India-A against SL-A he had some useful spells, and one pretty
> ordinary one. Didnt do huge damage, but was flighting quite a lot
> apparently, and still keeping batsmen quiet with control. And he
> batted usefully again - 42 and 62* in 2 innings, both scored very
> quickly, average over 100. But he was left out for the last test
> against SL-A, and then dropped from the India-A side for the ODI
> series coming up! Quite a bad decision IMHO - surely with his hitting
> down the order and bowling, he would be *more* useful in ODI style
> cricket than even fc cricket. I dont see why they'd pick Sarandeep
> Singh over him, especially in

...

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Live account of Mumbai vs Railways game

Live account of Mumbai vs Railways game

Live account of Mumbai vs Railways game

Live account of Mumbai vs Railways game

Live account of Mumbai vs Railways game

Live account of Mumbai vs Railways game

Live account of Mumbai vs Railways game

Live account of Mumbai vs Railways game