Sport Today

The following news is from a post in misc.news.southasia.

                India: Ranji Trophy: Pre-quarterfinals: Feb 17
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Maharashtra vs Bihar (Match draw, Maharashtra enter quarterfinals):
------------------------------------------------------------------

      pune, feb 17 (pti) bihar scored 424 for seven in the
second innings to salvage some pride in their charminar
challenge ranji trophy pre-quarterfinal match against
maharashtra, which ended in a draw at the nehru stadium here
today.
      as maharashtra had already made the quarter-final stage
by virtue of their 487-run first innings lead, the only
interest left in today's play was whether bihar would avoid an
innings defeat.
      this they did, thanks to some shoddy catching by the
maharashtra fieldsmen and some gutsy batting by the bihar
batsmen, particularly wicketkeeper saba karim, who made 176.
      karim's fighting knock, which included 25 fours and two
sixes, was his ninth first class hundred and his 184-run
fourth wicket partnership with subhash chatterjee (79) took
bihar towards safety.
      still, maharashtra could have forced a victory, had they
not dropped three clear chances, with skipper surendra bhave,
prashant roy and ravi yeravadekar being the culprits.
      in the quarter-final, maharashtra would take on holders
haryana from february 28 to march three at the same venue. pti

Score card:

      maharashtra (1st innings) 757 for 7 declared.
      bihar (1st innings) 270
bihar 2nd innings:
sunil kumar lbw prasad kanade                       90
pradeep khanna c abhijit deshpande b srikant jadhav 11
hari gidwani b prashant roy                         23
saba karim lbw prasad kanade                       176
subhash chatterjee b ravi yeravadekar               79
afri syed b prasad kanade                            8
venkat ram not out                                  16
k v p rao c nandan phadnis b santosh jedhe           5
avinash kumar not out                                8
extras (lb-6, wide-1, nb-1)                          8
total: (for seven wickets in 150 overs)            424
      fall of wickets: 1/13, 2/65, 3/201, 4/385, 5/385, 6/394,
7/401.
      bowling analysis: subhash ranjane 13-4-32-0, ravi
yeravadekar 14-5-32-1, srikant jadhav 12-3-40-1, prasad kanade
27-9-85-3, prashant roy 40-16-90-1, milind gunjal 6-0-24-0,
santosh jedhe 24-11-61-1, abhijit deshpande 5-1-19-0, surendra
bhave 6-1-31-0, nandan phadnis 2-1-4-0. pti corr sss rk

M.P. wriggling into drivers seat against Hyderabad:
--------------------------------------------------

      hyderabad, feb 17 (pti) madhya pradesh grafted its way
slowly but surely to the drivers seat against hyderabad on the
third day of the charminar challenge ranji trophy cricket
pre-quarter final here today.
      amitabh vijayavargiya (85), kirti patel (54), ameya
khurasia (batting) and prashant dwivedi (batting) cautiously
to add 191 runs today on a wicket of low bounce to see their
team to 286 for two wickets at close in reply to hyderabad's
409.
      the track bellied all expectations of assisting spinners
and with the exception of off-spinner kanwaljit singh, the
tweakers' reluctance to experiment with flight ensured that
the watchful batsmen were not troubled at all.
      the left handed khurasia saw off the threat--the second
new ball taken after tea--hammering three boundaries off
rajesh yadav and four off m v ramanamurthy to hasten the tempo
of scoring. pti raj kvp
-----------------------END--------------------------

* In my earlier article (Re: Miscellaneous Stuff - II, I guess), when I talked
  about Indian off-spinners, I forgot about Kanvaljith Singh (I read his name
  as Kunvaljith Singh in some places earlier. But I think this is correct).
  He is young. He started playing for Hyderabad about two years back. He was
  quite successful in the domestic matches. The competition with another
  (experienced) off-spinner in his own Ranji team did good to him (I wonder
  why Hyderabad always happens to have two offies). He is another prospect.

* Look at the scores: 757/7, 270 (all out) [an exception], 424/7, 409 (a.o),
  286/2. How common it has become to score 400-800! BCCI should do something
  fast.

--------
PVR Narasimha Rao

Yes, I agree with it. This, in fact, is what I have been observing for a
few years now, regarding the Indian domestic Cricket. It is very common to
see sides crossing 600, or even 700, in an innings.

The first time I had an idea of this was in early eighties, when I was
crazy enough to even hear the commentary of the Indian Ranji trophy. I
remember one final in particular. (I don't even remember what too sides
were pitted against one another! I just recall that Mohinder Amarnath
was in one of them, but even that memory is also hazy!)

It was a two inning match, to be played over five days. The side batting
scored 500+ in almost two days. I lost interest that the second side would
probably get less than that, and whatever happens, the first side would
win on the first-innings lead. But I should have known better!

The second side played until the end of the fifth game, and scored 700+.

This was probably the same time that England was in India under Keith
Fletcher. When Boycott completed 8000 runs, and was sent home! 1981-82.

Is there any special reason for this? (Not Boycott's episode. It was
reported that he did not go to the nets, faking ailment, but was "caught"
playing golf!)

Nadeem Moghal

  That was the Ranji trophy final in 1981-82 season in which
karnataka was playinf against Delhi. Mohinder was playing for
Delhi.

  Karnataka batted first scoring 705, batting for nearly three days.
Binny, Kirmani and Ranjit Khandilkar scored centuries. An interesting
feature was that maninder singh bowled 100 + overs in that innings.

Delhi started with centuries from Gurucharan singh and Mohinder.
Their first innings was not over till the end of 5th  day and the
play had to be extended.
  Delhi made 707/8 with their 9th wicket partnership adding as
much as 150.

   Yes, I do agree that matches like this have killed whatever
pace bowling India could have generated.

        I think you're probably referring to the Ranji final between
Karnataka and Delhi. Delhi probably had Amarnath in those days, they batted
first and got 703 (I think was 703 anyway,  it was definately between 700
and 710). Karnataka replied with 705 for 8, to win the game on the first
innings. The 8th wicket had an unbeaten partnership of 60+ to take them to
victory as far as I remember, and I think they played into a 6th day to
complete the first innings !! The match was played on that infamous
bowler's graveyard, the Ferozshah Kotla ground in Delhi.  

        Reason for laying batsmen's paradises ?? Nadeem me boy, the first
thing you learn following Indian cricket is never to look for reasons
behind anything the board does. Mostly, there aren't any. Why do they make
bowlers suffer the way they do ? As some of my Bombay friends might
flippantly say (with the Bombayite's ability to go to the heart of the
matter with a single word :-) ) , " Khunnas ! Bowlers pay khunnas nikalte
hain" { That's almost untranslable, sort of mixture of nastiness, revenge
and all sorts of pent-up hate }

        Sadiq [ who also listened to Ranji finals commentary ] Yusuf

 >

Yes, you are right. That *is* the match I was talking about. And I meant
to say 600 runs scored by the frist side. 500+ was a typo. (How could I
have lost interest at that total?)

Well, I certainly agree to what adjectives you could used to define
the pitches. I remember the wicket of National Stadium, Karachi used
to be an absolute dead piece of land in the early eighties. (Remember
the Pak-Aus test of March '80? Pak won by three wickets. Iqbal Qasim
and Ray Bright (both left arm spinners) finished with eleven and ten
wickets resp.)

In one of the local First clkass matches played at that time, in the
Quaid-e-Azam trophy, an unknown pace bowler, named Mohinder Kumar,
completed a hattrick. That got a prertty wide coverage in the local
press.

As far as the Karachi's wicket is concerned, it continued with this
legacy for about a couple of years at least. It was in December '82,
when Imran Khan took eleven for 79 against India, that Karachi started
being acknowledged as a place where a fast bowler *could* bowl. Things
have been improving since then. (Dennis Lillee went wicketless in the
'79-80 test - something that was *extremely* rare to happen to this
great bowler. Just to complete the topic, Faisalabad too failed to
win him any laurels! It was at Lahore that he took three wickets, and
finished the *** with a bowling average of 110.00)

Gee! What do I say to that? Khunnas nikaltay hein, yaa samatay hein?

(For those who don't understand it, don't worry, we are even! I, too,
have not the faintest idea.)

Nadeem [ the only one on the net without a middle initial ] Moghal

writes:                                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                                                that's me!

                                           ^^^^^

Correction: Won by seven wickets. They lost three wickets, chasing about
87 runs.

I guess not any longer :-)