Indian domestic cricket/ players

[Sin Hombre]

I am pretty sure he played against NZ A recently and did reasonably well.

He is in contention and part of the next cohort of players. Others include Panchal, Anmolpreet, Ricky Bhui, Samarth, Bawne.

There are 2 ways to get to the senior team - have an excellent junior career and start your FC career the same way and hopefully get fast tracked (Shaw and hopefully Gill) or score a truckload of runs and force yourself into contention like Mayank.

Easwaran needs to do the latter.

[prasen9]

It seems that if you score a truckload of runs, it does not matter. You need to score a truckload of runs in one season ~9 matches in the Ranjis to be a Ranji batting leader. He has performed consistently for Bengal scoring a truckload of runs. He needs a breakout session where he leads the Ranjis to be really notices. Or shine a lot in the A-team tours.

I have also been impressed by Bawne's temperament and penchant for scoring big in the domestics. I hope he does not have serious technical issues and can overcome them in the A-team tours.

Other than Gill, I think Anmolpreet would be the next in contention for the youngster fast-tracked.

Among the openers, Panchal has done his duty for long and is 28, maybe a year older than Mayank. He looks slightly better to me than Abhimanyu. But, the test is in the A-team tours to SENA countries. Let us see how he does. One of them can be the third opener we need. For all we know Prithvi and Mayank may combust in the next overseas tour. I do not know why Samarth, who has a pedestrian (by Indian batting standards) FC record gets in and Panchal does not in the India-A team.

Ex-India player Vijay Shankar is also a candidate for #6 or all-rounder spot.

I would hope a bunch of these people should be told to play in the English counties to show that they can handle the swinging ball. It seems our players are getting better at handling pace and short bowling but not as much familiar with handling swing. That would be the next frontier.

Next, India-A plays List-As against England at home.

[PKBasu]

This is another guy to keep an eye on. I read an article about how his dad has devoted his life to make him better. I’ve followed him since then and he usually comes through. Abhimanyu Easwaran plays for Bengal and is an opener to boot. Any other scouting news on him? Opinions?

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/conte ... 99491.html

Here is the aforementioned news item about his dad. There are several more articles on him from as long as two years ago:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/conte ... 29746.html

Abhimanyu Easwaran has been in excellent form for India A and Bengal, and must surely be in contention for the national side (tests, particularly). He made a match-winning 183* in the fourth innings against Delhi in his last match, and did well for India A as an opener. We have a surfeit of opening talent now. Shaw and Mayank should become the incumbents, with Abhimanyu next in line after Shubman Gill (who isn’t necessarily a test opener, just a Super-talented batsman who needs to be drafted in right away).

[PKBasu]

Very strange system in the Ranji Trophy this year. Group A and B are considered together (although teams only play each other within their Group), with the top-5 point winners from the two groups going through to the QF. It seems likely that Group A will provide all the 5 quarterfinalists, with none making it from Group B (both had 9 teams each).

Two other quarterfinalists will come from Group C (the top-2 among 10 teams), and one quarterfinalist from the Plate Group (of new teams in the Ranji trophy), with the winning team also getting promoted to Group C, while the bottom team from Group C is relegated to the Plate Group. There are also relegations from Group A and B to Group C (the bottom team from each group going down, and the two top teams from Group C going up to Group A and B for next year). To have 37 first-class teams in the Ranji Trophy is WAY too many. I would consider creating a Second Division (non-first-class) competition among the bottom 19 sides, and play more matches among the Group A and B teams (which alone would be first class cricket).

[PKBasu]

Rajasthan have won Group C and will be in Group A or B next year, plus a place in the QF. UP (after a big first innings lead against Assam) are likely to finish second from Group C.

Holders Vidharbha lead Group A, with Karnataka (who have played all 8 matches) a point behind, followed by Gujarat and Baroda (who have also finished, at 26 points, 1 behind Karnataka). Saurashtra (who also have 26 points) are playing Vidharbha in their last match, and Saurashtra is close to gaining the first innings lead at the end of the third day (after a 6 wicket haul from Unadkat). So Saurashtra will get 3 points and Vidharbha 1, thereby ensuring they finish jointly on top at 29 points apiece.

In Group B, three teams had a good chance to vault past 26 points (and 2 others to reach 26), had they done well in their final matches (ongoing now, third day). But Group leader MP (at 24 points) were thrashed by Andhra (who were at the bottom, and so in danger of relegation), being bowled out for less than 100 in both innings at their home ground of Indore (normally a batting paradise!). Bengal (on 22 points) conceded a massive first innings lead to Punjab (20 points before this match), and so are basically out. Punjab can still theoretically win outright and vault to 26 points, but they need to bowl better tomorrow: Bengal now on 218/2 in the second innings, after conceding a 260-run first innings lead. Himachal Pradesh (also on 22 before their final match against Kerala, who were on 20) took an 11-run first innings lead, and are now 296 ahead with 2 wickets in hand at the end of Day 3. The first innings lead will only take them to 25 (not enough to make the QF), so Himachal have to go for an outright win tomorrow. If they lose in the process, Kerala will get to 26 points (possibly still not enough to vault past Gujarat and Baroda -- I need to find out what the tiebreaker is). If Himachal win outright, their 28 points will definitely take them to the QF.

The Plate group has been won by Uttarakhand (4 points ahead of Bihar).

[PKBasu]

Since Group A and B are the top two pools, it would make more sense for them to provide most of the quarterfinalists -- say, 6 -- with the winner of the Plate and the top two teams in Group C going into a PQF round with the next (7th) team in Group A+B to determine the final two quarterfinalists. Actually it would be fairer to just have the top two teams from Group C playing the 7th and 8th team from Groups A+B in (my proposed) PQF.

The Plate division should be like Minor Counties (non-first-class) with the possibility of promotion to Group C (first class cricket the following year) for the top team (and demotion for the bottom team in Group C).

[PKBasu]

A couple of exciting matches on the final day of the group stage of the Ranji Trophy. Himachal, with first innings lead (3 points, not enough to qualify) declared at 285/8, setting Kerala (who were fifth on 20 points) 297 to win. Kerala got there with 5 wickets in hand and qualified from Group B.

Bengal allowed Easwaran to get his double century before declaring. Punjab needed 173 to win in 15 overs, and Gony (58 at #3 off 28 balls) got them speeding along, but Punjab finished on 132/5, well short. (Yuvi was run out for 12 off 9 balls, Mandeep run out for 35 off 23 balls, and that basically killed the chase).

[Sin Hombre]

Shivam Mavi will be the next one to be fast tracked to the senior team.

Back from injury for the Ranji QFs for UP. Came in at 296-7 and scored an excellent 42 to get UP to 382, and bowled excellently to reduce Saurashtra to 170/7. Bowling figures are only 3-37 but had every batsman in trouble and got Pujara with a nasty bouncer.

[prasen9]

India-A team? Sure. He has a pretty good FC record, okay List-A record, and pretty bad T20 record. All small sample size.

[Sin Hombre]

I was thinking more of the WI test series.

It is either him or Siraj as the 5th quick. Would rather rest Bumrah so essentially the 4th pacer.

Unfortunate that he is not as good a white ball bowler yet. We are in desperate need for a 4th quick option there.

[prasen9]

Yes, we should certainly rest Bumrah and if needed Shami for WI. Go with Umesh, Ishant, Bhuvi if he is well rested.

[jaydeep]

Vidharbha lifted their back to back Ranji Trophy beating Saurashtra by 78 runs ... Suddenly they are showing dominance in the domestic circuit ... They r unbeaten for more than 2 yrs, their run started with Vidarbha's eight-wicket win over Saurashtra on November 24, 2016 ...Now, Vidarbha's unbeaten run stands at 24 matches.
Their u-19 team is in the final of the Cooch Behar Trophy.

[prasen9]

Sin Hombre, so you have been tracking and provided the list of bowlers who are the next in line. Who are the next generation batsmen? The ones who are getting chances in the A-team such as Bawne, Nair, etc. are a bit "older". Who are the best 5-7 under-23 batsmen? I say U-23 because taking the U-19 WC winners and thinking that they are great is not very good thinking. I wish there was a U-23 world championship. That is because by that point, people have matured a bit and are possibly ready to be thrown into the next rung. Given that Pujara, Kohli, Rahane will possibly last 3-4 more years, the generation who are between 23 and 30 already possibly not get that much of a chance. Okay, Rahane may not last very long. But that is one slot. So, who are the U-23 test contenders?

Prithvi, Gill, Bhui ... ? I know you suggested some names elsewhere but asking again.

[PKBasu]

Rahane made 59, 91 and 0 (average 50) in 3 List A matches for India A against England Lions, as an opening batsman. But he was slow (strike rate of 67 and 77 in the two big innings).
In the Irani Cup match, skipper Rahane has fallen for 13, so his wretched first-class form continues.
Vihari and Mayank did outstandingly for RoI.

[prasen9]

So, maybe Vihari is not only a Plate League dada?