Mumbai beat Baroda by 63 runs to make the finals of the Elite Group Ranji Trophy final, in a match which was in many ways representative of the state of Indias domestic cricket today. On a wicket which was obviously (judging by the scores) not flat, Amol Muzumdar and Yusuf Pathan (brother of Irfan Pathan, who also played) were the only players who reached 50. In fact, Muzumdar’s 97 in the Mumbai first innings, along with important runs in the group stage, where Mumbai came back from the dead to make the knockout stage, make him a front runner for a batsman spot in the next Indian Test squad. The Baroda batting, with Williams and Parab opening followed by the experienced Jacob Martin and the Pathan brothers, could muster only 143 and 173 against a Mumbai attack which had no India pacemen, and only 1 former India spinner – Nilesh Kulkarni. The Mumbai batting was even more astounding. After bowling out Baroda for 143, for a first innings lead of 90, Mumbai seemed to have spectacularly squandered their advantage by being reduced to 0/5 and then 6/17, before the wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant put together an innings of 66 to take Mumbai to the relative respectability of 145. Set 237 to win, Baroda could manage on 173.
This was a low scoring game by any standards. This Ranji Semi-final, brought no prospective India talent to the fore. The low scores were probably down to the quality of the batting and the nature of the wicket. The bowling on either side was not of particularly high quality either. Irfan Pathan had a good outing 7/96 in the match. Amol Muzumdar – who is arguably the finest batsman in India, never to have played Test cricket (it has been his misfortune to have competed with Ganguly, Laxman, Tendulkar and Dravid for a middle order spot), made runs – but then, he always makes runs for Mumbai. So yet another Ranji Trophy has passed, and no significant talent has come through. If you think about it, most of the talent coming in to the India side has come from age-group and A performances, and just been confirmed for a year in the Ranji Trophy before being brought into the national side. Why is the influence of the Ranji Trophy and the Duleep Trophy so minimal then?
The match was played at the Moti Bagh ground, which last hosted an international match (and ODI) in 1988-89, and has never hosted a Test match. International games at Baroda are played at the IPCL ground. One wonders why this was the case. Even the CCI in Mumbai rarely hosts Ranji matches now, even though it is an international quality ground which just hosted the final of the ICC Champions Trophy.
First class cricket in India is not a realistic practice opportunity for India players, in large part because of scheduling. England play first class cricket for a full 2 months – April and May, before their main summer Test tour. which is usually in July-August. Even for the early summer tour, which begins in mid to late May, England players have the chance to play nearly 6 weeks of first class cricket. First Class cricket in India has undergone plenty of change in recent years. The Duleep Trophy with 6 zones is just too few though, when you consider the fact that there are about 27 first class sides in India. Any player who plays Duleep Trophy and makes the finals, plays a maximum of 3 Duleep trophy games!
Here’s a possible solution – the Duleep Trophy as a Zonal competition needs to be expanded. And here’s how it may be possible – the Ranji Champion side, plays as itself in the Duleep Trophy. Every Zone – West, Central, East, South and North is allowed to field 2 sides. Add the invited foreign side to this (which is a great move), and we have a 12 Team competition.
If the Ranji Trophy (where a player who plays all available games and makes the Ranji Final, plays 8-9 first class games) can be completed before New Year’s day – a Boxing Day Ranji Final every year….. then from January – April, you could have a 12 Team round robin Duleep competition, where every side gets to play 13 matches. These matches would be higher quality matches than the Ranji Trophy. India players would then have 21 first class games (which in a 6 month season – October to April) is not too high for first class professional cricketers to play in. 84 days of cricket in the year would be a significant amount of First Class cricket.
It has to be a problem when the Indian side plays more Test Cricket (9-12 Tests) in a full year, than the average First Class cricketer plays First class games. It is no wonder then, that India do not have a strong bench. Even in Australia, with their small population and just 6 first class Teams, they play 10 first class games in a season – 11 including the final – more than the average first class cricketer in India.
Currently we have two major first class tournaments – Ranji and Duleep Trophy, with their corresponding ODI tournaments, the Ranji ODI and Deodhar Trophy. Add to this, the Salve Challenger Trophy and the Irani Trophy (a one off season opener).
First class cricket will be able to build an audience if enough of it is played with reasonable quality and with reasonable participation from Test players. Unless this happens, first class cricket will remain irrelevant as it is today. With 20-21 first class games available to each player, what would the standard of performance be? 2000 runs in a season and 100 wickets. That should be reasonable.
Money should not be a problem – BCCI can probably afford to under-write the whole domestic season – but they will eventually make money from first class cricket as well. One often wonders why cricket grounds in India are in such bad shape – the reason ought to be clear, most of them are used for cricket, for 3-4 first class matches in a year, at the most! With a 21 match season, they would afford to maintain full time ground staffs and first class cricketers would be able to make a good living. If you look at Australia, each state hosts each of the other states – 5 matches, in addition to this, they host a test match (except Hobart, which hosts the Australia A match against the tourists) and at least 2 if not more tri-series matches. That is 8 international quality cricket matches in a season at least. In addition, they probably also host a few second eleven matches and club finals.
First Class cricket in India needs to become relevant, for India to consistently threaten the summit of World Cricket. Until that happens, we will keep having Ranji Trophy tournaments and finals, which Mumbai will keep winning, as if by divine right! In the last 14 seasons (1993-94 to 2006-07), Mumbai have reached the Ranji finals 8 Times now, won 6, lost 1 and we will know in a few days whether what happens this year). In all this while, they have contributed 1 Test player – Sachin Tendulkar and 1 ODI player – Ajit Agarkar to the India cause.
Something is clearly wrong….
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