Mumbai sniff 38th Ranji title, UP need 525 to win

Vinayak Samant (113) slammed his maiden first class century, while team-mate Rohit Sharma (108) struck his second of the match as Mumbai batted Uttar Pradesh out of the final and virtually assured itself of its 38th Ranji Trophy title on Thursday.

Aware that their 157-run first innings lead was enough to win the title in case of a drawn match, Mumbai adopted a safety-first approach and batted on and on till they were all out for 367.

UP would require a miracle of sorts to chase down the mammoth 525-run target with just one day left.

The only sour note in Mumbai's superior display was Sachin Tendulkar's failure in both the innings. The star batsman, who scored a duck in the first innings and was battling a viral fever, batted at number seven in the second essay only to score four runs and fall to Piyush Chawla.

Apart from Samant and Rohit, captain Wasim Jaffer shone for Mumbai with the bat, scoring 85.

Rohit became only the sixth batsman to score two centuries in a Ranji Trophy final.

For UP, Piyush Chawla and Parvinder Singh scalped three wickets apiece.

Resuming on 130 for no loss, Mumbai soon realised that the UP bowlers were not in a mood to throw in the towel.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed Jaffer in the 43rd over just before the opening stand was about to reach the 150-mark and suddenly wicket started tumbling as Mumbai, from 146 for no loss, slumped to 241 for six.

Chawla alone claimed the scalps of Abhishek Nayar (3), Ramesh Powar (0) and Tendulkar to peg Mumbai back before Rohit put his foot down.

Samant survived numerous edges and near-misses but gamely hung on for his maiden century before falling to Parvinder Singh after a 239-ball 113 that included 17 hits to the fence. The middle order collapse apparently had no effect on Rohit who looked in complete control of the proceedings by the time UP took the second new ball.

Unlike the first innings, Rohit was rock solid today. He needed 27 balls to get off the mark but he kicked off in style, hitting Chawla for three consecutive boundaries.

In fact, he never allowed Chawla to settle into any rhythm, often sweeping him to negate his googly.

Even though Mumbai's lead kept swelling, they never really seemed keen on an outright win and batted on and on. Parvinder eventually dropped curtains on Rohit's innings just before Mumbai reached the 350-mark.

Rohit's 146-ball knock was studded with 17 crisp boundaries and a massive six off Praveen Gupta which also brought up his century.

Parvinder was on a hat-trick as he removed Zaheer Khan for a first ball duck but Dhawal Kulkarni (15) denied him the feat.

Chawla finally dropped curtains on Mumbai's second innings by removing Kulkarni.

UP let Mumbai off the hook, says skipper Mohd Kaif

Hyderabad, Jan 17: Despite having to forego the 38th Ranji Trophy, Uttar Pradesh captain Mohammad Kaif has no complaints from his team and is satisfied with the way his boys performed throughout the season.

“I am very satisfied with the performance of the team. Though we committed some mistakes in Mumbai`s first innings in the final, we managed to bounce back in the match strongly,” Kaif said told reporters.

“Our plans against Mumbai had almost worked out in the first innings, but some mistakes allowed the rivals to post a challenging total for us,” he said, adding, “Despite finishing runners-up last season, we started afresh this season and chalked out plans for every match.”

“We took every match with a different attitude, and I am happy that all the players lived upto the expectations.”

Kaif, however, admitted that injuries to Praveen Kumar and RP Singh at crucial moments in the final match caused maximum damage to UP’s winning prospects.

“RP didn`t bowl in Mumbai`s second innings because of shoulder pain. We can`t blame any particular thing for our defeat in the final, but there were many small things which shattered our chances in the end.”

Jayawardene plays down Mendis hype in Pakistan series

Sri Lankan spin sensation Ajantha Mendis

Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene Sunday refused to single out spin sensation Ajantha Mendis as the major threat for Pakistan in the one-day series.

The 23-year-old Mendis and his more illustrious partner Muttiah Muralitharan are tipped to hold the aces against the home team in the three-match series which starts here from Tuesday.

But Jayawardene said Mendis doesn't carry extra burden of expectations.

"Mendis hasn't had added pressure and has gone through all the batting line-ups he has come across and is enjoying his challenges," Jayawardene said of his spinner during his arrival press conference.

"Pressure does not effect Mendis. He is a very simple guy he doesn't have to go through such interviews because his knowledge of the English is not that great so he is resting in his room watching movies," said Jayawardene.

Mendis, who made his debut in the West Indies in May last year, became the fastest bowler to get 50 wickets, achieving the total in 19 matches, breaking Indian Ajit Agarkar's record of 23 matches.

Jayawardene said he would not like to put extra pressure on the newcomer.

"He knows what his role is, at the same time there are some really good guys around him giving him advice, especially Murali who is a brilliant role model for Ajantha.

"Murali is somebody who has worked 18 years and come through very well. As long as Ajantha realises that if he can go at the same path as Murali I'm sure we will have a big match winner for us in the next ten years."

Jayawardene refused to agree Sri Lanka are struggling with their overall form after losing to Bangladesh in the last league match and scrapping to a narrow two-wicket win in the final of the tri-series in Dhaka last week.

"I think we've been still winning matches, we haven't lost any, so we just need to continue to do that. I don't think I've seen a team being 5-6 and winning a match," said Jayawardene of his team's slump in the final on Friday.

"That's something special whether it's against Bangladesh or whoever. That shows character to me I think. I'm very proud of the guys, the way we have been playing."

Chasing a modest 153, Sri Lanka lost their first five wickets for a mere six runs -- the lowest total at the fall of five wickets in any one-day international -- before Muralitharan's 16-ball 33 saw them home.

Jayawardene admitted Pakistan are a dangerous team.

"Pakistan is always Pakistan for me. They are a very tough side whether they play regularly or not, so we will have to put up the best effort," said Jayawardene.

The second match is here on Wednesday, while the final match is in Lahore on Saturday.

Jayawardene concerned about ODI batting form

Captain Mahela Jayawardene said Sunday he was worried about a slump in his batting form in one-day internationals as Sri Lanka arrived for a tour of three ODIs against Pakistan.

Jayawardene has scored 409 runs in the last 18 ODIs over the last seven months, and has not scored a century in the shortened version of the international game in one and a half years.

"It's a concern because as a batsman I need to contribute and that's very important," Jayawardene told reporters. "I haven't been able to get those big runs for the team and that's something on which I'm really working hard on.

"I don't see that I'm like out of form or anything like that because when I play test matches I'm batting really well and getting big runs," said the 31-year-old veteran of 291 ODIs.

Sri Lanka is filling a gap after India canceled its scheduled tour in the wake of Mumbai attacks and will return for two test matches next month after playing five ODIs against India at home.

Bangladesh nearly stunned Sri Lanka in a tri-series final on Friday before Jayawardene's team made a remarkable recovery from being 5-6 to win by two wickets — helped by Muttiah Muralitharan's 33 runs off 16 balls.

"I don't think I've seen a team being 5-6 and winning a match, that's something special whether it's against Bangladesh or whoever," Jayawardene said.

"In cricket there are some periods when you go through bad times and tough times, you just need to pull through and that's what character is all about."

Jayawardene downplayed the role of his two key spin bowlers Muralitharan and new spin sensation Ajantha Mendis in the series against Pakistan.

"There's no focus on my part on those two guys. They are two very good bowlers but at the same time we have got some other really good bowlers who could win matches on their day," he said.

However, Jayawardene predicted a bright future for Mendis, 23, who has taken the quickest 50 wickets in one-day internationals (in 19 matches) — four matches less than India fast bowler Ajit Agarkar.

"He hasn't had any added pressure, he is enjoying his challenges and pressure does not affect him," Jayawardene said. "There are some really good guys around him giving him advice especially Murli (Muralitharan) who is a brilliant role model for Ajantha because he is somebody who has worked 18 years very hard.

"As long as Ajantha realizes that if he can go at the same path as Murli, I'm sure we will have a big match winner for us in the next ten years.

Security concerns among foreign teams meant that Pakistan missed out on home test matches last year, with Australia deciding not to tour in March 2008. The one-day ICC Champions Trophy was also postponed.

Jayawardene said Pakistan had toured Sri Lanka in the past when other teams had refused, and that it was only right for his team to now play in Pakistan.

"I'm not a diplomat, I'm here to play cricket and for us it's all about committing our obligations,"he said. "Obviously Pakistan have done the same with us in the past and it's our duty.

"We came here six months ago (for the Asia Cup) and we had a very great time. Hopefully it's an enjoyable tour for us."

Jayawardene said that Pakistan, which will have the likes of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar back in the team, was always a formidable opponent.

"For me they are a very tough side whether they play regularly or not," he said. "They have got quite a few individual players who can take the game away from you on a given day so it's going to be a tough series for us."

Karachi will host back to back one-day internationals on Jan. 20 and 21 before Lahore stages the final match on Jan. 24.

Ranji, an uninspiring grind

MUMBAI: In retrospect, it would be fair to conclude that it wasn’t the Indian Premier League (IPL) or international cricket that sapped India's Premier domestic tournament the Ranji Trophy, of any interest. Instead, it was the Board of Control for Cricket

in India’s listless planning that failed to make Ranji matches happening.

While taking nothing away from Mumbai who are celebrating their 38th title win after batting Uttar Pradesh out of the final, it is pertinent to note that the 76 days of cricket the tournament witnessed - for the record played out at 23 different venues across the country - was uninspiring. There were flashes of brilliance though.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s century in the quarter-final at Mumbai, Shivakant Shukla’s 178 in the semi-final at Nagpur, nine seven-wicket hauls including that of Basanth Mohanty in the highly entertaining match between Orissa and Punjab and Ravindra Jadeja’s performances that make him the all-rounder of the year. The rest of the tournament spoke harshly about the fast diminishing standard of India’s domestic circuit. ToI takes a look at what all was appalling.

Flat pitches

The promise of making the 22-yard strip more exciting failed disastrously. The two semi-finals were played at Nagpur and Chennai, respectively. At both venues, tracks remained flat at best, an absolute downer if seen in the backdrop of the neutral venue theory proposed to improve the quality of cricket.

Out of the 56 matches, 29 yielded a result and it should be taken into account that most venues where matches ended in a result, weren’t the leading international stadiums. Instead, lesser known grounds in Valsad, Ratnagiri, Mysore, Bhubhaneshwar, Ghaziabad and Cuttack delivered.

No takers for overseas player

Another BCCI decision which failed was one with respect to introducing one overseas player among the four guest players in each team. The rule dictated that cricketers who have played either 20 ODIs or 10 Test matches can only be invited, which in the end proved to be senseless.

Three associations - Baroda (Dilhara Fernando), Bengal (Muttiah Muralitharan) and Maharashtra (Emanul Haq Jr) - went ahead and signed foreigners out of which only Haq Jr turned up. The rest were either deprived in terms of spending or did not have a choice.

That Muralitharan couldn’t turn up for a single game for Bengal either suggests that Cricket Association of Bengal simply used the off-spinner’s name to publicize their campaign or that the star spinner simply wasn’t available. In any case, the BCCI needs to do a rethink.

Semis of four days makes no sense

The BCCI seems to be struggling to accommodate domestic cricket. If not, there is little reason to believe why the semi-finals were of four days duration and not five. Several players who were a part of the semi-finals admitted to the ToI that ‘‘four-day match doesn’t make any sense’’.

It is understandable, they say, that matches throughout the season are played in four-days format to squeeze in the number of games but ‘‘at least the semi-finals of the tournament need to be for five days, simply because there can be a straight result". True. It makes no sense that the team entering the final does so by way of first innings lead. Five days can ensure a good match.

Poor umpiring

One thing that has unanimously been accepted this season, is that the level of umpiring in the Indian domestic circuit seems to be going from bad to worse. Amesh Saheba’s poor show in the semifinals between Mumbai and Saurashtra and again in the final at Hyderabad was the most glaring example.

Net run-rate rule

The net run-rate rule left players and coaches confused. Teams expressed dismay and surprise over the rule for the final which said if a team’s first innings was left incomplete, the winner would be decided on the run-rate.

‘‘Isn’t it starnge? If we score 700 off 200 overs and then UP are 150 for 9 in 30 overs, they will win. In a four-day or a five-day match, there’s no need to decide the winner on the basis of better run rate,’’ Mumbai skipper Wasim Jaffer said before the match. For the semi-final too, the BCCI guideline that the net run-rate calculated from previous games will decide the winner in a knockout game in case the first innings is not completed, did not go down well.

Neutral venue

Sachin Tendulkar gave his verdict on the neutral venue policy adopted by the BCCI, saying it made no sense. ‘‘You don’t have the atmosphere at a neutral venue. If you play home or away, you have the home crowd rooting for its team while the other side will be up against it. This is a part of the learning process for the young cricketers,’’ Tendulkar said. Despite having neutral venues, the board failed to provide sporting wickets which left the bowlers toiling away in the dust.

Changes on the card in Indian ODI squad for SL

A jubiliant Indian cricket squad
With quite a few players staking their claim with consistent displays in the Ranji Trophy, the national selectors may opt to make a few changes in the Indian one-day cricket squad for the series against Sri Lanka in Mumbai on Sunday (January 18).

The last ODI that India played was on November 26 at Guwahati against England after which the international cricket calendar involving the team went for a toss in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack that happened the same night.

Quite a few Indian players from the team that featured in the fifth ODI, which also brought down curtains on the series, face the axe following splendid displays by others in the national championship coupled with their own indifferent form.

On top of the list of players who could make way for some new faces are the Pathan brothers from Baroda - Irfan and Yousuf - and Hyderabad left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Staking strong claims to make it to the Emerald Island for the best-of-five ODI series and a one-off Twenty20 International are two players from eventual national champions Mumbai - one-down batsman Ajinkya Rahane and medium-pace swing bowler Dhawal Kulkarni.

Rahane amassed over a thousand runs from 10 matches with a fine average of 68 to boot, while Kulkarni emerged the top wicket taker with 42 scalps from nine ties, conceding just under 20 per victim and with four five wickets in-an-innings hauls under his belt.

Both these players have already been part of the India 'A' squad. Pressing hard for a look-in from Saurashtra, who lost to Mumbai in the semi finals, are left handed all rounder Ravindra Jadeja and prolific middle order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara.

Jadeja, who bats in the lower middle order and bowls left-arm spin, accumulated 739 runs in nine ties at an average of 67.18, besides claiming 42 wickets, the same as Kulkarni, at 19.72 per scalp.

He also grabbed four hauls of five or more wickets in an innings, figures that cannot be brushed aside easily by the election committee headed by Krishnamachari Srikkanth as they continue their search for a stable and effective all rounder.

Pujara, with over 900 runs with a best of 302 and an average of 82.36 is another in-form player from the state which had produced Ranji and Duleep Sinhjis.

But with Tamil Nadu's S Badrinath already placed in the Rs 40-lakh bracket in the Cricket Board's central contracts and the One-day middle order packed with others such as Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and strong contender Rahane, it remains to be seen whether he gets in.

Comeback man Laxmipathy Balaji is another player who has stormed his way back into the national reckoning with his lion-hearted display after having been out of action over the last two seasons following a stress injury to his back.

The Tamil Nadu pacer grabbed 36 wickets in seven Ranji ties at a meagre 17.5 per victim, including four five wicket in an innings hauls, and to back his claims is his past experience at the international level.

Balaji faces stiff competition from the fit-again S Sreesanth and R P Singh, other than Kulkarni, to join the expected pace bowling combination of Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Munaf Patel.

With Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir present, the selectors have no need to look beyond them for performing the openers' roles. Harbhajan Singh would once again be the man leading the spin attack with Jadeja as his likely support instead of Ojha.

The squad is set to reach Lanka on January 26 to start the series of limited overs internationals arranged as a stand-in for the cancelled trip to Pakistan.

Ganguly to be gifted with 1-kg gold bat

Kolkata: A one-kilogram gold bat will be gifted to former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly at a Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) felicitation programme on Sunday.

"It will be a totally cricket-centric function. So, there will be no cultural programmes," CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya told reporters here.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will be the guest of honour at the function.

Panel discussions by his captains and a 15-minute audio-visual programme on Ganguly's colourful cricketing career would be the other highlights of the event.

The gold bat has Ganguly's cricketing records embossed on it.

Office bearers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), affiliate units of CAB, its trustee board members and presidents and secretaries of Eastern Zonal units will be present.

Ganguly's family members have also been invited.

ICC comes under attack for all-time rankings

New Delhi: The ICC on Thursday came under attack for its "baffling" all-time Test player rankings which had no place for champion batsmen like
Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara in the top 20 but the game's governing body made it clear that the list did not rank players in terms of true greatness.

A day after the new chart was released, former cricketers expressed surprise at the composition of the list and said it was 'extremely misleading" since many great names did not figure in the top ten positions.

India's former left-arm spinner Maninder Singh went to the extent of calling it a "joke" and said "sadistic" ICC officials should stop coming out with such lists.

"The ICC is in the habit of making a joke of themselves, and this list proves that. Now, how can you explain Tendulkar who has scored over 12,000 Test runs not being in that list? I think these jokers should not be given the pleasure of rating players in this way", Maninder said.

The ICC, on its part, promptly, came out with a clarification saying that the list does not rank players in terms of true greatness and does not give a full picture of a player's level of consistency or longevity in the game.

It said that Matthew Hayden's place higher up the table than Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara in the all-time Test and ODI rankings does not necessarily mean that the just-retired Australian is the 10th-best Test batsman or 18th-best ODI batsman in the history of the game.

"The rankings give an indication of how players peaked during their careers but do not give a full picture of those players' level of consistency or longevity in the game", the ICC said in a statement.

Explaining the manner in which the rankings have been decided, the ICC said, "A batsman or a bowler who averages around 700 ratings points for most of his career apart from a purple patch where he shoots up to 900 points before dropping down again may be ranked higher on the all-time ratings.

"But that does not mean he should necessarily be considered to be better than a player who hovered around the 850-point mark for his entire career," it said.

The ICC accepted that the all-time list does not rank players in terms of true greatness.

"For that reason some players, who are considered by most observers of the game to be truly great, such as Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Wally Hammond, Greg Chappell and others, do not feature in the top 20 in the all-time high ratings," the statement said.

Tendulkar was ranked 26th in the Test rankings while Lara was listed three rungs above him.

The ICC urged fans to take a closer look at a player's entire career graph to determine his greatness rather than go by the snapshots, which is what the "best-ever ratings" effectively are.

If a player's career is considered as a mountain, then a single peak would hold worth less than a high, long plateau, the ICC said.

"Hence Tendulkar would be deemed greater than most other players despite having a lower peak. One way of assessing a player would be to calculate his "average rating" over his career though of course this could penalise a player whose long career included a slow start," the ICC said.

Abbas shocked to see Sachin in 26 position

Lahore: Former Pakistan middle order batsman Zaheer Abbas is surprised that Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar does not figure in the elite list of batsmen released by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Tendulkar was placed 26, ten places below the recently retired Aussie opener Matthew Hayden.

"There is no way you won't have Tendulkar in the list," Abbas was quoted as saying by The News.

The list has also infuriated officials and fans in India. Four leading Test run-scorers of all time Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh and Allan Border could not even manage into the top 20.

Meanwhile, the ICC released a statement yesterday after drawing flak from cricket fans especially in India over the rankings.

"Matthew Hayden's position of 10th and 18th in the all-time Test and ODI rankings for batsmen is an impressive achievement by anyone's standards but this does not necessarily mean he is the 10th best Test batsman or 18th best ODI batsman in the history of the

game," the statement said.

"The rankings give an indication of how players peaked during their careers but do not give a full picture of those players' level of consistency or longevity in the game.

"For example, a batsman or a bowler who averages around 700 ratings points for most of his career apart from a purple patch where he shoots up to 900 points before dropping down again may be ranked higher on the all-time ratings.

"But that does not mean he should necessarily be considered better than a player who hovered around the 850-point mark for his entire career," it added.