Yes you are right Akash. Why cant we introduce points system rather than letting teams get away with a win by the margin of first innings lead?

Although I agree completely with Akash, there are a few exceptions which must be given their due credit. Case in point is Himachal Pradesh which has improved considerably in the last few years.A team which was almost always sitting in the last few positions has not only moved into elite league but also giving tough challenge to top teams. And as Akash mentioned getting professional help is not the only solution but has to be backed up with infrastructure development and taking the game to remote places. Himachal has done exceptionally well in both regards with a mind blowing and picturesque stadium at Dharmsala (arguably the most beautiful stadium in India) and organizing the biggest T 20 tournament in the world with more than 15000 people participating.........A worthy case study????

Now you know why the IPL performances are given more weightage considered to the Ranji/Domestic matches. IPL has a smaller number of teams and hence only proven performers play there. Only issue with IPL is the format of cricket.. I guess one could think of reducing the no of teams in Ranji to only 8 and see if the competitiveness increases

That was a DOT post from someon who has played a lots of domstic Cricket in india...
yeah we see teams like Mumbai and Karnataka are always producing grat players... (This has been for past 6 decades from Gavaskar, Viswanath to Dravid and Agarkar to Rohit sharma and Zaheer khan... But where are those Swapnil asnodkar's???????????????

It is a million dollar question on what these cricketing manaagments ar doing with the money whn they doesn't even have or built a CRICKT ground with basic infrastructure...

Who'll question them?? The BCCI cricketing bosses ar more worried about building the IPL.. .If they can bring in Crowd for Ranji trophy or a Duleep trophy that'll improve the scenario...
Now your thoughts on these... Aanyone?

Hmm..prophetic words, what? Already I see that Hyderabad, a team once riding on the shoulders of giants, has just been shot out in a lil more than an hour for a mammoth total of 21.
Mayhaps there's reason enough to now consolidate teams and have a stronger 6 or 8 member superleague that works.Why should there be an Andhra and a Hyderabad as 2 teams? Why a Mumbai and Maharashtra and Vidarbha? Why should there be a Baroda, Gujarat and Saurashtra? Imagine a team with the Pathans, Munaf and Zaheer, Parthiv, Jadeja, Trivedi,Pujara...all in one team, pushing the best from other teams.
Anyway while re-organization of associations is one thing, the other is undoing the systemic rot, and actuall developing he game at the grassroots( this doesn't refer to diverting funds to he agri minister's agri farms...lol)...but all these will be pipe dreams till we do away with vote based management at the bcci

This is an indepth study of the state of affair with regards to smaller teams. I perfectly agree with Akash that most of the teams are participating and not competing. Unfortunately rajasthan is doing well to develop the infrastucture but its functioning and behavior towards sr. players only demoralise the upcoming players and thus take away the competetiveness from them.

Productive suggestion, but a waste of time. You are recommending pay for performance.
Only the deserving & not the influential will progress under such a regime. BCCI's head honchos cannot afford that & therefore,
BCCI management will never allow that - They would lose their ability to show power with that.
BCCI as an association has refused to require a fair & consistent stand from ICC who lives of BCCI money, willingly sacrificing India's prestige more often than not.
BCCI has never taken any action willingly against ICC when ICC's umpires showed an uncanny ability to become incompetent to help ICC favored teams beat India & worse - paid match referees & ICC's senior management who changed ICC's process standard on its head to penalise Indian Cricketers while at the same time showing off their authority by blatantly ignoring matching or bigger offences from Australians / West Indians.
Your own management will suppress this blog since it states bitter home-truths against ICC.

How about grading payment on, say, last 10 years performance in Ranji Trophy?

More to those who did well, (but not so much more that the rich get richer, etc.), but most to those who improved and improved dramatically. Like salesmen's commissions, set a low minimum so that most of the money comes from performance based receipts.

That should shake a few associations out of their slumber.

I see Hyderabad have hit the absolute bottom in the beginning of the season. Perhaps they'll go nowhere but up from here?

Well said akash... Look at Rajasthan's performance today. it cannot be just luck. It is outcome of hardwork being put in.

Am assuming that BCCI would have it on paper that the state associations are to spend x amount of money on grounds, game developement, advertisment etc (which if they dont it really is beyond silly), it is only a question of ensuring that the same is followed and none of it is rocket science really.

Show the match on tv on a filthy ground and the media will create enough hype for time being atleast....

Today the first Mumbai ranji game is being played in Bandra which is a joke considering they could have held it at Brabourne

Introduce a 4 level (instead of 2 levels) format in which we will see promotion and relegation, and the prize money handed out on basis of finishing positions rather than an yearly handout, along with a salary cap so that teams with large prize money don't gain too big and advantage. Only then will the state associations make an effort do perform better.

How ironical this article appears on the very day Hyderabad (my home team) was shot out for lowest ever Ranji total of 21! Cricket has now become just money. I can only cite a parallel in quiz. There were days when the sheer joy of being able to answer a vague/remote question was enough to keep one floating in the air for a week. Today those who win 25 lakhs in KBC feel so disappointed that they cd bot make it to the 1 crore or 5 crore mark. Tension than joy marks their tenure on the hot seat. The BSNL sports quiz running every week for several years on DD Podhigai is far superior in preserving the culture of quiz.

Aakash Chopra deserves to be commended for bringing up the issue. Talent development of the sustainable kind will happen only when kids are taught to imbibe the spirit of playing the game for the love of it rather than lucre. Kids learn not from coaching and preaching but from what they see elders do. I am not sure the grown up are setting inspiring examples.

I totally agree with Chopra. BCCI should monitor state associations year by year on Their activities, usage of funds, and how they function.

Very well constructed argument. In addition to questioning the non-performance of the state associations, there must also be a transparent audit of the way BCCI money is distributed and the way it (BCCI) keeps track of what happens to its money. A huge perennial complaint is that the India starts do not always play for the Ranji and related trophies. BCCI must insist on a fixed quantum of Ranji, one-day and T20 dometic matches to be played by a player before they are even considered for national selection, irrespective of the status of the player.

One more thing that comes to my mind - There must be a provision to have more spectators - through management of gate fees, invitations, and free passes - to allow school children free entry and to college and univ students at a nominal cost - also for instance college and university teams in the cities where matches are held may be allowed free entry - unless there is interest shown by all stakeholders - teams, management, BCCI, state associations, city administration and spectators - the game will not flourish.

absolutely rt.....experts were saying that now cricket is money oriented game....and if they really wants to earn money there is lot of options are available other then playing cricket.
What I think that these elite and plate division's team's players should learn something from player like Sachin and Laxman that how to play for their team whether it is country or the state.
If u look in the Australian county cricket...u will feel how much passion they put while they are playing.
As Men in Blues are enjoying their golden period, but the thing is every day is not Sunday.
And when this will happen, then it will be really create havoc in this money driven enviroment of Indian Cricket.

Dear Akash,
Your comments make sense, especially about professionals helping the Plate teams to a certain extent, but ultimately it is upto the locals to take the team forward.

Your point about putting in a proper system in place has been proven by the debutant who claimed 8 wickets for Rajasthan, resulting in Hyderabad being shot out for the lowest ever Ranji score.If I am not mistaken, Greg Chappel and Lalit Modi were to some extent responsible for bringing in changes in Rajasthan cricket.Maybe other state associations need to follow their example.

You are right Akash, for once everyone wonder why Indian cricket team can't produce a quality FAST bowler, with such huge population. This wondering of common man is understandable, since they don't have a say in nurturing cricketing talent, but why can't the BCCI and associate boards take a notice of it?? But must admit even without a genuine fast bowler, India do have improved a lot in all departments, though fielding can be done much better!!! Anyway, wish good luck for the team!!!

Well said Akash, it's high time we restructure our domestic events like in Australia with only 5-6 teams forming the top league. But poor BCCI have other interests in terms of votes of the malign state associations. As mentioned in one of the build up articles of this season teams like Railways never look like producing qulity players, it's the same bunch which helped Railways reach the top is serving them still. The infrastructure and facilities at disposal for these teams are nothing to write home about. I remember watching an interview of Sanjay Bangar and Harvinder Singh once, where they complained about the poor facilities like unhygienic and unsafe Railway dormitories where they used to stay while touring. Apart from the regular domestic tournaments, BCCI should plan to develop a strong club cricket like the one's present in Chennai and Mumbai which has seen lot of quality cricketers emerge. Good that people like Akash, Amol, Sriram, Kanitkar contributing in building a new gen.

HCA should more focus on their players than Lcd's

If you can post the teams or state associations, we will get to Indian Cricket Politics :)

Absolutely agree with Akash here...looking at the Hyderabad performance....what can one say about it. I am from Hyderebad and have played lot of HCA league (Hyderabad Cricket association)cricket when I was young and I do remember my club officials talking about voting for S Yadav just because of the money and his son who's playing for Hyd at the moment is just hopeless I have played against him, and had a sense that to get into the cricket you need money adn power and not talent alone - atleast it's very true in Hyderabad' case. I really hope that BCCI realise this and soon HCA come in the good hands. God Save Hyderabad.

While the comment is true for the general state of the game, it is unfair to state that the teams do not even try to produce players that are capable of playing for India. Please note that VVS Laxman, Pragyan Ojha and Ambati Rayudu are products of Hyderabad team that got routed for 21. Todays performance was a shame for Hyderabad cricket and the blame should rest entirely on the brain dead officialdom and politics that have taken over Hyderabad cricket which meant that talented players like T Suman were left out. Unless the mess at the top is cleared, cricket will continue to suffer. Please dont pass on the blame entirely to the team. I agree that unless these brain dead politicking administrators are brought to the book, things will not change

Hi Akash,
As always it is a pleasure to read your views on the domestic circuit.Someday would like to know from you :
1.Eminent & knowledgeable personalities ranging from Dungarpur to Gavaskar to Kapil Dev have been a part of the board or some technical or pitch committee from time to time.Why hasn't anything substantial come out of it?When I started watching cricket in 92,we were lamenting about the standard of our pitches.We are still doing the same today.
2. The two tier system was introduced after consultation with the captains of the various Ranji teams.Wht were the ideas then? Wasn't it thought through?
3. The generation today prefers EPL to a Ranji Trophy match,a fact that pains me.The fervour of last yrs finals has not been built upon. No one remembers Manish Pandey's catch or Agarkar's spell against Utthappa etc.
4.The BCCI is going thru the motions when organising the Ranji an d tht is reflected in the attitude of the associations and their teams.

in my opinion, those teams not playing well in the plate division should be slapped atleast one year ban and they should be watched closely if they are making any infrastructural or professional improvement and after that only they should be included again. till then no grant should should be provided to such teams.

I think sports culture in India can learn from American sports culture. Kids start out playing organized sports at a very young age, with one of the “dad’s” from the group volunteering to be the coach. Typically they start out with soccer, since it requires little hand eye coordination. Eventually they take up football/basket ball/baseball/track/tennis/lacrosse, etc. They have after school practice sessions during the week and games during the weekend. Sports, Art and Music are part of academic curriculum. At a high school level, Sports are taken even more seriously. Some of the games are telecasted, and you can also see a big crowd cheering them. Scouts pick'em up to play for colleges, and the intensity at college games needs no explanation. Their performances from high school and college culminate when they reach the National League, where they turn into professionals. If this system is implemented in India, you would not have to depend on one private entity such as BCCI.