The loop holes in the points system, perhaps, gave Mumbai the leeway to not force the issue and hence find their way through © Cricinfo Ltd

A bulk of the Ranji Trophy matches played this season were neither won nor lost, they were drawn. So much so, that only one outright win was enough to take Mumbai into the finals this season. The loop holes in the points system, perhaps, gave Mumbai the leeway to not force the issue and hence find their way through.

The BCCI’s scheme of granting one bonus point for every outright win with ten wickets or an innings could prove to be a good attempt in taking things forward. The plan, in fact secured Delhi its place in the Ranji knock-outs. Yet, most teams are not willing to go that extra yard. After all, taking twenty wickets is quite a task, which requires both quality and physical strength amongst the bowlers.

Perhaps, it’s time to give the Ranji Trophy a facelift and make the ‘system’ and the approach a lot more exciting. How about making the first-innings lead not as significant in the scheme of things? How about giving teams a substantial initiative for winning the game?

My suggestion would be to:

a) introduce the system of grace points for batting and bowling
b) to either completely do away with the points for first-innings lead, or to give them away nominally.

Sample this – A maximum of five batting points shall be awarded starting with 125 runs on the scorecard. After which the batting team would get a point each for every 75 runs scored till they reach a total of 425 runs, which means a maximum of five batting points. For the bowling team, every two wickets taken would mean a bowling point.

Now to make things a bit more interesting, the batting points would only be available till the 125th over. This essentially means the batting side has to maintain a healthy scoring rate of 3.40 runs per over, ensuring that teams don’t consume time without scoring at a brisk rate. As for the bowling side, they can get bowling points till the entire opposition is bowled out. By doing this the batting side would want to declare after batting for 125 overs as it’s only the bowling side which can gain points after that. Points for the team which bags the first-innings lead could also be granted, though not in excess.

As for the second innings, there should be at least ten points at stake for an outright win. By doing this both teams would try to set up the match in a way where both teams have a realistic chance of winning the game. The team batting last will have a good chance to win the game and hence teams may be tempted to field first on more occasions. This may also negate the impact of the toss on the game.

This system can be followed in the league phase because if some teams still don’t force the issue, they run a risk of finding themselves in the relegation zone very quickly. But for the knockouts, we can put a limit to the maximum number of overs at a team’s disposal (125 overs in the first innings and 100 overs each in the second assuming it’s a five-day match) which in turn would give us an outright result every time.

	Mumbai didn't bother pushing for a win after taking a 236-run lead against Haryana, opting for batting practice on the final day instead © Cricinfo Ltd

Not even a single Ranji Trophy quarter-final match produced an outright win. All winners were decided on the basis of the first-innings lead. This happened primarily because there wasn’t enough time to go for an outright win and also there was no intention to force the result.

Neutral Curators = A good batting surface
The BCCI did the right thing by appointing neutral curators for the knock-out matches. It was the second best thing after hosting the matches on neutral venues. Yet, the curators only get a few days to prepare the track as the venues depend on the teams qualifying. All that they can do is to not allow the hosts to prepare a track which suits their needs. For example, they would not leave too much grass to assist the quick bowlers or an underprepared wicket to suit the spinners. But that invariably results in preparing a good batting surface. And in any case it’s unfair to expect a miracle in four-five days of preparation. You can’t change the nature of a particular track overnight.

Four days not enough
Only the teams which are in good form (both batting and bowling) make it to the last eight. It is rather difficult to take 20 wickets of the team in good form on a good batting surface. WV Raman, the coach of Tamil Nadu team was quoted saying, ‘from here onwards (quarter-finals) the teams batting well will win the trophy’. And he was correct in his assessment. Teams go into the match with the intention of batting-out the opposition. Since an outright win isn’t necessary to go to the next round, the focus is on batting for as long as possible. Teams rarely worry about the scoring rate, which at times, makes the game boring to watch. But you cannot blame the teams for that approach either. The game gets over as soon as one team gets first-innings lead however slender it might be. Imagine a team getting a five runs first-innings lead!! Falling short by a few runs doesn’t mean that the opposition was superior or your team was outplayed.

Solution
For starters it won’t be a bad idea to make all knock-out games a five-day affair. That would give teams a ray of hope to make a comeback even after conceding the lead. Also it will keep the team which has got the lead on their toes. That’s exactly how it panned out for us, Delhi, in the finals in 2007. Uttar Pradesh got the first-innings lead but there was enough time left in the match for us to make a comeback. Secondly, there could be a cash reward (this could be implemented for the entire season) for an outright win. This would encourage teams, once on top, to tighten the noose and not use the last day for batting practice.

Dear friends,

Till a few years ago, the knock-out matches of the Ranji Trophy were held on an home-and-away basis. Teams hosting the match had two major advantages. Preparing the pitch was their prerogative and they had the support of the home crowd. Those were days when people turned up in big numbers to watch a first-class game. And if that game happened to be between Mumbai and Delhi with all the big players available, the atmosphere would match up to an international game, or so I’m told.

Gradually the crowds starting dwindling and the home teams abused their right to prepare the track. They started preparing tracks to suit their strengths without keeping the larger interest of the game in mind. A spin-heavy attack would prepare a dustbowl to have an upper hand; similarly the team which was banking on their batsmen to win the game, started dishing out feather beds. A first-innings lead was enough to decide the winner and they were under no pressure to prepare tracks which would produce results.

The BCCI tried to counter this by appointing a chief curator to overlook the preparations. But that wasn’t enough because the chief curator didn’t have complete control over the ground staff. He would give suggestions which very few who would obey, especially when it meant putting their team in jeopardy.

Hence the BCCI was forced to have neutral venues for the knock-out matches. In my view, it was a wonderful move because it negated home advantage and tested teams on a neutral playing ground. It also meant that the knock-outs were held at Test centres and if prepared properly, most of them are capable of preparing a result-oriented pitch.

I have no doubt in my mind that Delhi’s win in the Ranji Trophy in 2007-08 had a lot to do with neutral venues. We would have fallen way short of Uttar Pradesh in the final if the match was in Lucknow or Kanpur, and had they prepared a dustbowl. The track we played on in Mumbai was a player’s delight. The ball swung appreciably for the first couple of days before becoming a great track to bat on day three and four. Since the track offered a lot of bounce, the spinners were also involved throughout the game.

From this year on, the neutral venues have again been done away with, and we are back to old ways. Perhaps it's been done to attract the crowds to support the hosts. To negate the home advantage in terms of preparing the pitch, the BCCI has now appointed a neutral curator for all four venues.

But is it fair to expect a track in Rohtak or Palam to play like the one at Wankhede? Incidentally, the venues for the four quarter-finals do not have the required infrastructure to cover the matches. Hence, while league games were covered live, the quarter-finals won't be. This move may perhaps bring a few people to the ground but has, in fact, denied many more an opportunity to watch the game on the telly.

Wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

	Sarandeep Singh is one of the bowlers who have been called for chucking this season © Cricinfo Ltd.

Dear readers,

In the course of the current domestic season, the BCCI has decided to play cop to “illegal bowling actions”. Last year the board had begun a campaign through which six cameras around the ground monitored the standard of umpiring and the conduct of the game. Logically the same data was also used to take a closer look at bowling actions of bowlers with suspect actions. Towards the end of last season, the BCCI had issued a list of over 40 such bowlers. Apparently all were summoned to Bangalore by the National Cricket Academy for corrective measures.

This year, though, the board went a step ahead and empowered umpires to no-ball bowlers they thought chucked. The board has also directed umpires officiating in various age-group tournaments to follow the same protocol to stem the rot right at the beginning. In the first couple of rounds of this Ranji season, there have been quite a few instances of an umpire warning the bowler by no-balling him. A bowler can only be warned thrice before he is stopped from bowling. Thereafter he has got to go to the NCA to rectify or clear his action.

Straight off the BCCI's move to clean up the system has to be lauded. After all chucking gives that bowler an advantage over others who bowl with a clean action. But I'm not sure if anyone has put any thought into the repercussions of this process. Personally I definitely think it's going to end a few careers.

A spinner usually chucks while bowling a faster one or a doosra, which can easily be avoided or corrected. But if a fast bowler has a suspect action, it’s extremely difficult to rectify it while keeping the same pace and remaining as effective. A few states have already dropped players with suspect actions, and if they don’t get it right soon they will be history.

Now the question that needs to be addressed is, what happens to bowlers who are unable to rectify their actions. Where do they go? Most players have cricket as their only source of income, and if that’s taken away the consequences are devastating. For instance, once identified as chuckers they might not be allowed to play for their employers.

These guys have been playing serious cricket from the age of 13-14 and were encouraged to bowl the way they have been bowling. So the system is as much to blame. Given all this, it might be a good idea to have a scheme to rehabilitate the players who have faithfully served their states for quite a few years. The onus is on state associations, all of who have developmental funds, to stand by them and find or create opportunities that will allow them to continue their making a living from cricket, at least for a reasonable period of time.

I hope they do.

Bye for now

	Always the inspiration, Rahul Dravid gets going in a Ranji match © Cricinfo Ltd

I wasn’t too far off from the reality when I wrote that the presence of players like VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid has a mesmerising effect on the players, especially the youngsters. In our recently concluded match against Karnataka, Dravid scored 78 on a difficult pitch. He, as usual, made batting look easy, which left most of us awestruck.

The ball was darting around, and everyone was getting beaten at least a couple of times every over. But here was Dravid, always taking a long stride forward to the balls that were pitched up, and then either playing with the sweetest spot of the bat or allowing it go to the keeper. One of us would ask the keeper if the ball had stopped moving, but the answer would always be that Dravid is just making it look like that.

Our bowlers rarely bowled a bad ball to any of the Karnataka batsmen - except Dravid. Somehow bowlers kept dishing out half-volleys regularly. Obviously it wasn’t going down well with our team because he kept dispatching them to the fence. But I knew that it was very difficult to keep all your faculties under control when someone you have always admired is standing only a few meters away.

Bowlers were seen trying to bowl “wicket-taking” deliveries, which of course is never easy. While our strategy was to stick to the basics, bowl in good areas and have patience, it was only human to think that it would perhaps take an extraordinary ball to dismiss The Wall.

We even thought we would tell Dravid that if he got beaten twice off the same bowler, he should treat it as getting out and must walk back to the pavilion. One of our bowlers even told the umpire after an unsuccessful appeal for a leg-before decision that “if he’s managed to breach the defence to hit the pads, he should be given out regardless of the fact that it was sliding down the leg side”.

And when he eventually got out, the celebration was worth watching. A look at the bowler was enough to tell you that he had just earned himself the lifetime bragging rights of telling his parents, friends and kids that he dismissed Rahul Dravid.

Fans will always be fans and admire almost everything about the person they are in awe of. One such batsman described his emotions after he nicked one to Dravid standing in first slip. He said, “The moment I saw the ball heading in Rahul’s direction, I started walking back. He has hands as big as a bucket.” To that someone added that when Dravid takes a catch you can’t even hear the voice of the ball hitting the hands. Another person said, “He makes the act look so simple, while we begin to feel edgy the moment we see the ball heading our way, especially in the slips for a fast bowler.”

Obviously we, the Delhi Squad, didn’t make our emotions visible to him because that would have meant disaster for our team. Still that didn’t stop us from enjoying the moments we spent is his company.

Cheers

Dear readers,

Let me make it clear at the outset that I’m neither authorised nor qualified to figure whether Services were justified in refusing to play their Ranji Trophy game against Jammu & Kashmir, in Srinagar. Or whether the BCCI was right in disqualifying the team. I’m writing this just to share the plight of my fellow cricketers.

A player spends a lot of time preparing for the first-class season. It is, therefore, both demoralising and frustrating to be told that his toil during the off- and pre-season has been in vain. And that he must wait a year to make a mark at the national level.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what this ban has done. Not only does it mean that players like Yashpal Singh won’t get a chance to score runs in the Ranji Trophy this year, it has also put an end to the team’s hopes of making it to the knockouts (which means promotion to the Super League), and any player's chance of being picked for North Zone. In these times, a year’s gap pushes you back at least a few seasons because of the intense competition. You are expected to start afresh next season, by which time a lot of players would have cemented their place in different sides.

The Ranji Trophy is also a platform to impress IPL teams, and this ban would now take even that opportunity away from the players. What makes it worse is that not only will players from the Services be deprived of an opportunity to play, but also that every other team in their group in the Plate League will play one match less in the league stage. One match, for teams who don’t qualify for the knockouts, makes up 20% of their first-class season, so players from these teams must perform exceptionally well over four games to be picked for zonal sides.

A cricketing colleague remarked that it was a mess of Services’ own making, that they had no business not turning up for a first-class game. Absolutely right, but what could the players have done once their association informed them that they were not going? The sad part about all this is that players seldom have a say in the decision making process. We are just told what to do and we comply.

If there has been a mistake, which is likely the case here, it demands punitive action. But while punishing the offender is justified, maybe it’s unfair to make the players pay the price. The Ranji Trophy has just turned 75, and it’s a pity if cricket and cricketers are the losers in this.

Ciao

	Professionalism is what professionals do © Getty Images

Hi guys

The first round of the Ranji Trophy features a lot of big names. Rahul Dravid will turn up for Karnataka against the Mohammad Kaif-led Uttar Pradesh, Zaheer Khan for Mumbai and VVS Laxman for Hyderabad among others. The mere presence of these names makes these matches very important.

Players in their respective teams get a first-hand account of what it takes to be an international cricketer. Dravid, for instance, is invariably the first man to get into the team bus, Laxman is ever so calm before going in to bat, Zaheer and Ashish Nehra spend countless hours working on their core muscles even while their team bats, and so on and so forth.

These guys maintain a very high standard of professionalism regardless of what they are playing and this professionalism rubs off to team-mates and opposition alike. How can you not be punctual when Dravid is on time, how can you not spend more time training when Zaheer is working on his fitness even after a hard day of cricket?

Another thing these guys ensure is that every other player keeps complacency at bay. You want to be at your best to compete against the best. In any case, a youngster wants to go that extra yard to leave an impression on the big guys.

Their showcasing of skills also works as a coaching manual of sorts. I vividly remember watching Laxman score a master-class century in a Duleep Trophy game against North Zone. His sense of timing and balance was a treat. Similarly, watching Zaheer or Nehra make the ball talk is a lesson for every budding pacer.

While some players enthusiastically turn up for their respective states, others find the domestic grind far too gruelling. The facilities on the domestic circuit are not a patch on those provided for internationals or even for the IPL. Some younger guys are quite unhappy about travelling to obscure places by “cattle class” or staying in “not-so-posh” hotels. One such cricketer, whose place is secure in India’s shorter format, made his unhappiness visible to all and sundry when he was told that his team’s next match was on the outskirts of Maharashtra.

Well, this attitude could possibly spur him on to perform exceptionally well and seal his place in Team India in all three formats, but frankly it had a detrimental effect on the rest. After all a first-class team invariably has players who are state greats but possibly never don India colours.

That’s when the presence, however occasional, of a Dravid or a Laxman becomes ever so important to keep things in perspective. It inspires players young and old to stay motivated, and of course helps Generation Next stay grounded.

Ciao