Aakash Chopra, in his blog for Cricketnext, writes that certain first-class grounds in India have such pathetic facilities that a player risks a serious injury if he tries to dive on the outfield. The facilities in the dressing-room are another story. He adds that those grounds that don't come under the BCCI's direct funding are the worst-affected.

While teams like Services and Railways don't receive the funds from the BCCI, it cannot be taken as an excuse for sub-standard facilities. Sadly, this malaise isn't limited to these two associations, for still there are many associations (who are receiving crores every year from the BCCI) guilty of not upgrading the facilities. Not too long ago, a ground in Agartala had huge potholes on the outfield, another one had hundreds of dead mosquitoes in the washroom, a ground in UP didn't have a pitch to practice before the start of a Ranji trophy game and the list goes on.

The poor treatment of the three professional cricketers who helped Rajasthan win the Ranji Trophy title for the second straight time, by administrators, does not augur well for Rajasthan cricket, writes WV Raman in Sportstar.

The Ranji squad created history by winning the coveted trophy in 2010-11 and followed up by retaining it in the current season. Obviously, they unearthed a few local players who performed well to supplement the three professionals, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Aakash Chopra and Parida, to achieve the enviable distinction. But for reasons best known to the current administrators, the three professionals were deemed as untouchables post the retention of the Ranji trophy and were not called for the celebrations held in recent weeks.

Aakash Chopra slams the Karnail Sigh Stadium - Railways' Ranji Trophy venue in Delhi - on Yahoo! Cricket. He criticises everything from the pitch to the lack of sufficient groundstaff to the fried snacks served to the players. The problem, he explains, is that Railways and Services do not receive the annual allowance the BCCI gives other teams.

On the morning of the match, the wicket-keeper pulls out his helmet from the first over (even for the fast bowlers) knowing well that a lot of balls would stay dangerously low and he may get hit because of bad bounce. If there's too much dew and fog (which delays the removal of covers), one must resign to the fate of playing with a bar of soap because there are only four grounds-men at the venue and it's unrealistic to expect them to get the ground ready in time. Yes, they have a super-sopper but unfortunately they don't have the manpower to make it count on such mornings. What's new - you'd ask, since most non-descript venues do wear a shabby look. Alas! These are the ground realities of Karnail Sigh Stadium - Railways' Ranji Trophy venue in Delhi, and not some club ground in a small town

The Challenger Trophy in India was meant to give young players a chance to play against members of the national side, but with the India players preparing for the England series, and crowds poor, the Challenger Trophy is no different from any other domestic tournament, Aakash Chopra says in the Hindustan Times.

Even though, this tournament is a step ahead of the Deodhar Trophy (Inter-Zone limited-over tournament), it still is a far cry from what it used to be or should be. It's more like class X students mixed together and then randomly put into three teams to play against each other. It would only mean playing against the player from your own section (who otherwise would always play with you), while still playing school-level cricket. If one needs to improve or test the standard of upcoming players, it is imperative to play them against better quality opposition.

As the Indian domestic season kicks off with the Irani Cup in Jaipur, Deepak Narayanan, writing in the Mumbai Mirror, says the BCCI – obsessed as it is by its new and glitzy money spinning leagues – needs to decide what purpose tournaments such as the Ranji and Duleep Trophy serve.

In its current form, it’s no breeding ground for international cricketers. The pitches – browner than brown, flatter than flat – turn disciples of speed into devotees of line, length and energy conservation; they nurture flat-track bullies. The format, which encourages teams to play for draws, has outlived its utility in a result-oriented world. And with the IPL propelling players into the limelight and, in many cases, into national colours, there’s no incentive anymore for young cricketers to go through the grind, to make 48-hour train journeys and play in empty stadiums. The charm of it all has worn off.

Amit Gupta, writing in the same paper, says the Irani Cup, once a playground for the big boys, has been reduced to a farce in the haze of cricketainment.

The Irani Cup, played between last season’s Ranji trophy Champion Rajasthan and Rest of India [RoI], which gets under way today is a testimony to that [the tournament's a farce]. As the RoI sauntered onto the practice arena, the lack of interest or rather discipline was evident in the kit that the Parthiv Patel-led side wore. Players who had played for India were in their India jerseys, some wore their state association colours while the others wore random t-shirts. Imagine an IPL team without their team colours. Un-professionalism on part of players or careless attitude from the Indian board?

While India’s eyes were locked on the IPL in April, an experiment was beginning in Kashmir that hoped to use cricket as way of healing some of the state’s wounds as well as identifying its talent – the army announced the idea of the Kashmir Premier League (KPL). In the Indian Express, Bashaarat Masood says the valley has taken to the KPL in a big way, with more than 1,000 players from 193 teams playing in over 300 matches over the last two months.

In the past two summers, Qazi, like many other youth of Kashmir, was out on the streets of Shopian, hurling stones in protest against the alleged rape and murder of two women in the district. Today, though, he doesn’t hurl stones, only bats fabulously, taking his team to the final round of the Kashmir Premier League. This is the Valley’s first-ever T20 cricket tournament, modelled on the Indian Premier League (IPL), and organised by the Army and the state government. The team names have a flamboyance familiar to IPL fans: Shopian Super Kings, Budgam Badshahs, Srinagar Sherdils, Ganderbal Gladiators and Kupwara Knights, among others. The Army sponsors the teams, and provides them cricket kits, and even -refreshments.

Mumbai was once the undisputed powerhouse of Indian domestic cricket. Wining the Ranji Trophy was their right and anything less was a failure. Lately, however, Mumbai has made a habit of losing to some of the lesser lights. In the Times of India, Makarand Waingankar wonders what ails Mumbai cricket.

People talk of the khadoos attitude of Mumbai players; but it must be told, they were ruthless not only with the opposition but also their own players.

In the 1976 match against Bengal at the Eden Gardens, a ball from leggie Rakesh Tandon ricocheted off the stumps and smashed into the face of wicketkeeper Sharad Hazare. He spit blood but didn't take shelter in the comforts of the dressing room because the team needed him. For the next three days, he was on a liquid diet and that too had to be taken through a straw.

Bharat Sundaresan in the Indian Express looks at Rajasthan's journey from the bottom of the bottom of the Ranji table to becoming the champions this season.

It’s an amazing journey that kicked off with the Kanitkar-led team first dominating the lower division to earn the right to join the Elite teams at the quarter-final stage. Their win over Baroda in the final on Saturday—courtesy their narrow 33-run first innings lead—was their third big scalp of the season.

A 500-year old temple, breathtaking views of the Kullu Valley and the Dhauladhar ranges, 1,342 teams and Twenty20 cricket all feature in the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association’s plan to spread the game amidst the hills and valleys of the state, writes Jonathan Selvaraj in the Indian Express.

The tournament, which began on November 29, will go on for a month and a half. The participating players are mostly local villagers and though the organisers provide them balls, they have to pool in for bats and helmets, food and travelling expenses.

With breathtaking views of the Kullu Valley and the Dhauladhar ranges, the setting is spectacular. But the playing conditions are nowhere near perfect. The pitch is matting and the playing field is far from level—balls hit by a right hander towards the leg side tend to roll downhill where children in slippers play with bats crudely carved out of any available wood and balls made of cloth. Balls are sometimes hard to field when they slide off slopes or plop into streams. Occasionally, play has to be stopped as cattle and ponies traipse along the outfield, on their way to the jungle to graze.

India’s real premier league - the Ranji Trophy - started yesterday with no fans, and no fanfare, writes Kunal Pradhan in the Mirror.

The tournament’s disconnect with cricket fans has never been more apparent than in the last three when the IPL — marketed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as an international sports league — has brought with it packed stadiums and hotel lobbies brimming with fans waiting to get a glimpse of their favourite stars ...

The new season of the tournament, which is now 76 years old, started yesterday. Newspapers gave it full-page coverage, opting for the retro chic because nothing of more importance was going on. There was even a match on TV. Things were looking good for Ranji cricket after a long time, but only from a distance. At the Bandra-Kurla ground, where 39-time champions Mumbai started their campaign against Saurashtra, there was neither a sense of history nor a single fan.

In DNA, Taus Rizvi speaks to Vasant Ranjane, the Ranji Trophy cricketer whose record for best figures on debut nearly got broken on the first day of the 2010-11 season.

Reminded of his 57-year-old feat, Ranjane could not stop talking in excitement. A former fitter with the Indian Railways, the 73-year-old did not know the importance of a Ranji Trophy game.

“What’s his name and where is he from?” he asked about the Rajasthan debutant. “I remember that I had a record. But I wasn’t educated enough to know about Ranji Trophy or Test cricket.

Khaali bhagwaan ka naam leke bowling daalta (The only thing I knew was to bowl by taking god’s name),” he told DNA. Incidentally, Chahar was also on a hat-trick but could not complete it. “I was not well on the first day of the match. I did not tell anyone.