Post Ranji,cricketers ply trade in city

For Haryana Ranji cricketer Sachin Rana- Delhi is a hub of cricket since there isn’t any competitive tournament organised in Haryana other than the inter-district tournament. “All the year around,I play most of my cricket in the capital. A player needs a lot of match practice and Delhi circuit has immense to give,” says Rana who plays from Air India in the DDCA league.

For his teammate Yuzvendra Chahal,it is the best platform that a cricketer could get. As a leg spinner,he feels that variation in the bowling plays a major role in knowing how mature the bowler could be in difficult situations. Although the Delhi circuit deals in shorter versions of the sport but Chahal believes that a bowler can experiment with the nuances of spin bowling.

“Playing in Delhi is a confidence booster. The quality of cricketers one plays against is of the top of the domestic level. It becomes a lot easy to handle nerves at the time of playing Ranji trophy since a player is already used to the setting,” adds Chahal.

Most Haryana players represent the top clubs of Delhi like Sonnet,LB Shastri and other institutional clubs for that matter. Haryana is up against Tamil Nadu for the Ranji Trophy quarters and so the players are keeping their options open. “Since I play from Air India,I am aware of the matches that we are supposed to play. I hope we go deeper for the Ranji,but if we loose,then it is DDCA league for sure,” states the young leg spinner.

Usually players like to get a lot of match practice as getting net practice doesn’t suffice. With innovation making its way into modern day cricket,the T-20 and the 40 over format enables the players to strengthen their armory. But as soon as the weather changes from winter to summer,the wickets too seem to break up resulting in a deterioration in cricketing standards.

Deccan Chargers spinner Rahul Sharma who is also a member of the Punjab squad says,“We don’t have any club matches in Punjab. So once I am over with Punjab Cricket,I always come to Delhi and play for ONGC. But sadly after a few months,the wickets are not up to the mark and lack preparation. I agree that there are matches everyday,but then a wicket needs to be prepared a lot better.”