The Hard Miles

As the Ranji season begins this Thursday,and takes several armies of talented cricketers on a more than two months spin around the country,Patel will be dealing with bowlers from the rival team that are more like the ones he faced at Gujarat nets and less like the 6’7” Steve Finn.

But while talking about the transition,the 26-year-old not for once undermines his team’s bowling attack,looks down upon the strength of his rival or undervalues the Indian cricket’s domestic competition. That’s because Patel knows the importance of crisscrossing the country dealing with the vagaries of weather,playing on pitches that are skewed to suit home teams and adapting to varied match situations.

Learning on the job

For past several years,it’s become fashionable to label domestic cricket boring and irrelevant. But the wise old coaches have a more reverential name of it. They call it ‘the grind’. A cricketer is never complete unless he has done the hard yards by playing a full domestic season,they say. This is where players iron their flaws and discovers different dimensions to their games. The ingrained informality of the competition can see career-changing tips getting passed on from stalwarts and the young hopefuls or troubled discards.

In the coming week,in case the fans somehow get over their fatigue,the focus will be on the star-studded Indian Test side that taking on lowly West Indies in the three game series. But away from the attention many would be sweating it out to refine their skills and be prepared for the big break.

When Patel made his debut as a 17-year-old prodigy,he hadn’t quite done the hard yards. That was seen as the primary reason of him not being able to cope with the high intensity of international cricket for long. The day after he was first dropped from the national side in 2004-2005,Patel had to play a Ranji Trophy game. He recalls how ended up going through the motions. “It was difficult because I just couldn’t even think of what I had to do. All I was thinking of was why I got dropped. But once I settled down in domestic cricket,I learn’t invaluable lessons,” the Gujarat captain adds.

Playing for a Plate division team (2007-08 season)like Gujarat,that has a weak bowling unit,saw Patel under the sun keeping wickets for endless hours. His glove work and understanding of the game enhanced. “Playing in the Plate league makes one appreciate even the smallest of things,” Patel says. His form didn’t dip when the side was promoted to the Elite Division. In 2008-2009 he made 526 runs at an average of 53.94.

Patel learnt to cope with the responsibility that comes with captaincy and being the only Test player in the team. “I couldn’t afford to fail as Gujarat captain whether we were playing in the Plate Division or in the Elite Division. I was always a strong hooker and puller but I had to curb my instinct even against weaker opposition till the team was out of danger. I developed my game,found new scoring areas,played with the straight bat. I can do that as well,” Parthiv says.

Unexpected success

A month back when Patel landed in England,a place where he made his debut,he was a matured cricketer. And it showed in his approach. His opening partner during the tour Ajinkya Rahane too was a finished product who had passed the stringent test of domestic cricket. Rahane was part of two Ranji Trophy winning sides. He had the first-hand knowledge of how champions operate. Countless hours on the circuit saw the unlikely opening pair enjoying unexpected success.

“Scoring more than 4,000 runs and then playing international cricket definitely helped. I have played on under-prepared wickets,on lively pitches and against different attacks in different situations. My performances while representing Mumbai gave me lots of confidence. Knowing that you have a lot of cricket under your belt gave me a lot of confidence when I made my debut,” says Rahane.

When Irfan Pathan was feeling low about his bowling during the South Africa tour four years back,the then skipper of Indian team suggested him a domestic remedy of sorts. “Rahul (Dravid) told me that it would be better if I played domestic cricket rather than be the 12th man during the Test series in South Africa. My confidence was at an all-time low. It was a difficult period,” Irfan recalls.

Nine months later,Irfan was playing the inaugural World Twenty20 and was the man-of-the match when India beat Pakistan in the final at Durban. “Returning home and playing domestic cricket helped me sort out my bowling. In the first game against Uttar Pradesh at the IPCL grounds I took three wickets but didn’t find my rhythm. But things changed in my next game against Chennai when I picked up four wickets on a flatter track. I was setting up batsmen and the ball was doing what I wanted it to do,” Pathan says. Pathan is back to the drawing board after recurring injury robbed him of precious match-time last season. “This is a very important season for me. By bowling long spells in domestic cricket I rediscovered by form and have made comebacks,” Pathan says.

Uttar Pradesh medium-pacer Sudeep Tyagi’s rise wasn’t accompanied by the frenzy that marked Pathan’s elevation to the status of the next Kapil Dev or Wasim Akram in the early days. Tyagi was the top-wicket taker three seasons ago but lost form and picked up injury. His international career has been restricted to four ODIs. He’s in the process of trying to reinterpret his game.

“Several times during my India stint I told myself that I will need to work on this and that. For instance,I wanted to try a different kind of slower ball,wanted to bowl more Yorkers. The pressure playing for India is different and the expectations are immense,so there is no time to experiment. When I was dropped and then played for Uttar Pradesh,I could afford to re-work my game,” Tyagi says.

Rarely has a player been able to cement his place in the side without going through the toil of domestic circuit. Players like Saurashtra’s Jaydev Unadkat made his Test debut without playing a Ranji game.

In the game against South Africa he seemed out of depth. He had a nice easy action and pace too. But didn’t have the guile that one learns during a 30-over day on a dead track.

But domestic cricket’s biggest success story happens to be Gautam Gambhir. The Delhi opener had played four years of first class cricket before his India debut and after that had to score tons of runs in domestic cricket again before gaining the full faith of the selectors and become a permanent member in all three forms of the game.

First-class comebacks

Sent back mid-way through India’s Test tour of South Africa in 2007,Irfan Pathan did the hard miles in domestic cricket,found his rhythm,and nine months later took three wickets in India’s famous win over Pakistan in the inaugural World T20 final and was Man-of-the Match. Four months later,he took five wickets at Perth,bagged another MoM award and helped India beat Australia

Increased competition for the second wicket-keeper’s slot meant forced Parthiv Patel who develop his secondary skill to such an extent that he could play purely as a batsman when the big break came. He topped the run-scorers list in 2007-2008 as he lead Gujarat to the Plate title and a promotion and he’s always been in contention since. Played 18 of his 32 ODIs since December 2010.

The selectors couldn’t ignore Subramaniam Badrinath after he scored 599 runs in just seven innings with three centuries in 2009/10. He made his Test debut against SA at Nagpur in February 2010. He has an insatiable hunger for runs. Last season he scored nearly 1,000 runs,a tally that helped him make a comeback to the One-day International squad after three years.

BACK TO THE BASICS

Ahead of the 2011-12 Ranji Trophy season,gnarled veterans currently out of favour will compete with emerging talent,juggling their own individual aspirations with the fortunes of their state sides. Karthik Krishnaswamy takes a look at bright hopefuls and players nursing the wounds of rejection.

WAITING TO EXPLODE

Manish Pandey: In his last two domestic seasons,Manish Pandey has scored 1914 runs at an average of 58,with seven centuries,all scored at a breathtaking clip. Despite this,the Karnataka middle-order batsman hasn’t yet been called up by the India selectors for any of the three formats. Another prolific season might just turn their heads.

Ashok Menaria: Last season,Menaria scored centuries in the quarterfinal,semifinal and final of a victorious Ranji Trophy campaign. This time around,opponents will be better prepared while facing Rajasthan and the Yuvraj Singh clone in their middle order. Can Menaria sustain his run-scoring form?

Rahul Sharma: His inclusion in the Test squad against England suggests that the selectors see potential in Rahul Sharma’s awkward,fastish leg-breaks delivered from a great height. As of now,though,he doesn’t have a first class record to speak of —18 wickets in 10 matches at 44.66 — even if his List A and IPL displays have been impeccable. A good 2011-12 Ranji campaign could change perceptions of Sharma as a limited-overs specialist.

BEEN THERE,DONE THAT

Murali Vijay: A disastrous West Indies tour saw Murali Vijay’s Test average plummet from nearly 40 to just over 30,with the result that he hasn’t been considered for national selection since. On his return to Ranji action,Vijay will need to make a string of big scores to show his detractors that he can get over his tendency for soft dismissals in the 20s and 30s.

Yusuf Pathan: Ahead of the World Cup,Yusuf Pathan was supposed to provide India their x-factor in the middle order. A string of scratchy performances in that tournament and in the West Indies saw him lose his ODI spot. While Yusuf’s skillset is a touch crude,it is unique,and a few merciless assaults on domestic opposition might just stoke selectorial interests again.

Suresh Raina: When Suresh Raina wasn’t contorting himself into odd positions to fend off short balls during the Test series in England,he was poking hesitantly outside off stump,his front foot refusing to obey his mind’s commands. Raina won’t face too many purveyors of chin music in the Ranji Trophy,but he will have to make the best of his time out of the Test team and compile plenty of diligent hundreds to keep his name in the hat.

Harbhajan Singh: Still two matches away from the 100-Test mark,Harbhajan has been axed from the Test team for the West Indies series. But selectors might still want his experience on the Australia tour. If he is to be on that plane,however,Harbhajan might need to take wickets for Punjab and take plenty of them.

RP Singh: In four domestic seasons before his recall for the Oval Test,RP Singh had taken only one five-wicket haul. It was more the memory of his exploits in England in 2007 than any signs of form that prompted the selectors to opt for the UP left-armer,and it showed in his now infamous display on Day One. If that isn’t to remain his last contribution to a Test match,RP will have to bowl a lot of overs this season and recover the swing and steep lift that first brought him to notice.