Bore Draw

The current Ranji season began with high expectations. There were two foreign coaches, inter-state player movement was unusually high, there was more money in domestic cricket than ever before. This, we thought, was the season when domestic cricket could finally grab some of the mindspace booked solid by the international game.

Yet as the venerable tournament reaches its halfway stage, it is clear things haven8217;t been up to scratch. Only eight of the 28 Ranji matches played in the Elite Division so far have produced results. The odd exciting win 8212; a Haryana here, a Baroda there 8212; has been drowned out by sound of scraping draws in forgettable matches. So what8217;s gone wrong?

One clear factor is the 8216;8216;safety-first8217;8217; approach adopted by the teams. Most of the draws have been aimed at collecting a safe two points on the basis of the first innings lead.

Points matter, say the coaches of most elite teams. Their most important job is to avoid relegation. The Elite group means more money 8212; Elite group players earn Rs 10-16,000 per match, those in the Plate group Rs 4-5,000 8212; and better competition, the chance of a sponsor knocking on the door. And, most importantly, visibility among the selectors.

A perfect example from recent times is Maharashtra batsman Dheeraj Jadhav. Two seasons ago, he was the highest scorer in the Ranji Trophy with more than 1,100 runs. But because his runs came in the Plate, his performance went unnoticed. Today, he understands the importance of keeping Maharashtra among the elite teams. 8216;8216;Performances get noticed,8217;8217; he says succinctly.

Even the traditionally bigger teams 8212; Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu 8212; have failed to secure victories on home ground. 8216;8216;Nobody8217;s interested in taking the risk here,8217;8217; said one state captain. 8216;8216;Why look for something which you can do without?8217;8217;

8216;8216;They just want to play it safe8217;8217;, says Dilip Vengsarkar, a member of the BCCI8217;s newly formed Cricket Development Committee. 8216;8216;Batting should have a little aggression where over 270-280 runs are scored on an average in a day if conditions help.8217;8217;

On most occasions, he feels, teams go into the match keeping the first innings lead in mind. 8216;8216;The points system can be modified to keep such situations in mind. Points shouldn8217;t be awarded to state associations that fail to provide a decent wicket.8217;8217;

Mumbai coach Karsan Ghavri has another solution: add another day to the format. 8216;8216;Four days aren8217;t enough,8217;8217; he says. His team failed to secure outright wins in any of their last four encounters but, more damningly, they played for draws after gaining the early initiative in most of the matches.

In his team8217;s defence, Ghavri also pleads a bowling attack that lacks variety. But his main grouse is that the four-day match isn8217;t enough time.

There are few takers for this line of thinking, however. Four days are the norm for first-class matches the world over. And with the Ranji schedule tight as it is 8212; 72 days from round 1 to the final 8212; additional days will be a tough ask.

8216;8216;Five days is too long8217;8217;, says Vengsarkar. The problem, he feels, is closer to the ground 8212; the 8216;8216;poor quality8217;8217; of wickets. 8216;8216;The wickets have to be good. Home teams make these kind of wickets for their purpose which is a very temporary way of looking at things.8217;8217;

Wickets, he feels, should be prepared so that it has enough bounce and grass and allows that the bowlers to make a match of it. 8216;8216;The match referee should file a report if the pitch isn8217;t of such quality. Only then can there be result-oriented matches.8217;8217;

It8217;s a view echoed by Darren Holder, the new Maharashtra coach. 8216;8216;These wickets aren8217;t the kind to induce results.8217;8217; Last year Intikhab Alam, the Punjab coach, said the same thing in his first season.

Railways are one of the few teams who have tried their hand at preparing fast and bouncy tracks at their Karnail Singh Stadium. 8216;8216;The fast bowlers can have a go every morning and batsmen with the technique can score runs8217;8217;, says Railways coach Vinod 8216;8216;Sharma. The game is more exciting, there8217;s a chance of an outright win.8217;8217;

Last season saw Vidarbha, Hyderabad and Baroda preparing hard and bouncy surfaces even at the cost of their team losing. In fact, if bowlers like Rudra Pratap Singh, Sree Santh and VRV Singh broken into Team India, they have such pitches to thank for being noticed. 8216;8216;It was a pleasure to bowl in Nagpur and Hyderabad. The surface was helpful and that was a big confidence boost, especially given that it was my first full season,8217;8217; says RP.

8216;8216;Why isn8217;t there a committee that looks at pitches for domestic games?8217;8217;, asks Shivlal Yadav, the new director of the National Cricket Academy NCA. 8216;8216;Set up a panel that checks on the wickets and let there be an equal opportunity for hosts and visiting teams.8217;8217;

THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
8226; 26 centuries have been scored in the Elite group by 22 batsmen; Amol Muzumdar, Dheeraj Jadhav and Dinesh Mongia have scored more than one. In Plate group, 15 centuries by 14 players

8226; Bengal and Baroda are the only team to have recorded a bonus point

8226; Himachal Pradesh fielded two teams when they toured Tripura for their second match and since then have been out of the tournament pending an enquiry

8226; Punjab became the only team among the 15 in Elite Division to record two outright victories in three matches

8226; Delhi8217;s 69 at home against Gujarat is the lowest total in the Ranji Trophy so far

8226; Railways and Punjab are the only teams to have won a match at home while UP and Delhi are the only teams to have lost their home encounters

8226; Interestingly, the Elite Division Group A has two teams that with outright wins Railways and Gujarat behind Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, who have drawn all their four matches played so far