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| SPORTS TRIBUNE | Saturday, April 27, 2002, Chandigarh, India |
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Duleep Trophy loses importance Indian touch may fuel West Indies cricket IBF elections: no candidate from India
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Hats off to Sachin for 29th ton |
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Duleep Trophy loses importance The Duleep Trophy played between the five
zonal cricket teams is considered to be the last rung of domestic
cricket before one graduates to the international arena. This year’s
Duleep Trophy tournament finished on April 12 much after the Indian team
had left for the West Indies and India A had embarked on its tour of
South Africa. Although, the first two rounds of the matches were played
before the two Indian teams flew out, the remaining matches lost their
sheen due to the absence of stars from all the teams. The Duleep
Trophy, considered to be a stepping stone for a berth in the Indian
squad, should be planned in such a way that top players of each zone are
able to play for their teams. Domestic cricket in India of late is not
been given the importance and relevance as is being given to domestic
cricket in Australia where the national players immediately after the
end of a Test match go and play for their respective states. The recent
case in point is the non-participation in the Duleep Trophy matches
slated from March 26 by players like Saurav Ganguly, S.S. Dass and Deep
Dass Gupta for East Zone, Dinesh Mongia, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra
and Ajay Ratra for North Zone, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, V.V.S.
Laxman and Rahul Dravid for South Zone and Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim
Zafar for West Zone after they had been selected for the West Indian
tour. This would have given the much-needed practice to these players
for the longer version of the game as they had been earlier involved in
six one-dayers against Zimbabwe and were to be pitchforked against the
West Indies in a Test series straightaway. Coming back to the Duleep
Trophy tournament — which was played on league basis — it was quite
heartening to see that some good performances in the matches before the
selection of the Indian team did not go unnoticed. The national
selectors did a reasonably good job and their presence ensured that a
double century by Yuv Raj Singh against South Zone did not go unnoticed
and earned him a recall to the Indian one-day squad and also inclusion
in the India A team for the tour of South Africa. Ashish Nehra on the
other hand with two explosive bowling performances against South Zone
and West Zone clinched the third medium pacer’s slot in the Indian
contingent. Not to be left behind was Wasim Zafar, who with two
back-to-back centuries against Central Zone and a half century against
North was able to claim the opener’s slot in the Indian squad. Deep
Dass Gupta was another player whose century in the Duleep Trophy got him
the selectors’ nod for the tour of the West Indies. It was quite
heartening to see the cricket board experimenting with uncovered wickets
during the Duleep Trophy competition in a bid to ensure that the bowlers
got some kind of purchase from the early morning freshness or overnight
dew. But in the end it did not help the bowlers much. The reason was
that the matches were played from the middle of March till mid-April and
at that time of the year the dew is minimal. The start time of 10 a.m.
also took away any advantage of overnight dew. But above all docile
nature of the wickets did not the give any help to the bowlers. If this
experiment has to succeed then India must prepare good and bouncier
tracks like those existing at Baroda, Bangalore and
Mohali. Notwithstanding the fact that there was no immediate
opportunity of donning Indian colours, the players participating in the
matches after the departure of the Indian team put their best foot
forward and their performances gave hope to the selectors that there was
enough talent at the backup stage. Those who gave impressive
performances were Vikram Rathore of North Zone with scores of 249 and
104 as an opening batsman. Akash Chopra also of North Zone, with 143 and
119 not out should be pushing their claims for the openers’ slot. H.
Kanitkar of West Zone pushed his claim as an allrounder, Sairaj Bahutle
as right-arm leg spinner with a haul of 10 wickets against North Zone as
also a century showed great potential of a genuine allrounder. Irfan
Pathan Jr and Vineet Sharma the two medium pacers showed immense
promise. Rashmi Ranjan Parida and the young Subhormay Dass of East Zone
also displayed a lot of promise as batsmen. The end of the Duleep
Trophy also marked the end of the domestic season. West Zone were able
to put it across North Zone by winning the trophy. North Zone ended
runners-up. One really wonders if this competition has served and real
purpose.
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Indian touch may fuel West Indies cricket An Indian presence is growing in the West Indian
cricket, as players with their roots in India could well drive future
teams from the Caribbean islands. With the natives of the Caribbean
fast switching to other sports like basketball and baseball, it seems
the future of West Indies cricket depends on Indian settlers, whose
ancestors sailed from India almost two centuries ago. The forefathers
of players like batsmen Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Ronnie
Sarwan, migrated to the Caribbean in the 19th century in search of work.
There are many others of Indian origin, like leg-spinner Mahendra
Veeren Nagamootoo, who appeared in the drawn first Test in Bridgetown,
leg-spinner Dinanath Ramnarine and batsman Daren Ganga, who missed out
on selection for that match but are among the 22 probables picked for
the five-Test series. Moreover, a new batch is coming up and will be
ready for selection in the senior team a few years from now. Most
youngsters have already represented either the West Indies under-19 or
under-15 teams. Says Ravi Chaturvedi, cricket commentator and an
authority on India’s ties with the Caribbean islands: "The
Indians who migrated to the islands in the 19th century were basically
farmers. As the years passed by, they came closer to the cities, and
gradually their offspring took to the game. So, if a large number of
youngsters of Indian origin are today representing various islands in
junior cricket, it is no surprise." The first batch of Indians
migrated to the islands in 1838 and settled in Guyana, the home of
well-known former Test stars Rohan Kanhai and Alvin Kallicharran. Those
Indians were essentially farmers who worked in plantations. Another
early batch settled in Trinidad in 1845 and, subsequently, the migration
became steady. When they were not working on the fields, they played
cricket, a game that had already taken firm roots in India. Among the
well-known players of Indian origin who have represented West Indies
with distinction are legendary spinner Sonny Ramadhin, who turned out
for Trinidad in the 1950s, Kanhai, an aggressive opening batsman of the
1960s and 1970s, and Kallicharran, an elegant left-hander of 1970s who
went on to captain the West Indies. Gutsy Guyanese batsman Chanderpaul
made his Test debut in 1992-93. Although he has not lived up to his
early promise, he is still considered a pillar of the senior team, as he
showed with a defiant 140 in the first Test against India. Before
Chanderpaul’s arrival, there were hardly any sustained performances
from Indian-origin players. A few like aggressive right-handed opener
Suraj Ragoonath, who played only two Tests in 1998-99 before
disappearing, failed to make an impact. Leg-spinner Rajindra Dhanraj
followed Chanderpaul into the West Indies team. But after his Test debut
in 1994, he disappeared with just eight wickets from four Tests. Sarwan,
a nimble-footed batsman from Guyana who also bowls leg-spinners, made
his debut in 1995-96. He has appeared in 18 Tests, in which he has
scored 1,112 runs at 38.34, and nine one-day internationals. Trinidad’s
Ramnarine, another leg-spinner, was first picked in the one-day team in
1997-97 and in the Test team the next year. He has so far played 12
Tests, in which he has captured 45 wickets. And there are shining
stars in the junior ranks. Narsingh Deonarine, a gifted left-handed
batsman, has already represented the senior Guyana team in domestic
tournaments, besides the West Indies ‘A’ team and the squad that
took part in the under-19 World Cup in 2000. Speedster Ravindranath
Rampul of Trinidad was the leading bowler in the inter-island under-19
tournament last year. He was also a member of the West Indies team that
won the under-15 World Challenger in England in 2000. Promising
left-handed batsman Zaheer Ali, (21) has led Trinidad and Tobago
(under-15 and under-19) and West Indies (under-15) teams. Vishal
Arjune, a 20-year-old off-spinner from Guyana, Sulieman Jamaal Benn,
(20) a tall left-arm spinner from Barbados, and under-15 players like
Jason Mohammed, Rahesh Ramkissoon, Rishi Bachan, Kawesh Kantasingh,
Dilip Basdeo and Shastri Samaro promise to carry forward the tradition
of Indian presence in West Indies cricket. IANS |
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IBF elections: no candidate from India Badminton legend Li Lingwei of China is in running for
one of the vacant posts at the upcoming International Badminton
Federation council elections. Along with compatriot Han Aiping,
39-year-old Li was one of the most outstanding woman players on the
world circuit in 1980s, winning the 1983 and 1989 world championship
titles in singles, and the 1985 doubles title with Han. She also won the
first ever World Grand Prix Finals title in 1983 and achieved success in
the 1985, 86 and 87 events, and won countless events on the World Grand
Prix circuit. Election for the vacant posts will take place at the
annual general meeting of the IBF on May 12 in Guangzhou, China.
According to a circular of the IBF, nominations for the elections have
already been received. There are three vacant posts for Vice-Presidents
for which three nominations have been received. They are Torsten Berg
(Denmark), Federico Valdez (Peru), Charoen Wattanasin (Thailand). For
three vacant posts of continental representatives, three nominations
have been received. Tong Wai Lun (ABC), Cephar Lar (ABF) and Federico
Valdez (PABC) are in the running. Seven nominations have been received
for seven posts of council members. Edgar Aglipay (Philippines), Gordon
Robin Bryant (Australia), Rudy Hartono Kurniawan (Indonesia), Puzant
Kassabian (Bulgaria), Li Lingwei (China), Heather Nielsen (England) and
Eraj Wijesinghe (Sri Lanka). India is one of the oldest member of the
IBF and it is surprising that it has no representation in the world
body, which controls the game of badminton worldwide. After the death of
Sri Ram Chadda, who was the Vice-President of the IBF for a long time,
India was represented for one term each by Mr T.P.S. Puri and Prakash
Padukone. Small countries like Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Bulgaria
have put up their candidates but why has India once again failed to put
up somebody is a pertinent question. Can it be presumed that India does
not have the candidates who can perform well at the international level
or does the BAI not want people of calibre to come forward? |
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Hats off to Sachin for 29th ton Hats off to little master Sachin Tendulkar for having equalled the record of Sir Don Bradman by scoring the 29th century. In the near future he will leave behind the legendary figure’s record. After all records are meant to be broken as Walsh surpassed Kapil’s record. But Sachin’s humility when he remarked ‘Bradman is still greater’ is indeed praiseworthy. The standard of fielding in Bradman’s days was not as high as it is now. Cricket has now become a very popular game. Strategies are studied through video tapes and every batsman gets to know his weak points. But young Sachin is wizard who can play his shots on every side. Y.L. CHOPRA, Bathinda II
SUBHASH C. TANEJA,
Pak
victory
ANKIT ARORA,
A blunder
NATHA SINGH, Ludhiana
Beckham’s injuryDavid
Beckham’s injury is a big jolt for his club Manchester United and
for his national team which is preparing for the FIFA World Cup. Will
he play for England in the World Cup? His physician has said that
Beckham will be out for eight weeks. His long absence will affect his
game. TAUSEEF HASSAN |
