Eye on Ranji - 3
It will be fascinating to see whether the Ranji Trophy competition manages to hold relevance in the era of the IPL and Champions League Twenty20. In a four-part preview series, ESPNcricinfo profiles the Super League teams.
Karnataka
Last season, Karnataka erased memories of several years of mediocrity and reclaimed their status as one of the domestic powerhouses by marching to the final, only to lose to Mumbai by six runs in a classic. It was a revamped team: they had a new coach, Sanath Kumar, and several established players like wicketkeeper Thilak Naidu, fast bowler NC Aiyappa and middle-order batsman C Raghu were dropped, replaced by fresh faces like 24-year-old wicketkeeper CM Gautam and fast bowler Abhimanyu Mithun.
The question this year is whether Karnataka will suffer from sophomore syndrome. "Last year nobody knew what sort of players we have," Sanath said. "Nobody knew our strengths or weakness, this year everybody is aware of our team, they will come prepared. Our challenge will be to continue last year's good work."
Much of Karnataka's success last season was built on the devastating new-ball combination of Mithun and R Vinay Kumar - easily the most successful bowlers of the season, taking the top two spots in the wickets chart, nabbing 93 between them. Both have since broken into the Indian team, and though they are not established members of the national side, Karnataka could miss their services for some parts of the coming season due to international commitments.
The bowling had looked ineffective in the absence of the lead pair. Former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, now 40, continues to plug away but had only 16 wickets in eight matches last season. Left-arm seamer S Aravind fared better with 27 wickets, but doesn't have the pace to be the bowling spearhead. Sanath remains confident the team can cope with loss of Vinay and Mithun. "We have S Aravind, and there's Adithya Sagar who has been doing extremely well in the Under-22s - in fact, his performances in U-22 is even better than Mithun's. There are also uncapped players like BN Bharat and Azghar Pasha."
The packed international calendar also means Karnataka will miss the experience and guidance of Rahul Dravid, who made 476 runs at 119 in four matches last season. That means more responsibility for Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey.
What they did last season
It was a season to remember for Karnataka though the title eluded them. They dominated the league phase, winning four matches - no other team in the country won more than two games - and comfortably took the first-innings lead in the remaining two matches. The quarter-finals against Punjab, who possessed the potent new-ball pair of Love Ablish and Manpreet Gony, was their first stiff test and they cleared it thanks to big scores from Uthappa and Pandey. In the semi-finals Dravid's flawless double-century shut out Uttar Pradesh. The final against Mumbai was one of the most gripping matches in the tournament's history, both sides showing heart and skill on a juicy track in Mysore, before Karnataka went down by six runs on a tension-filled last day.
Men to watch
Pandey proved he was not just a flashy Twenty20 player last season, making a tournament-high 882 runs, including four centuries. One of those was a memorable, counterattacking 144 against Mumbai as Karnataka nearly pulled off the stiffest chase ever in a Ranji final. With plenty of competition for places in the national side, he will need to keep scoring the runs to attract the selectors' attention.
Bengal finished sixth in their group last year with just a solitary win. The last season had started with much drama over the issue of Laxmi Ratan Shukla being retained as captain. Jagmohan Dalmiya had to intervene to bring about a consensus. Every player was handed a sheet containing contact numbers of the team-mates to improve "communication" among themselves. That was last year.
This season has started more peacefully. They have a new captain in Manoj Tiwary and a new coach in WV Raman who reckons this is a revival season for Bengal after the reverses in the last few years; Bengal have started the season on a right note by doing well in the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. "My players did well in the Mushtaq Ali tournament but a four-day game is a different thing altogether," Raman said. "So, adaptability will be the key." It's learnt that Raman has introduced yoga sessions among the players.
What they did last season
They started with a seven-wicket victory over Maharasthra but the wins dried up after that. They bowled out Baroda for 307 but collapsed from 218 for 4 to 293 all out. Baroda amassed 458 in the second innings to shut Bengal out of the game. Their bowling fell away and they yielded big first-innings leads against Karnataka and Saurashtra in the next two games. The next match was a heartbreaker: Sourav Ganguly topscored with 66 as Bengal made 193 in their first innings and Ranadeb Bose bagged a five-for to bowl out Uttar Pradesh for 62. However, Bengal were blown away by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the second innings for 104. And UP chased down the target of 236 with three wickets remaining. Bengal took the lead in their last game against Delhi, but it was too little, too late.
Men to watch
Three years ago, Tiwary was the chief fringe player for India before an injury pushed the likes of Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, and S Badrinath ahead in the queue. He recovered from the setbacks, but hasn't set domestic cricket on fire with his performances and has gone down in the pecking order. Can he find his hunger for runs this season? Wriddhiman Saha and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala will be the other names to look out for in the batting. The pace and spin combo of Ranadeb Bose (28 wickets) and Saurasish Lahiri shared 46 wickets between themselves in the last season. The likes of Ashok Dinda and Shukla, relieved from captaincy, will have to step up.
Himachal Pradesh have worked their way up, winning the Plate League in the 2008-09 season to qualify for the elite stage the following year. But they squandered opportunities against the more formidable teams and deprived themselves of a place in the knockouts. They had held a position of advantage and had a realistic shot at a win against Hyderabad, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Orissa but, in the end, had to settle for a solitary win, three losses and the frustration of not completing the job.
The captaincy has changed hands in the interim with batsman Paras Dogra, 25, who was Himachal's second-highest run-getter last season, taking over from seamer Ashok Thakur."We have a lot of expectations from Dogra," Himachal coach Rajdeep Kalsi told ESPNcricinfo. "He is young and energetic, and the decision was taken to groom him better under Thakur, who has served us for a long time."
It was the batting that let Himachal down last season with its inconsistency. First-innings leads were laid to waste with lacklustre performances in the second innings while chasing targets and the hard work of the bowlers, the team's main strength, was not backed up. The draw this year includes a different set of opposition for Himachal, with them taking on Haryana in the opener and matches lined up against Karnataka, Baroda as well as Uttar Pradesh.
Their base in Dharamsala, Kalsi said, with conditions conducive to swing - each of seamers Vikramjeet Malik, Thakur and Mohinderraj Sharma had impressive seasons last year - should hold them in good stead. "A couple of years ago we bowled out a Delhi team including Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag for 75 runs. We've been relying on these two-three bowlers and they've never let us down," Kalsi said. If they managed to ruffle up some title contenders last season, they'll expect to do better this time.
What they did last season
Strong bowling performances were a constant for Himachal last season with their seamers handing them the initiative. Hyderabad were bowled out for 189, Mumbai for 162, Punjab and Gujarat for 186 and 87 respectively. But their batsmen failed them. They couldn't scale down a target of 168 against Hyderabad and settled for a draw. They were beaten by Tamil Nadu while chasing 247, were skittled out for 82 by Punjab in an eight-wicket defeat and lost to Mumbai by 85 runs. The disappointing returns with the bat were evident in the fact that none of the batsmen averaged above 40.
Men to watch
Himachal have roped in two new players for this season, Gurvinder Singh and Abhineesh Sharma, who has won a place based on his performances at the Under-22 level. Gurvinder is an offspinner and Sharma a left-handed batsman. Back in the mix after two years is Manvinder Bisla, who represented Kings XI Punjab in the IPL with some aggressive innings at the top of the order. But the batting will depend, to a significant extent, on Dogra and Vinit Indulkar, who top-scored for the state last season. The performance of the seamers, led by Malik and Thakur, could again prove decisive.
Saurashtra
Saurashtra surprised many by reaching the semi-finals in two of the last three seasons. Their 2007-08 campaign gave them the belief that they no longer need to fear the good teams and the next year's efforts showed everybody else that Saurashtra had indeed turned a corner. As Shitanshu Kotak, their senior player said last year, "No one used to bother about Saurashtra in the past. Now they sit up and take notice, they think this team can beat us. It feels great."
The decision that changed things around was the nomination of the veteran Debu Mitra as the coach. It was the former India spinner Dilip Doshi who recommended Mitra's name. "Mitra's coaching manual is simple and always gives emphasis on the basics," Niranjan Shah, the secretary of Saurashtra Cricket Association, said. "The boys have tremendous respect for him. Cheteshwar Pujara has already made it to the Indian team and Jaidev Unadkat is waiting for his chance." Without the presence of Pujara, who is likely to be in the national squad, things won't be easy this year.
What they did last season
It wasn't a good year as they finished near the bottom of their group, drawing three games and losing three. Yet it wasn't as disastrous a season as it looks on paper. They came close to win in a few matches and fought hard in the rest but things didn't go their way. Against Uttar Pradesh, Saurashtra ended up on 155 for 5, chasing 277 for a win, in 63 overs on the final day in the opening game . They came close in the second game but couldn't finish the job again, piling up 544 and forcing Maharashtra to follow on but prising out only five opposition wickets in the second innings. It was the same story in the next match as they forced Bengal to follow-on but couldn't get a win. In the next round, Delhi's medium-pacers Pawan Suyal and Parwinder Awana bowled out Saurashtra for 214 in the second innings to inflict a defeat. They lost to Baroda in a low-scoring thriller in the next round before Karnataka beat them in the final game of the season.
Men to watch
The opener Chirag Pathak led with the bat last season, amassing 601 runs at 60.10. Pujara piled up 554 at 79.14. Pratik Mehta and Kotak were other contributors with the bat. In the absence of Pujara, the rest will have to play out of their skins if Saurashtra have to do well this season. Ravindra Jadeja will be keen to perform and try to remain in the reckoning for the national team. Seamer Sandeep Jobanputra did well last season and Rakesh Dhurv picked up 16 wickets with his left-arm spin. Both will be key this year for Saurashtra.