To Dileep

[Arnab]

What are the basic disadvantages that exist in current Indian domestic cricket structure?

Do you think Bangladesh can take a lesson or two by avoiding those mistakes?

You probably have observed that Subcontinental teams usually rely on talented individual performances rather than a well-concerted team effort a la Australia or South Africa or even England. Do you think it's because of the difference in the cultures?

[WisdenVoice]

Arnab,

The biggest disadvantages of the Indian system...
1. Terrible pitches that make batsmen look better than they are, and make bowlers lose hope.
2. Too many first-class teams, including a lot of weak ones, which means that many matches are hopelessly one-sided.
3. The RIDICULOUS ICC international calendar. If a nation's cricket is to be strengthened, then the top players have to play domestic cricket at least once in a while. Gavaskar and Kapil used to do so regularly, whereas Tendulkar and Ganguly have not done so for years. Youngsters would learn so much by playing with these guys.
4. The gap between international and first-class cricket it way too much. In Australia and England, a first-class cricketer can make a decent living. In India, the international players make a HUGE amount of money but there is barely anything for the rest. How many youngsters will risk a career in cricket when the situation is like that? Especially because most of the talented ones are not from rich families anyway.
5. Sooner or later, I think India will go the Aussie way, and have just five/six teams or regions playing. It makes for much stronger competition. A Sheffield Shield hundred means something, whereas a Ranji Trophy hundred against weak opposition is largely just a stat.

Mind you, the situation in India is a lot better now. The National Cricket Academy, in Bangalore (where I live) is fantastic, and it will bring through a lot of players.

Dileep

[Arnab]

Thanks for the reply. I will try to get back to thi thread later. It's well past midnight here. But it was a very interesting post nonetheless. I am sure others will have their say too.

[nasifkhan]

well.....it is a very good academy in bangalore.....i saw once in Star Sports.......

[fwullah]

1. Terrible pitches that make batsmen look better than they are, and make bowlers lose hope.

In addition, in case of Bangladesh Cricket, the bowlers are also made to look better than they are - especially the spinners. It has its effects on the pace bowlers as none of us know which pace bowler at least has potential or not, because if somebody has a decent pace, then he is gonna go for runs on the batting paradise.

2. Too many first-class teams, including a lot of weak ones, which means that many matches are hopelessly one-sided.

There are lots of club teams in Bangladesh Cricket, and apart from certain standard teams like Mohammedan, Abahani, Biman, Brother's, and the emerging new clubs like Surjotorun and Victoria, the rest of the teams are nothing. So players playing for these teams can score hundreds against weaker teams. That's Ok - I mean the good players always get hundreds and big scores against weaker teams, but the problem is that the players are selected only from certain teams at a certain period of time.

3. The RIDICULOUS ICC international calendar. If a nation's cricket is to be strengthened, then the top players have to play domestic cricket at least once in a while. Gavaskar and Kapil used to do so regularly, whereas Tendulkar and Ganguly have not done so for years. Youngsters would learn so much by playing with these guys.

This is the most current problem in Bangladesh Cricket too. But I believe that Bangladesh is in an advantage position right now - players like Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar are not as big names as Tendulkar/Ganguly. And the rest of the players are too young to have earn names in full respect. But then again the disadvantage of this is that our national players do not learn how to play our spinners on turning tracks.


4. The gap between international and first-class cricket it way too much.

The same problem is in Bangladesh Cricket too - I think you know about this.

In India, the international players make a HUGE amount of money but there is barely anything for the rest. How many youngsters will risk a career in cricket when the situation is like that? Especially because most of the talented ones are not from rich families anyway.

Although we do not have the same problem when our regular domestic players play in the Dhaka premier league, but the problem lies in a different area. Previously, before the existence of a BCB contract with the players, the national players used to get thousands of Taka from their respected club teams, but the national players used to be lower-paid than some senior club players. But now this problem is somewhat minimized for premier league clubs' players.

But there is another problem. The introduction of regional sides like Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna has made lives difficult for players who are in need of money. You see whereas the club teams like Mohammedan/Abahani has so much money to pay to their players, the regional sides like Dhaka, Chittagong cannot afford to pay so much to their players. And hence, the problem continues.

In the conclusion:

Now you see how difficult it is for our individual players to score hundreds in fact there are hardly any hundreds to speak of comparing to the number of International matches that the national players have played. Most of them have a hundred or two in their career if you go to Cricinfo and see the individual players' stats there. And yet, you see that only 4 individual players have scored a hundred, and only 3 of those were scored in test cricket when there is no limitation of number of balls to be faced by an individual player.

Scoring a fifty seem to be a satisfying trend by the current national players and they don't strive to achieve a hundred. In fact, I don't think the same players who have a hundred in their names in International cricket career so far, they won't be able to score another hundred in their life time. But that is another story.

[DOORBIN]

WisdenVoice,

Good to see you here. With your participation, our forum is now more JOMJOMAT than ever.

By the way, JOMJOMAT is a BANGLA word that means 'interesting and action packed'.

You need to learn some of these words if you want to stay here for a long time. I guess you won't be able to avoid it as this board is like a CHOOMBOK. This is another BANGLA word, meaning 'magnet.'

Your articles are interesting and good to read. Thanks.

[amit]

Indian cricket currently has a lot of problems.

1. Lack of money - Lack of money is one of the biggest problems facing Indian Cricket. Although, there should have been no lack of money otherwise, but most of the money is spent only on the national team. The first-class cricketers in India are rarely paid decently. Even Parthiv Patel and Sanjay Bangar, Indian cricketers who were in the world cup squad but did not play a match, made more than 2 Lakh Indian Rupees. (47 Indian Rupee ~ US$1). However a Ranji Trophy player made only a little over 1000 Rs.

2. Lack of sponsorship - There is obviously a lack of sponsorship for Ranji Teams. For the national team, even small town companies like "Gayatri Arts" lined up for sponsorship besides big companies like "air Sahara", etc. For domestic teams, only Bengal team has a sponsor. Over 90% of the teams run without a sponsor.

3. Top cricketers not playing in the domestic cricket - This is also one of the major problems in Indian cricket. Rarely have top cricketers like Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Srinath etc. played for their Ranji teams. Atleast this year, we did see Sehwag playing for Delhi and Agarkar turning for Mumbai. Top cricketers need to play in the Ranji. If they don't play, this creates a bad impression over younger players. The players instead are now going to play in English county cricket.

4. Poor Dileep Trophy system this year - This year, Dileep trophy system was a total joke. 3 teams from the best players from the elite group of Ranji trophy were created and 2 from the Plaet grop. As there is obviously a difference between elite and plate groups, lots of matches were terribly one sided ones. I think the old format of one team from each zone was a far better one.

5. Lots of International cricket - This is also an important factor for that. with lots of international cricket around, a decent time for the Ranji every year cannot be found. I think that it should be made compulsory for top players to play in the Ranji final and semi-final for their state/province teams.

6. Lack of Fans - Most of the time, the stadiums during the Ranji trophy run empty. I don't know why is this happening in a country which has 1-billion so-called fans ? It is not good for Ranji Players to play for empty or sparsely filled stands.

Ur Replys -

Fwullah - Can you tell me is your Bangladesh "A" team coming for Ranji trophy next year ?

Nasifkhan - There are a lot of good academics all over India. Can you tell me the name of the Bangalore academy ?

[fwullah]

There is no news of any 'A' team or any BCB team going to anywhere yet.

[Mahmood]

Only BCCB President Lobby mentioned he worked out a deal to send BD A team to Ranji Trophy and Kaed-E-Azam Trophy.

He might as well be BS-ing.

[WisdenVoice]

I think we - the media and the fans - also have a LOT to answer for. There is something warped about the sub-continental psyche. The players have a couple of bad games, and you want to attack their houses....whereas some rotten administrator can stay in power for years, untouched.
Look at Pakistan. Whatever happens, the players pay the price....Gen Tauqir still goes around doing his thing (basically making a country that has the most cricketing talent a second-class cricket nation!).
In India, Dalmiya and co. just want money....and more money....so we have schedules which don't bother about things like breaks for the players.
Can't say much about Bangladesh. I met Saber Hossain Chowdhury once, and though he seemed a typically smooth-talking politician, he also gave the impression of being quite intelligent, aware and able to get things done. Last I heard, he was in jail or something. The new guys don't seem to have a clue what to do, if the TV rights mess with ESPN is any indicator.
In the middle of all this, I think the FANS lose sight of how powerful they are. If there are football fans among you, you will know how fan protests forced that idiot Peter Risdale to give up the chairman's post at Leeds United. Similarly, relentless protests from fans have forced many managers to quit. Instead of focussing on the soft targets - the players - cricket would gain much if the fans trained their anger on the real evil, the establishment, which is basically nothing but greedy-git businessmen and politicians out to make a quick buck.
Next time you go to a game, make sure they hear you....make sure they feel some fear. Remember, it's the FANS' game, and the players'. The administrators are just there to do a job. If they don't, kick them out...or do everything possible to make their lives miserable. Again, Leeds and Risdale is a good example

[amit]

Fwullah and Rajputro - Sending the Bangladesh-A team to the Ranji Trophy in India and the Kaed-e-Azam Trophy in Pakistan will not only be good for Bangladeshi cricket, it will also be good for Indian cricket and Pakistani Cricket as well. The Indian and Pakistani domestic cricketers will get a chance to play against a foreign team even though it is from Bangladesh and for Bangladesh, it will give the younger players a chance to gain valuable first-class experience.