They came, They met, They...

Jan 19 2007

"We will discuss the rules and regulations involved in staging the
Twenty20 tournament for the first time in India," said BCCI secretary
Niranjan Shah about the domestic tournament scheduled in the first week
of April.

Jan 20 2007

"We've decided to play the domestic Twenty20 either in the last week of
March or the first week of April," said BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.
"The venues will be decided by the Fixtures Committee, and the rules
and regulations of the ICC will be implemented."

The tournament, said Shah, will be formatted along the lines of the
Ranji Trophy one-day tournament. State Associations will first play
within their zone to identify the top two sides. These sides —
distributed into two groups of five — will then play a league format.
Each group's top side will contest the final.

Jan 19 2007

The committee, headed by Sunil Gavaskar, will review the Ranji Trophy's format and points system, said Mr. Shah.

Jan 20 2007

The committee reviewed the Ranji Trophy's format and points structure,
but decided to discuss it further with the captains and coaches at the
seminar before making changes.

Jan 19 2007

Also on the agenda, said Mr. Shah, is assessing the feasibility of
playing the Ranji Trophy Super League matches, the semifinals and the
final on neutral venues instead of the home-and-away rotation system
currently in place.The recommendation, by BCCI joint secretary M.P. Pandove, is aimed at
playing at least key domestic games on the best tracks in the country.

Jan 20 2007

The Technical Committee, chaired by Sunil Gavaskar, also decided to
take steps to prevent doctoring of wickets in the Ranji Trophy. From
the next season, members of the Pitches Committee would monitor the
preparation of wickets for four days preceding the tie, said Shah.

[Pitches Committe Members - Daljit Singh (North),Dhiraj Parsana
(West), P R Vishwanathan (South), Taposh Chatterjee (Central), Prabir
Mukherjee (East) and Niranjan Shah (convener and BCCI secretary).

Ranji Trophy Super League Itinerary 2006/07
Ranji Trophy Plate League Itinerary 2006/07

As can be seen from the schedules, as many as 11 matches ( Super League
and Plate) take place in the same time frame during the initial rounds. The Pitches
Committee has 6 members. You do the math).]

The recommendation to play the Ranji Trophy Super League semifinals and
final on neutral venues was "discussed, but some felt the home side
shouldn't be denied advantage," said Shah. Consequently, the matter
will be discussed with the coaches and captains of India's first class
teams at a seminar in March.

--
There you have it folks.. The only thing that was conclusively discussed and agreed upon was 20/20 cricket. Or, in BCCI parlance, another revenue stream to be milked for all it is worth.

Mind games?

A ‘brain-trainer’ is the need of hour for Sehwag

Team psychologist Webster in hospital

When contacted, coach Greg Chappell, who always maintained that the modern sport is all about mind, told DNA that the team management is not contemplating to have a psychologist at the moment. Asked if he would be in favour of having someone like Australian Sandy Gordon — who had played a key role in India’s campaign during the last World Cup — Chappell said: “We have not made any plans to do so.”

Scheduling.. what scheduling?

Ranji Trophy semi-finals

Jan 23-27	04:00 GMT	Karnataka v Bengal at Kolkata Ranji Trophy Super League
Jan 23-27	04:00 GMT	Mumbai v Baroda at Mumbai Ranji Trophy Super League

India vs West Indies schedule

1st ODI - Nagpur
21 Jan

2nd ODI - Cuttack
24 Jan

3rd ODI - Chennai
27 Jan

4th ODI - Vadodara
31 Jan

As the India-West Indies ODI series overlaps the Ranji Trophy semifinals, here are a few questions for the worthies up at the BCCI -

1. Are Anil Kumble and Irfan Pathan going to show up for Karnataka and Baroda respectively?
   
2. If they are, they wont be available to play the Third ODI. If they are not, then why the talk of "International stars should play the domestic season" and "Ranji is the premier domestic tourney in India"?
   
3. Robin Uthappa,Ajit Agarkar and Ramesh Powar have been included in the team for the first two ODIs. Are they guaranteed to play at least one of these two games? Because if they are not, wouldn't it have been better for these blokes to be playing the Ranji Trophy? ( I havent included Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar (vice-capt), Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan in this list because it is highly unlikely that they will sit out one or both games).
4. On the agenda for the camp are lots of meetings, a look at the requirements for the months ahead, training and simulation games......The camp will also be about consolidating the gains of the last 20 months. The Indian team will need to decide what worked and what didn’t.. - If this is the stated agenda of the camp at Nagpur, why is the camp limited to only 17 members and not the full squad of 30 probables for the WC?

Options

Vengsarkar was in his element, explaining things candidly and lucidly. When one reporter asked him why there were no legspinners in the list of 30 World Cup probables (other than Kumble) he replied by asking, "Can you name one?"

The above statement, taken in conjunction with Vengsarkar's earlier statement about a paucity of talent in the country, would lead one to believe that India is talent starved and especially so in the leg spin department.

So here is my question - What is the BCCI doing about it?

The short answer - Nada, zilch, nothing.

Contrast this with Cricket Australia and the steps they have taken to fill in the vacuum created by Shane Warne's retirement

• Dan Cullen, Nathan Hauritz and Cameron White to spend time at the Brisbane Center for Excellence during the southern winter
• The above mentioned spinners to tour the sub continent sometime this year to hone their skills.

CA is taking the talent it has at its disposal and trying the maximize it. The BCCI wont even recognize the talent it has at its disposal.

In conclusion, to answer your question Colonel, here are two names - Amit Mishra and Piyush Chawla.