How good is the Duleep Trophy? Logically, a tournament played between five zones comprising of the best players from each of them ought to be good—right? Then why are the voices calling for the scrapping of this coveted tournament getting louder by the day? Well, since most of these appeals are coming straight from the players, something must be hugely amiss—time to wake up and smell the coffee.
What is it about the Duleep Trophy that isn’t going down well with the participants? Has the standard come down? Is it making the domestic calendar too crowded? Or, has it ceased to hold any real sense? Let’s delve deeper into the issues plaguing this premier domestic tournament.
Knocked Out
Till a few years back, when played on ‘round-robin basis, Duleep Trophy was its peak. Those were days when all the zones played against each other on home and away basis, which meant enough opportunities for the players to perform, also testing their mettle in different conditions in the process. Since the tournament was at least 4 weeks long, the assortment of players would begin to function like a team, which is essential to produce competitive cricket.
In the current scenario, Duleep trophy is a knockout tournament—2 teams play only 1 match each, 2 teams can play a maximum of 2 matches each and only 1 team can play 3 matches. Now, how much would you read into the performances of Duleep trophy when most players get only a couple of innings to showcase their wares? Are a couple of innings a just reward for scoring heavily or taking a bagful of wickets in the Ranji trophy? For instance, if Central Zone loses their first match, both the highest run-scorer and the highest wicket-taker will get only one opportunity as a reward for their hard work. More, crucial national selections take Duleep Trophy performances as a yardstick to judge a player—Fair?
Experiencing Kookaburra
At Rahul Dravid’s behest, thankfully, the Duleep trophy is now played with the Kookaburra ball instead of the SG Test ball, which still continues to be used in the Ranji trophy circuit. It was a wonderful move to allow our domestic players a taste of Kookaburra, a ball that behaves radically different to the SG Test ball. While the SG Test ball responds the best to swing bowlers who release the ball, Kookaburra is at its best when you hit the pitch hard. SG Test ball rarely swings while it’s new but starts moving in the air after it gets a little old. On the contrary, Kookaburra moves the most while it’s new and ceases to swing after getting old. Obviously then, it was a novel move—after all Kookaburra is the one used overseas. But here’s the catch—playing once a year with the Kookaburra isn’t enough to modify the skill set. Even if you manage to get the hang of it and adapt well, you’re most likely to forget it in a year. Muscle memory isn’t sharp enough to register the changes and remember it for a year.
Starting from scratch year after year isn’t a great idea after all.
In the ‘zone’
Not so long ago, when the Ranji trophy was played within the respective zones, having a team comprising of the best of each zone in the Duleep Trophy meant something, since most players played against each other in the Ranji trophy and there was an immediate sense of cohesiveness for the zonal side. But now, with Ranji trophy being divided into Elite and Plate grouping system—based on a team’s performance, selecting the best players within the zone makes little sense. How can one treat the performances in Elite and Plate group equally? Also, as it happens, the bigger teams tend to influence the Zonal team selections far more—no matter how Mumbai, Delhi Punjab and U.P fared in the Ranji trophy—this year three of them didn’t even qualify for the knock-outs, these heavy weights always find the maximum representation in their respective zonal side. How else would you explain 5 players from U.P. in the Central Zone when their team didn’t even qualify for the knockouts and only 4 from Rajasthan—out of which one may not even find a place in IX—this when Rajasthan defended the Ranji trophy successfully.
Tags: Delhi, Duleep Trophy, Indian Cricket, Kookaburra, Mumbai, Punjab, SG Test
This entry was posted on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 10:49 am
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hi akash i really like ur works as its very simple but anlytical n wit ful of fresh ideas n opinions
keep the good work, peace
Dear Aakash,
I don’t see why you and befor that Harsha Bhogle was recently talking about scraping Duleep Trophy.
I undertsand passion and binding team spirit when playing one or two or 3 games for a zone based team are hard to clutivate.
But I see this as a solid 5 day contest between top Ranji stars and India potential….much higher quality than an average Ranji game even in the Elite sides.
Cream of young Ranji show-case themselves…in an even meant for the selectors to see in real first match conditions. where nost of the 11 are top Ranji performers of the season and also India potentials.
SK Yadav and Dinda execlled in a higher quality ( than an average Ranji game) in the first Duleep trophy game and show-cased themselves to the selectors.
Duleep Trophy is a selector’s event….and no diffrent from the Red-Blue-Green India challnager 50 over event meant to show-case talent in front of selectors in a competitive environment.
Tinkering with the format is fine…but with a full IPL every year there ain’t enouhg time to have a Round Robin.
maybe they can invite one foreign side every year (like Bangaldesh or Zim or Afgansitan or Kenya or Ire) and have two groups of 3 sides each.
regards
PS^ I do notice thouhg that Ranji veterans hoever well performaing if past India selctions age do not find a place in duleep trophy side
My grouse is that we’re carrying on with a tournament long after devaluing it ourselves. I loved the Duleep trophy but in the current format, it’s failing to serve its purpose. If there isn’t enough time to allow Duleep Trophy to run its due course, might as well scrap it and make Ranji more important.
ps: that has nothing to do with seniors not being a part of the Duleep trophy teams
[quote]My grouse is that we’re carrying on with a tournament long after devaluing it ourselves. I loved the Duleep trophy but in the current format, it’s failing to serve its purpose[/unquote]
Sadly….that’s my grouse too with how India is treating test match cricket.
Sadly there doesn’t appear enouhg time to give to important prepare and execute India’s imporatnt test series.
I guess we just need to accept how things will be done in Indian cricket current and in future
Dinda is breathing fire in Duleep trophy and has been having a great first class season.
from the little i saw him in ODIs in Zimbabwe and in Ranji trophy a few times…he can get it beyong 140 kph.
for his efforts and consistency and hard toil….he deserves to be given a break in ODIs atleast.
anoteher one who has continued his good form is Saha…….after a tremendous display of temperament in the last test in australia.
Bisht who I heard a lot about ( 1000 runs this season)….failed to take his opportunities in Duleep.
seizing the big moment is as imporatnt as doing well throuhgout the season.
regards
Congratulations Aaakash!!
I hear BCCI has asked you for a pper with recommendations on how to fix Indian FC system.
that you will be meeting a BCCI comittee chaired by Ganguly.
Do let us know how it goes
Ok, I do not agree to you this time Akash. Duleep trophy is a stage wherein the guys who have proven their merit in Ranji get a stage to prove their worth before the selectors and they get to face some quality opposition if they did not have chance yet.
To scrap a system is easy. But I would suggest there might be a better way wherin they could make Duleep trophy better and effective – maybe going back to the round robin again. Duleep trophy can be made a treat for the spectators if they are played in lively pitches (not just bouncy, may be couple of turners also).
Let there be a handsome (should be really handsome) reward for the curator who prepares the best lively pitches in the season too, which might ultimately help Indian cricket. All the best if you actually got an opportunity to showcase your ideas with Sourav, you guys really deserve and can turn it around!
Hi, Aakash, I find your article insightful, and would like to use a link to it in one of my articles discussing the Indian domestic Circuit. I hope there is no problem.
Feel free to check out our website.
Ayush
[...] a packed cricket calendar, cries of Duleep being meaningless have increased over the years (this article here makes a great case for it). But for the time being it remains the favorite hunting ground of [...]
[...] a packed cricket calendar, cries of Duleep being meaningless have increased over the years (this article here makes a great case for it). But for the time being it remains the favorite hunting ground of [...]