Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Karnataka and Delhi eliminated

Partab Ramchand24-Dec-2001Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Karnataka and Delhi eliminated. Railwaysand Orissa in the semifinals. Baroda emerging champions. To say that the2000-2001 Ranji Trophy season was full of surprises would be a grossunderstatement.There were a few upset results in the league stage. In the knockoutstages, however, where the men are generally separated from the boys, itwas thought that the big guns would be there at the finish. But somesurprise results led to a rather strange situation in which none of thefour semifinalists of the 1999-2000 season – champions Mumbai, runnersup Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka – made it to the last four.The pre-quarterfinals were not without their own share of unexpectedhappenings. Karnataka had to bounce back after conceding a slim firstinnings lead to Assam. Railways upset Maharashtra at Pune. MadhyaPradesh defeating Hyderabad was also a minor surprise. But not manywould have expected the shock results to spill over to thequarterfinals. The biggest surprise of the year’s competition came atthis stage when Punjab humbled 34-time champions Mumbai on their hometurf at the Wankhede stadium. Railways, as if to prove that theirvictory over Maharashtra was no fluke, then got the better of six-timechamps Karnataka. And finally, Orissa scored over Madhya Pradesh atGwalior.All these unusual results left a most unlikely pairing for thepenultimate rounds – Baroda vs Orissa at Baroda and Railways vs Punjabat Mohali. The upsets did not end even at this late stage, with Railwaysgetting the better of hotly fancied Punjab. Orissa, which entered thesemifinals for the first time, lost to Baroda, but it was a season toremember for the little-fancied eastern state that topped the East Zonepoints table by a long way. Much of the credit for their improvedshowing went to two Indian players Shiv Sunder Das and DebashishMohanty, who played inspirational roles.The fact that Baroda and Railways contested the final in April wasindicative of changing trends. At the beginning of the season, the oddsagainst these two teams vying for the title would have beenastronomical. Railways had never won the trophy and had entered thefinal only once – in 1987-88. Baroda had last won the trophy in 1957-58and thereafter had never been serious contenders for the title. But itwas good that the Ranji Trophy was no more the prerogative of Bombay,Delhi or Karnataka. The intense competition among teams is now bound toaugur well for the domestic game ­ and, consequently, Indian cricket.The Ranji Trophy final was an engrossing contest. Baroda were favouredto win on home turf, but when they conceded the first-innings lead, itseemed that the tournament would end with yet another major upset. ButZaheer Khan delivered when it mattered most. The Indian left-arm seambowler picked up five wickets for just 16 runs on the fifth and finalday to ensure victory by 21 runs and the return of the Ranji Trophy toBaroda for the first time in 43 years.At the time of writing, the 2001-2002 Ranji Trophy championship is inits initial phase. But a decision taken during the year by the Board ofControl for Cricket in India (BCCI), now more alive to the welfare ofthe domestic circuit than in the past, is bound to have a far-reachingeffect on the game and the players. As in life, change is the essence ofcricket. The game must move with the times, and this is true not only ofinternational cricket but also of the domestic game.From the 2002-2003 season, the premier national tournament will undergoan almost revolutionary change in format, based on promotion andrelegation. The plan, as envisaged, is that the 15 teams which qualifyfor the knock-out stages during the 2001-2002 season will be placed inDivision A, while the 12 who do not qualify will be placed in DivisionB. After league matches between the competing teams in the two groups,the two sides that finish at the bottom of Division A will be demotedwhile the two top sides in Division B will earn promotion.The plan of having two divisions along the lines of the English countychampionship had been discussed for some time now. This was largelybecause some of the matches at the zonal level have been hopelessly onesided. It is hoped that the new format will serve as an added incentivefor the team and the players to perform well.The National Cricket Academy, in its second year, made encouragingprogress. There was little doubt that its launch last year was one ofthe best things to happen to Indian cricket, and the youngstersbenefited much by the systematic training programme. For the second yearrunning, three cricketers were sent under the Border-Gavaskarscholarship for coaching at the Australian Academy in Adelaide. Inaddition, zonal academies also started taking shape, and the South ZoneAcademy was inaugurated in Chennai in May. Former Indian wicket-keeperSyed Kirmani, the chief coach, made it clear, while speaking at theinaugural function, that emphasis would be laid on fielding and physicalfitness, which he said was lacking amongst the cricketers in India.A significant event off the field was former International CricketCouncil (ICC) chief Jagmohan Dalmiya taking over as president of theBCCI. At Chennai in September, he defeated the incumbent AC Muthiah by17 votes to 13 in a rather unexpected result. Muthiah was expected tocarry the day, having had a pretty good record to show over two years inoffice. With a few exceptions, Board presidents have been elected forthree years. But Dalmiya, a wily and experienced campaigner, pulled offan upset, although Muthiah’s candidate Niranjan Shah won the electionfor the secretary’s post, defeating the incumbent Jaywant Lele.