Random reflections on a batsman's Ranji Trophy

One more Ranji Trophy tournament has been consigned to history. The national competition has undergone a sea of change since it was first held in 1934-35. Aware of the shortcomings of the tourney, administrators have made various changes over the years. From a simple knock out format to a league cum knock out to a Super League, the competition has undergone a metamorphosis. Partially of course this has also been necessitated by the larger number of participating teams. From 13 teams in four zones in the inaugural year to 27 teams in five zones as it has been in the last few years, the Ranji Trophy has grown in size.

Whether it has improved in quality has always remained a moot point. No one can however deny it has a lofty place in the country's domestic circuit and the growth of other tournaments - Duleep Trophy, Deodhar Trophy, Wills Trophy, Challenger - has not in any way diminished the aura of the Ranji Trophy. It still remains the cup that cheers the most. And not winning it after coming close can sometimes be more frustrating than international disappointments. Ask S Venkatraghavan. The former Indian captain had a long international career of over 18 years, captained the country in five Tests, led them in the first two World Cup tournaments, took 156 wickets in 57 Tests and was an integral part of the famous spin quartet. In such a long career, there are bound to be frustrating times too. But at a press conference called to announce his retirement from first class cricket in 1985, Venkat, asked to name some of his disappointments, said without any hesitation, ``the greatest regret of my whole cricketing career is not having won the Ranji Trophy for Tamil Nadu, even though we came close to doing so on a couple of occasions.'' And believe me, Venkat did try his hardest, whether leading by example or by cajoling his players to bring off their best.

Venkat may have failed but Sachin Tendulkar certainly succeeded. He seemed to have made up his mind to do all he could to help Mumbai to win the Ranji Trophy this season. And so when his international engagements were over, he remained fully focussed on the matches he would play for his state. Of course, the fact that Mumbai did not qualify for the Super League last season might have goaded all the players and the coach Ashok Mankad to try and pull off something special this time. But there is little doubt that Tendulkar's singlemindedness of purpose had a lot to do with Mumbai's triumph. When the best of 'em all is determined to achieve his objective, there is little the opposition can do. He was keen enough to request the BCCI to postpone the Ranji Trophy semifinal by two days so that he could be available. Then he stepped down from the captaincy signifying that he was willing to play under Samir Dighe.

By now it was clear that Tendulkar wanted to concentrate fully on what he does best - batting. His innings of 233 not out against Tamil Nadu was a large sized gem, the kind of knock that eye witnesses will talk about for years. And in the final he put the Hyderabad attack to the sword with a typically dazzling display. There was talk of Tendulkar being banned from playing domestic cricket. But of course this should remain just talk. It is imperative that Tendulkar play in these games. Not only is it a must from the spectators' viewpoint, but it is also important that the other batsmen and more importantly the bowlers benefit from playing with and against him. One assumes Verity and Bedser became better bowlers because they bowled to Bradman.

Of course this year's Ranji Trophy was not just Tendulkar. Probably even putting the maestro into the shade was Venkatsai Laxman. A record tally of eight hundreds and a new season's aggregate of 1415 runs bears enough testimony to the elegant Hyderabad's strokemaker's insatiable appetite for runs. The fact that no other player has scored more than five centuries in a season puts Laxman's feat into proper perspective. Of course the talk will always be there that it was achieved on our batsman oriented pitches. But even on amiable wickets, a batsman has to show the essential qualities of dedication, determination and concentration, not to mention talent, technique and temperament to succeed so gloriously. And that is exactly what Laxman displayed this season. Even on shirt front wickets, which will undoubtedly continue to be prepared for the national competition, Laxman's figures should stand the test of time.

Mention of wickets brings to mind the BCCI's ground and pitches committee which were supposed to make `sporting' tracks in the wake of the disaster `Down Under.' We hardly saw any such tracks. In January the pitches committee was suddenly a high profile study group. In April, with more important and sensational disclosures hogging the headlines, they have been pushed into the background. There is hardly any talk now of the kind of pitches that are required in this country for the players to be seen in better light in battles abroad. An aggregate of 1000 runs in a Ranji season is now a common feat. Just consider. Rusi Modi's record of 1008 runs stood for 44 years till WV Raman broke it in 1988-89. But in the last ten years, Raman's mark of 1018 has been broken by six batsmen. By contrast, Bishen Bedi's record of 64 wickets has stood since 1974-75. The twin reasons - proliferation of matches and the perfect batting tracks - have seen the batting records go overboard. But despite the former factor and certainly because of the latter, Bedi's record has now stood for over 25 years, though Dodda Ganesh last year and Kanwaljit Singh this year came close to it before settling at 62 wickets for the season. Sure, there have been some noteworthy bowling feats but these have been swamped by the innumerable batting deeds during the last six months, which range from the achievements of Laxman (highest aggregate) and Tendulkar (highest average) to the monumental world record set by Rajiv Nayyar of Himachal Pradesh who batted 1015 minutes for 271 in a North Zone league match. This then, over and above everything else, was a batsman's Ranji Trophy tourney. But then what's new?