While BCCI wants its top players to figure in domestic cricket, the names given to teams for this season’s non-zonal Duleep Trophy tournament reflect the level of importance history has in the Board
The South Zone team with the Duleep Trophy after beating West Zone in the final at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on July 16, 2023. Pic/PTI
The BCCI’s fresh emphasis on their top players being a part of domestic cricket is a welcome move. Some of them will be part of the Duleep Trophy held in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, and Bangalore from September 5.
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However, Test and ODI skipper Rohit Sharma, premier batsman Virat Kohli, supreme spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pace ace Jasprit Bumrah won’t be part of the season-opening tournament’s first round.
The Duleep Trophy has not exactly been a tournament of great significance as it was in another era, through a variety of reasons—international cricket engagements and the unavailability of the cream of cricketers contributing most to the hit. The event, which often used to be a selection tournament for international tours, has had its share of changes.
Starting off in the 1961-62 season, the tournament was a zonal tournament till 2001-02. In 2002-03, players from Elite and Plate teams of the Ranji Trophy season fought for the Duleep Trophy. The following year it was back to the zonal format till 2014-15. The 2003-04 edition saw England ‘A’ compete as the sixth team. The Bangladesh Cricket Board XI were invited the following season, followed by Zimbabwe Cricket Union President’s XI in 2005-06. Sri Lanka came over in 2006-07 while England Lions were the last of the invited teams in 2007-08. The Duleep Trophy was not held in 2015-16 and editions 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 had India Blue, India Green and India Red fight for honours—team names that resembled our sports day in school.
The last two post-Covid editions (2022-23 and 2023) were held on a zonal basis.
This season, the Duleep Trophy will be contested between Teams A, B, C and D. With due respect to the good work BCCI does in conducting various tournaments which must be throwing up loads of logistical problems, the naming of teams (A, B, C and D) degrades the Duleep Trophy.
Has it crossed the minds of our cricket administrators to name these teams after some departed greats? More primary, is there a bunch of individuals who are regularly tapped to provide a historic perspective of things?
If it does matter next year, I would recommend that Team A, B, C, D be named after Bishan Singh Bedi, Hanumant Singh, Ajit Wadekar and ML Jaisimha—all these four greats have been captains of Duleep Trophy-winning teams. I know for a fact that Bedi was very proud of his North Zone team’s triumph over Central Zone in the 1973-74 final at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. A few days before North’s maiden triumph, the Bedi-led outfit got the better of Ajit Wadekar’s West Zone on the first innings in Pune.
In 1972-73, Wadekar lifted the trophy after trouncing Hanumant Singh’s Central Zone by an innings and 172 runs at Brabourne. West, boosted by the skipper’s 171 and Dilip Sardesai’s 155, piled up 530-7 declared in response to Central’s 246 all out; the pacy Pandurang Salgoankar being the hero with 7-72.
Skipper Wadekar and Sardesai put on 320 for the third wicket. UK-based Farokh Engineer, who is presently in Mumbai, was behind the stumps in that final and told me on Wednesday that he always enjoyed keeping to Salgaonkar, who had good pace and a fine bouncer, stressing the point that West Zone were up against a strong Central Zone team.
Wadekar & Co got revenge for their loss to Hanumant’s team in the previous season’s final at the Central College ground in Bangalore, where Central Zone triumphed by two wickets. Salim Durani made the big difference with nine wickets in the match and an unbeaten 83 in the 275-run chase.
Sanjay Jagdale, the former Madhya Pradesh and Central Zone player, who went on to become a national selector, Indian team manager and BCCI secretary, recalled how Hanumant was a captain unafraid of experimenting. “I was used to fielding at third man and fine leg, but Hanumant asked me to field at gully when West Zone’s Sunil Gavaskar and Ramnath Parkar walked in to bat. My brother Ashok was at first slip. When on seven, Sunil slashed one and I dived to take a low catch. Salimbhai rushed to congratulate me and said that I had got the main wicket. When Eknath Solkar walked in to bat, Hanumant asked me to bowl bouncers at him. Since I was an off-spinner, I hesitated. He insisted and assured me he would set the field for it. I couldn’t succeed. But when West Zone were getting a firmer grip, Hanumant called Parthasarathy Sharma to bowl off-spin. Parath had not bowled in the first innings, but he claimed 4-38. That was a brilliant move,” Jagdale said from Indore.
Another occasional off-spinner, ML Jaisimha, a classy batsman, who was known to come on as a medium pacer to break partnerships, was spoken of highly in cricketing circles for the leadership skills he displayed for Hyderabad and South Zone.
“Tiger [MAK Pataudi] may have been captain of India [from 1961-62 to 1969-70 and 1974-75] but for Hyderabad Jai was always the boss,” the late Jaisimha’s Hyderabad teammate V Ramnarayan, the off-spinner told me on Wednesday.
Jaisimha led South Zone to a hat-trick of triumphs in 1965-66, 1966-67 and 1967-68. Tamil Nadu-born Ramnarayan called him the master of the psychological game: “Jai knew the angles and what to exploit. He believed in surprising the opposition. Like he did in my fourth Ranji Trophy game for Hyderabad. We were playing Tamil Nadu at Chennai and I was desperate to do well against my state [of birth]. After we scored 422, he came on first change to bowl off-spin. At the end of Day Two, they were 134-5. I was wicketless and had bowled poorly; felt my career is over. I went off and got drunk. Next day, Jai threw the ball to me and I took three while he ended up with six. I felt better and continued playing.”
BCCI’s disdain for History is painful. Unlike Financial Accounting, it’s a subject they are happy not opting for.
mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper
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