Former stumper Kiran More once pointed out that MS Dhoni is the biggest all-rounder India has produced, after Kapil Dev. Though the Indian team has had its share of all rounded talent, none have matched the stature of these two stalwarts of the game.
Now that India has lost the Test series, and more importantly lost the most successful Indian captain Dhoni, during the Australia Tour, there’s more interest being taken in the domestic cricket circles with regard to finding fresh and able talent of the likes of Dhoni and Dev.
After all, all-rounders make a winning team. Now the question: Can the Indian domestic circuit produce more and more all-rounders? If yes, then “how” is the next question. During the 2007-08 someone in the BCCI technical committee suggested to a former Indian captain that the Ranji Trophy be made a five-day event.
The suggestion was turned down on grounds that no other Test playing nation has a five-day format in their domestic system. With the current system of playing four-day Ranji Trophy games in the league phase, every captain of a state team is keen for a first innings lead before contemplating an outright win.
This is so because each team with the first innings lead gets more points from the game. Earlier it was alright for a bowler to be charitable with runs as long as wickets were purchased in the bargain. That’s changed in international cricket today with the captain emphasising on the need for economy with the number of runs conceded as well as an expectation for the maximum wickets.
Therefore bowlers are encouraged to bowl a tight line and length to ensure there is no free flow of runs from the opposition’s bat. India’s recent series’ loss can be attributed to the absence of such bowlers, made worse by the absence of a certain number of all-rounders.
Given this, picture a system where Ranji Trophy matches become a five-day event like in the knock-out stages, forcing captains at this stage to think and do things differently. In such a scenario there won’t be so much pressure of creating a combination where the all-rounders’ role would be vital to a team’s success. Nonetheless a practice would set in of identifying good all-rounders.
Spinners would be encouraged to give the ball flight rather than bowling faster. Pacers would be encouraged to swing the ball rather than banging it short of length. It’s only through such a five-day Ranji matches format that Indian cricket can find a new vigour.
Even since Indian domestic cricket started playing Ranji Trophy matches in knock-out stages, the number of deciders has gone up drastically. It started with a percentage as low as 38 per cent and went up to 41 per cent and now it’s nearly 50 per cent, which is a huge jump in terms of numbers.
However, the board may not be ready for such a change right now, considering the number of matches which are played across India in one year. It may appear as though it’s as simple as increasing a league match by a day, but shall cause major upsets in schedule. That said, perhaps the solution lies in eating into the number of rest days…
