Indian Domestic Cricket: Big fish in a small pond

With the advent of T-20 format, the demographics of cricket have changed, nowhere more than in India. The IPL has suddenly become the most talked about tournament in the world of cricket. The public loves it because it is “paisa-vasool” cricket and the international cricketers love it because it offers them a lot of “paisa”. But even today, for an unknown Indian domestic cricketer, the Ranji Trophy still remains the Holy Grail. The IPL may offer a lot of riches but if a young cricketer wants to earn the Indian cap, he has to grind it out in the Ranji trophy. He has to score tons of runs and pick up dozens of wickets playing in unknown Indian cities and towns, in the harshest of conditions and the trickiest of pitches. But even then some guys just aren’t lucky enough. Here’s the story of some of Indian cricket’s finest batting talents who have scored thousands of runs in the remotest of Indian cities from Nadaun to Malappuram, from Porvorim to Sambalpur, and yet the Indian cap has always eluded them.

Shitanshu Kotak

Sithanshu Kotak

Debut Season: 1992-93

First Class Matches: 127

Runs: 7875

Avg: 41.88

H.S.: 168*

100s/50s: 15/52

Saurashtra has had a long standing tradition of producing great batsmen. From the first superstar of Indian cricket, the man whom Sir Neville Cardus described as “the midsummer night’s dream of cricket”, K S Ranjitsinhji, to the latest poster-boy of Indian cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara, Saurashtra has been a breeding ground for some top talent. Sadly, they have been the Ranji champions just once and that too in 1937. But for the past 20 years, one man has given his blood and sweat to achieve that goal, and the way things are looking at this point of time, he may finally have a realistic shot at the Ranji title. That man is Shitanshu Kotak. At 40, Kotak has already played 21 domestic seasons. But even today, he plays the game with the same passion and aplomb with which he played his debut season of 1992-93.

Twenty years ago, at an Under-19 camp in Bangalore, VVS Laxman came to Kotak and said, “Kotak, I know most things about batting, but can you tell me how to make runs?” Twenty years hence, VVS has retired as a legend of the game while Kotak still wakes up every day, puts on his gear and walks to the field to grind it out again. No, it’s not a reflection of his talent; it’s just a reflection of his luck. In the 1998-99 season, Kotak scored nearly 800 runs in 8 first class matches, a century in Duleep trophy and also a century while playing for Rest of India against Karnataka. And still, he didn’t make the cut. But the disciplined professional that he is, he never looked down and played on and kept doing what he knows best – scoring runs. At some point of his career, he must have known that he was never going to make the cut but even that thought didn’t affect his batting. A few seasons ago, Saurashtra took on Mumbai for a place in the Ranji semi-finals. And it was Kotak who literally batted Mumbai out of the contest by scoring 168 not out, while occupying the crease for more than 13 hours.

He still remains one of the most prized wickets in the Indian domestic circuit. He just refuses to throw his wicket away. And perhaps that is the kind of determination which has meant that even at the ripe old age of 40, he still keeps on piling runs, still remains amongst the top run-scorers and still bats till the sun comes down. A quick glance at his record though and one may easily know why he might have missed out. Nearly 70 scores of over 50 and just 15 of them converted into centuries. But that doesn’t take away anything from the fact that Sithanshu Kotak is a true legend of Indian domestic cricket. And finally, in Nagraj Gollapudi’s words, “Kotak’s story is an anachronism in modern Indian cricket. It is the story of a man who has remained loyal to his duties, to his ambition, and above all else, to cricket.” Just one more thing to ponder upon: would he have made the cut had he played for a more fancied side like Delhi or Karnataka? Or perhaps Mumbai? Well, the next man on the list answers that.

Amol Muzumdar

Amol Muzumdar

Debut Season: 1993-94

First Class Matches: 166

Runs: 11070

Avg: 49.20

H.S.: 260

100s/50s: 30/60

A quarter of a century ago, when Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli shot into national prominence with a 664-run partnership in a Harris Shield match, Amol Muzumdar was the guy padded-up and slated to come next. Well, that opportunity never came. And since then, Muzumdar has always been “the next in the queue” guy. Today, Muzumdar is the leading run-scorer in Ranji Trophy history. He has achieved almost everything there is to achieve in domestic cricket. Yet, a call to the national side has eluded him throughout his career. Yuvraj Singh, in a famous TV commercial says, “Jab tak balla chal raha hai, thaat hai”. But in case of Muzumdar, that saying can’t be further from the truth.

Since the very beginning of his career, when he scored 260 runs on his Ranji Trophy debut, his bat has always talked. But despite all of his hard work and achievements, he has never been properly rewarded. He was always a prodigious talent, right since his school-days. And when he scored that double ton on debut, everyone felt that he was the “next big thing”. But somewhere, something went wrong. It’s not that he hasn’t scored consistently; he has been bloody consistent. Even this season, while playing for Andhra, Muzumdar has scored nearly 900 runs, at an average of 80 with 5 centuries. He has won 8 Ranji trophy titles with Mumbai and has also helped Assam, for whom he played a couple of seasons, get promoted into the Elite League. But somehow, he has never managed to make the cut into the Indian side. Many players would have given up the game if they would have faced a similar fate but not Muzumdar. He loves challenges and takes them up head on, and perhaps that’s what motivates him.

After a two year stint at Assam, when he wanted to come back and play for Mumbai, a technicality prevented him from doing that. He didn’t complain. He simply went on to play club cricket to prove himself one more time. And this season, on his comeback, he has scored 5 centuries. Amol Muzumdar belongs to that select group of professionals whose love for the game is bigger than anything else. One look at Muzumdar’s career statistics and you will be convinced that he deserved, if not anything else, at least an opportunity to fail at the highest level. Why Muzumdar never got that opportunity despite playing for a team like Mumbai and performing day in and day out will always remain a mystery. But the most important thing is, in this era of commercialization of cricket, we need more Amol Muzumdars who play for the love of the game rather than for money. And perhaps that way, we can at least retain some of the charm of cricket.

Devendra Bundela

Devendra Bundela

Debut Season: 1995-96

First Class Matches: 123

Runs: 7729

Avg: 45.46

H.S.: 167*

100s/50s: 23/37

“It’s not easy to motivate yourself, but if you love the game and play it for self-pride, self-respect and love of the game, you don’t need to motivate yourself much.”

Well, that practically defines Devendra Bundela for you. Like Kotak and Muzumdar, Bundela is a heavy run-getter in domestic circuit and like both of them, he too loves the game more than the fame and money associated with it. Bundela recently played his 100th Ranji match when Madhya Pradesh took on Bengal at Indore on 24^th November, 2012. But it was two games later that he showed his true worth. When Madhya Pradesh took on Punjab at Gwalior on 15^th December, Punjab were on an unbeaten streak. They had four outright wins and of the two draws, they had taken the first innings lead on both occasions. But that’s when they came up against Bundela. He scored a century in both innings and ensured that Punjab faced defeat for the first time this season. It’s a different matter that the game is remembered by most for Yuvraj Singh’s blazing ton while Punjab were following on. But then, that has always been the case with Bundela throughout his career. He is literally a workhorse. And in cricket as in other fields, the workhorses are always under-appreciated while the enigmatic and charismatic ones take away all the accolades. Even if we look at international cricket, it’s always the Laras of this world who get all the praise while the Chanderpauls of this world keep on toiling.

Bundela made his debut for Madhya Pradesh in the 1995-96 season and since then has been a consistent feature in the MP line-up. But it is perhaps the 1998-99 season that he will himself rate as the highest point of his long career. Madhya Pradesh were runners-up in the Ranji trophy while in the domestic one-day competition, they went one step ahead and won it. And Bundela himself made it to the India ‘A’ side touring the West Indies. But he couldn’t make the most of the limited opportunities he got. Today, if you ask him about it, he may even admit that perhaps he wasn’t good enough at that time. And that was the closest that he ever got to a national call up. But guys like Bundela don’t really care about it that much. The only thing they care about, is to get up every morning, pad-up, pick up the bat and get into the field to play the game that they adore so much. It is just the game that they want to play. Things like money and fame are just trivial for them. And therefore, guys like Devendra Bundela belong to cricket and cricket belongs to guys like Devendra Bundela.

Rashmi Ranjan Parida

Rashmi Ranjan Parida

Debut Season: 1994-95

First Class Matches: 123

Runs: 7809

Avg: 43.87

H.S.: 220

100s/50s: 16/45

When Rajasthan finally won the Ranji trophy in 2011, it was largely due to the efforts of three veterans, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Aakash Chopra and Rashmi Ranjan Parida. But while Kanitkar and Chopra had the privilege of representing India at the international level, Parida never got that opportunity. So that day, when he stepped up to receive the ‘Man of the Match’ award, it was the most glorious moment of his long career. Parida began his career at Odisha and made his debut in the 1994-95 season. Odisha have never been the top-dog in Indian domestic cricket but for a brief period during the late 90s and early 2000s, they looked like posing a threat to the more established teams. And that was the period when three Odia lads even made it to the Indian team – Debashish Mohanty, Sanjay Raul and S S Das. But even today, anyone who follows Odisha cricket from close quarters will tell you that it was Parida who was the most deserving of them all.

From 1998 to 2005, Parida was among the most consistent performers in Indian domestic circuit. During that period, he played 56 first-class matches scoring over 4000 runs at an average of 56, which included 12 centuries and 24 half centuries. And in each of those seasons, he averaged over 45 runs per innings. In fact, in the first three seasons during that period, he was even more prolific averaging in the mid-60s. But more than the sheer weight of numbers, it was the fact that he almost single-handedly carried Odisha through to the Ranji semi-finals in 2000-01 season that merited a selection into the Indian team. The only thing that might have worked against him during that period was perhaps the fact that he was representing the lowly Odisha. I mean, which selector would have the time to go and watch Odisha play, right?

After 2005, Parida’s performances started declining. Maybe it was because the hunger had died down, or perhaps he no longer felt motivated. So he finally decided that he needed a change of scenery and thus in 2008, he shifted base to Assam, and then moved to Rajasthan in 2010. It was the move to Rajasthan that has finally brought about a change in his fortunes. He may not be the same player he was a decade ago, but he still continues to play the game with the same passion. And in each of the last two seasons which Rajasthan have won, whenever they have been in trouble, they have looked up to him, and he has delivered. This season wasn’t a particularly good season for both Rajasthan and Parida but you can rest assured that next year, he will again come back and play with the same vigour and passion with which he has played throughout his career.

Every cricketer dreams of representing his country at the highest level. But sometimes in cricket, as in life, things don’t go according to plan. And that is when you have to decide whether your love for the game is bigger than the trivialities related to it.

4 guys, 4 different parts of the country, just one love – CRICKET.