by Kartik Kannan
The Irani trophy gets underway later this week at Baroda. It has always been perceived as the platform for fringe players to stake their claim for a spot in the national side. Traditionally played between the winner of the Ranji trophy and the rest of India, the Irani trophy has been host to some brilliant cricket over the years, but the lack of star players playing the tournament frequently, has robbed some of the sheen associated with the trophy.
Looking back at history, The Irani Trophy tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy Championship and is named after the late Zal Irani, who was connected with the Board of Control for Cricket in India from its inception in 1928 till his death in 1970.In appreciation of his services to Indian cricket, the BCCI instituted a trophy in his name, to be presented to the winners of a match to be played between the Ranji Trophy champions of the preceding year and a selected Rest of India XI.The inaugural edition of the Irani trophy was played between Bombay and the Rest at the Ferozshah Kotla Ground in Delhi from March 18 to 20, 1960. Though the match was drawn, Bombay were declared winners by virtue of having gained the first innings lead.
The trophy is associated with some great contests and performances that have catapulted many a player into the big league. Some of which come readily to mind was Anil Kumble’s 13-138, which paved a way for his comeback into the Indian team to the South African tour f 1992, and Kumble hasn’t looked back then. Another bowling performance that comes to mind 5 years after Kumble took his 13 wicket haul, was another similar 13 wicket haul by Sairaj Bahutule against Rest of India in 1997. It did get him a place in the Indian side, but competing in an Indian line up that had Kumble, Raju and Chauhan, seemed tough and Sairaj’s career faded away into obscurity. That way we’ve seen 2 sides of the coin, that for every 1 player who made it bg after the Irani trophy, there must be many that have done well in the Irani trophy, but faded away after that.
One of the best comebacks in Indian domestic cricket happened 20 summers ago when the then Ranji Champions Tamil Nadu played Rest of India. Tamil Nadu who faced a deficit of 207 in the first innings went on to win the match chasing 340 to win inspired by a blitzkrieg from the former India opener V.B.Chandrasekar. VB did a “Richards” style century, in the second innings scoring a hundred in just 56 balls and went on to record a swashbuckling 119 of 78 balls, which paved way for a historic triumph.
The Irani trophy has been held traditionally at the start of the Indian domestic season in September/October over the years, and more often than not the Indian cricket team finds itself playing international cricket around the same time. This year finds some of the big names playing the Irani trophy, thanks to the postponement of the Champions trophy.The last time a full strength India team played as part of the Irani trophy was in 2003, when Rest of India took on Mumbai in a cliff hanger at Chennai, that had soul stirring performances from Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman. Good players like the fab four, with their sheer prescence inspire the rest of the players to come up with great performances and also help juniors get some vital exposure playing with the big guns.
If there is one field the BCCI has not glamorised and bothered to pay attention for revenue generation, it sadly happens to be domestic cricket. Though BCCI has signed deals with ESPN and NEO sports for telecast, it must do something to revive spectator interest in the stadiums for matches. The Irani trophy has a lot of pride and history associated with it, and the least the BCCI can do is to respect the stature of the trophy by playing it at a venue that respects the art of cricket. Playing at smaller centres like Baroda for such a premier tournament, somewhere down the line, denigrates the spirit of the tournament and if proper attention is not paid to this problem, it won’t be time before someone says “Whose Trophy is it Anyway” ?
On Sachin and Sourav’s absence read:
Sachin Will Not Play Irani Trophy tie: Injury Bogs Him Down Again!
Bahutule has made a come back of sorts. He has been selected for the Mumbai team after a hiatus.
The trophy is of the winner. Right?
LOL, EXCATLY SIR...You got it right, it belongs to the winner at the end of the day. But this time around, the winner would have to to do exceedingly well to claim the trophy for none of the two sides are a weak unit. It is cricket which is the winner on another count for the big stars would be on a level playing field trying to prove themselves worthy of a place in the national side. It would have been wonderful to see Sachin proving his critics wrong with a stylish knock but then we would have to wait for it when the Aussies arrive.
Couple of cricketers can get chance in Indian squuad through Irani Trophy, so if we say it is a good platform for youngstars, is not wrong
Mr. Ramesh if rain comes than ????????? for both without playing
