ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2010

India in 2009/10 India’s home Test programme in 2009/10 consisted of a three-match series against Sri Lanka, in which a run-drenched first match was followed by two crushing wins for the home side, with a hastily-arranged two-match series against South Africa that finished with honours even at 1-1. Between these two rubbers, India visited Bangladesh for two Tests and won both easily. These results tended to confirm India’s standing as one of the leading sides in the world today, which was reflected by a narrow lead in the ICC Test rankings at the end of the 2009/10 season. In the Ranji Trophy, the best teams were divided into two Elite Groups, while the other teams took part in the two Plate Groups. Each of the four Groups played a round-robin league. The winners of each Plate Group played the runners-up in the other in the so-called Plate semi-finals, and the winners of these two matches joined the top three sides from each Elite Group in the Ranji quarter-finals. The only difference in format from 2008/09 was unplanned: Services were expelled from Plate Group B after failing to turn up for their opening match against Jammu and Kashmir at Srinagar, so the group went ahead with only five teams. The Trophy was retained by Mumbai. From a perspective of the competition’s history, this was an unsurprising outcome since in the 76 seasons the Trophy has been contested, Mumbai has prevailed on a remarkable 39 occasions (7 wins by Delhi is the next best). Yet in the specific context of 2009/10, it was Karnataka that had looked the strongest team in the early stages, easily heading Group B with four outright wins out of six, and securing first-innings points in drawing the other two games. Mumbai, by contrast, secured only one outright win in Group A and qualified only in third place. Mumbai’s route to the final was greatly eased when Delhi unexpectedly removed the dangerous Tamil Nadu, easy winners of Elite Group A, in a quarter-final that was (like all the knockout matches except one of the Plate semi-finals) decided on first-innings lead after four days proved insufficient to reach a result. Mumbai then removed Delhi in the semi-final, and proceeded to win a fascinating, fluctuating, ill-tempered five-day final against Karnataka by the tiny margin of 6 runs. The first-class domestic season had opened with the Irani Cup match between the 2008/09 Ranji champions (Mumbai) and the Rest of India. It closed with the Duleep Trophy between the five zonal teams, won by West Zone who scored 541-7 to win after conceding a lead of 149 on first innings. Ranji Trophy 2009/10: Final tables Elite Group A P W L DWF DLF NDA BP Pts Quot 5 0 3 1 0 1 1 Tamil Nadu 7 2 0 5 0 0 1 26 1.484 2 Punjab 7 2 1 2 2 0 1 19 1.018 3 Mumbai 7 1 0 4 1 1 0 19 1.646 4 Railways 7 1 0 1 3 2 1 14 1.223 5 Orissa 7 0 1 3 1 2 0 12 0.857 6 Himachal Pradesh 7 1 3 1 1 1 0 10 0.875 7 Gujarat 7 1 3 1 2 0 0 10 0.770 8 Hyderabad 7 0 0 0 7 0 0 7 0.624 Elite Group B P W L DWF DLF NDA BP Pts Quot 5 0 3 1 0 1 1 Karnataka 6 4 0 2 0 0 2 28 1.911 2 Uttar Pradesh 6 2 1 2 1 0 1 18 1.030 3 Delhi 6 2 1 1 2 0 1 16 1.002 101