ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2011

In the annual match for the Irani Cup, the traditional opener of the domestic first-class season, the Rest of India easily defeated the defending Ranji champions (Mumbai) in a high-scoring encounter. At the other end of the season, the Duleep Trophy was convincingly won by South Zone, who secured a comfortable success against North Zone in the final after overwhelming Central Zone in the semi-final. Mention has already been made of one of the most remarkable performances of the season, which was achieved by the eventual Ranji champions, Rajasthan, in the Plate Group A game against Hyderabad. Winning the toss, Rajasthan put their opponents in to bat and routed them in 15.3 overs for a derisory total of 21, the lowest score in the history of this famous competition. The 18-year-old medium pacer, D.L.Chahar, took 8-10 in 7.3 overs on his first-class debut and finished with 12-64 in the match. He went on to finish third in the Ranji bowling aggregates with 40 wickets at an impressive 21.17. Another Rajasthan medium-pacer, Pankaj Singh, occupied second place with 43 at 21.74, and these two had much to do with their team’s success. Rajasthan’s batsmen were not so impressive in terms of aggregate, but A.S.Chopra and H.H.Kanitkar both produced large scores when needed, especially in the knockout stages where A.L.Menaria also excelled. The losing Ranji finalists, Baroda, were much indebted to the young off-spinner, B.A.Bhatt, in his first full season, who was the leading Ranji wicket-taker with 47 at 21.57. The Trophy batting aggregates were easily led by S.Badrinath with 922 at an imposing 131.71, but his team, Tamil Nadu, lacked bowling and managed only one outright win all season. Defending champions Mumbai scored well on occasion, but the bowling was less effective than usual; there were suggestions too that Rajasthan, as a mere Plate team, was afforded insufficient respect in the Ranji quarter-final. Ranji Trophy 2010/11: Final tables Elite Group A P W L DWF DLF ND NDA A BP Pts Quot 5 0 3 1 0 1 1 1 Mumbai 7 2 0 4 1 0 0 0 1 24 1.812 2 Railways 7 2 1 1 2 0 1 0 1 17 1.046 3 Tamil Nadu 7 1 0 3 1 0 2 0 0 17 1.594 4 Delhi 7 1 1 2 2 0 1 0 0 14 1.201 5 Gujarat 7 1 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 14 0.624 6 Bengal 7 0 1 3 2 0 1 0 0 12 0.798 7 Saurashtra 7 1 1 0 4 0 1 0 0 10 0.752 8 Assam 7 0 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 8 0.739 Elite Group B P W L DWF DLF ND NDA A BP Pts Quot 5 0 3 1 0 1 1 1 Karnataka 6 3 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 23 1.588 2 Baroda 6 3 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 20 1.344 3 Haryana 6 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 17 0.973 4 Uttar Pradesh 6 1 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 15 0.803 5 Punjab 6 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 8 0.937 6 Orissa 6 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 8 0.646 7 Himachal Pradesh 6 0 2 1 3 0 0 0 0 6 0.785 106 India in 2010/11