Duleep Trophy: Why can't Indian pace bowlers pick up wickets even with the friendly pink ball?

For the first time in its 55-year-old history, the Duleep Trophy was played under lights. The reason were not too unclear – with international cricket increasingly shifting towards day-night Test matches with the pink ball, the Board of Control for Cricket in India were eager to conduct their own experiments. The other reason was because it was hoped that by shifting a premier domestic trophy to the evening, the crowds would troop in to watch a novel experience.

To that effect, the BCCI put out all the stops. The cricket body originally wanted all its biggest stars to take part in the tournament but ultimately asked them to be part of the final. From Gautam Gambhir to Cheteshwar Pujara to Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, there were big names all around.

But there is ultimately so much you can do. The first match between India Green and India Red started off on an exciting note with 17 wickets falling in the first day of the pink ball’s debut. But as the pitch slowed out, so did the excitement. India Red scored 486 in the second innings, shutting the match down and going on to record a comfortable win.

Batsmen rule the roost

The next match between India Blue and India Red saw only 78.2 overs being played, due to constant rain interruptions. India Blue scored big in the first innings of their next two innings to ensure that that they were in positions from where they could not lose. They put up a humongous 707 in their first innings against India Green, which guaranteed them a spot in the final. Then, in the final, they again killed off hope of an exciting contest by piling up 693/6 declared in their first innings.

So now that it is almost at an end, it is pertinent to ask, what exactly did this newly revamped Duleep Trophy teach us about Indian cricket?

Not much. Cheteshwar Pujara demonstrated that red ball or pink, he loves scoring big in the domestic circuit and ended up with 453 runs in three innings. It also proved, yet again, that Indian bowling has seen better days.

The pink-ball Test match between Australia and New Zealand last year in Adelaide saw pace bowlers getting great purchase from the green surface that was prepared for the match. Hence, it was anticipated that India’s pace bowlers would finally get some reward for their hard toil in the Duleep Trophy.

That has not proved the case. Two spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Shreyas Gopal top the wicket-takers’ list. The left-armed Kuldeep Yadav started off promisingly with figures of 3/32 and 6/88 in his first match, took 4/78 in his second but leaked 214 runs for a solitary wicket, in the final. Shreyas Gopal also had two five-wicket hauls to his name but both of them came after he had conceded over 150 runs.

Nathu Singh and Pankaj Singh were the only two pace bowlers who chipped in among the wickets but never looked like they would set the tournament alight. Other names like Ashok Dinda, Sandeep Sharma and Stuart Binny fared worse. Despite the false start of the first day where 17 wickets fell, it was emphatically a batsman’s tournament.

Who benefits?

As for the big names, they did little to push their cause for a recall. Yuvraj Singh’s run of scores read 4, 10 and 17 in three innings. Suresh Raina and Gautam Gambhir did a little better, scoring some useful half centuries but they really needed to score the big hundreds, much like Pujara, to make a stronger case for a comeback to national colours.

Ultimately, did it really benefit anyone to have the big names playing this tournament? Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were brought in to add star value to the final but both got low scores. Pujara has already proved that he is a monster in the domestic circuit and had nothing to prove to anyone, really. Instead of giving the captaincy to experienced professionals like Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, the selectors could have used the Duleep Trophy to blood prospective new captains and give them a chance to showcase their leadership potential.

As a fresh new season of domestic cricket begins, the search is ongoing to make the longest format of the game more appealing to fans. The BCCI, to its credit, is doing its bit and is considering taking the pink ball and the day-night format to the Ranji Trophy now.

One way to make the cricket on show more compelling could be by ensuring that the pitch used is green and does not dry out, thus making it much more of a challenge for batsmen. Yes, the contest could conceivably be a low-scoring one but the cricket on offer might be more exciting. And under lights, Indian pacers may finally get the exaggerated swing and make the sort of statement they otherwise usually never get to make.