Yeh A, B, C, D kya hai?

The BCCIrsquos fresh emphasis on their top players being a part of domestic cricket is a welcome move Some of them will be part of the Duleep Trophy held in Anantapur Andhra Pradesh and Bangalore from September 5However Test and ODI skipper Rohit Sharma premier batsman Virat Kohli supreme spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and pace ace Jasprit Bumrah wonrsquot be part of the seasonopening tournamentrsquos first roundThe Duleep Trophy has not exactly been a tournament of great significance as it was in another era through a variety of reasonsmdashinternational cricket engagements and the unavailability of the cream of cricketers contributing most to the hit The event which often used to be a selection tournament for international tours has had its share of changesStarting off in the 196162 season the tournament was a zonal tournament till 200102 In 200203 players from Elite and Plate teams of the Ranji Trophy season fought for the Duleep Trophy The following year it was back to the zonal format till 201415 The 200304 edition saw England lsquoArsquo compete as the sixth team The Bangladesh Cricket Board XI were invited the following season followed by Zimbabwe Cricket Union Presidentrsquos XI in 200506 Sri Lanka came over in 200607 while England Lions were the last of the invited teams in 200708 The Duleep Trophy was not held in 201516 and editions 201617 201718 201819 and 201920 had India Blue India Green and India Red fight for honoursmdashteam names that resembled our sports day in schoolThe last two postCovid editions 202223 and 2023 were held on a zonal basisThis season the Duleep Trophy will be contested between Teams A B C and D With due respect to the good work BCCI does in conducting various tournaments which must be throwing up loads of logistical problems the naming of teams A B C and D degrades the Duleep TrophyHas it crossed the minds of our cricket administrators to name these teams after some departed greats More primary is there a bunch of individuals who are regularly tapped to provide a historic perspective of thingsIf it does matter next year I would recommend that Team A B C D be named after Bishan Singh Bedi Hanumant Singh Ajit Wadekar and ML Jaisimhamdashall these four greats have been captains of Duleep Trophywinning teams I know for a fact that Bedi was very proud of his North Zone teamrsquos triumph over Central Zone in the 197374 final at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai A few days before Northrsquos maiden triumph the Bediled outfit got the better of Ajit Wadekarrsquos West Zone on the first innings in PuneIn 197273 Wadekar lifted the trophy after trouncing Hanumant Singhrsquos Central Zone by an innings and 172 runs at Brabourne West boosted by the skipperrsquos 171 and Dilip Sardesairsquos 155 piled up 5307 declared in response to Centralrsquos 246 all out the pacy Pandurang Salgoankar being the hero with 772Skipper Wadekar and Sardesai put on 320 for the third wicket UKbased Farokh Engineer who is presently in Mumbai was behind the stumps in that final and told me on Wednesday that he always enjoyed keeping to Salgaonkar who had good pace and a fine bouncer stressing the point that West Zone were up against a strong Central Zone teamWadekar amp Co got revenge for their loss to Hanumantrsquos team in the previous seasonrsquos final at the Central College ground in Bangalore where Central Zone triumphed by two wickets Salim Durani made the big difference with nine wickets in the match and an unbeaten 83 in the 275run chaseSanjay Jagdale the former Madhya Pradesh and Central Zone player who went on to become a national selector Indian team manager and BCCI secretary recalled how Hanumant was a captain unafraid of experimenting ldquoI was used to fielding at third man and fine leg but Hanumant asked me to field at gully when West Zonersquos Sunil Gavaskar and Ramnath Parkar walked in to bat My brother Ashok was at first slip When on seven Sunil slashed one and I dived to take a low catch Salimbhai rushed to congratulate me and said that I had got the main wicket When Eknath Solkar walked in to bat Hanumant asked me to bowl bouncers at him Since I was an offspinner I hesitated He insisted and assured me he would set the field for it I couldnrsquot succeed But when West Zone were getting a firmer grip Hanumant called Parthasarathy Sharma to bowl offspin Parath had not bowled in the first innings but he claimed 438 That was a brilliant moverdquo Jagdale said from IndoreAnother occasional offspinner ML Jaisimha a classy batsman who was known to come on as a medium pacer to break partnerships was spoken of highly in cricketing circles for the leadership skills he displayed for Hyderabad and South ZoneldquoTiger MAK Pataudi may have been captain of India from 196162 to 196970 and 197475 but for Hyderabad Jai was always the bossrdquo the late Jaisimharsquos Hyderabad teammate V Ramnarayan the offspinner told me on WednesdayJaisimha led South Zone to a hattrick of triumphs in 196566 196667 and 196768 Tamil Naduborn Ramnarayan called him the master of the psychological game ldquoJai knew the angles and what to exploit He believed in surprising the opposition Like he did in my fourth Ranji Trophy game for Hyderabad We were playing Tamil Nadu at Chennai and I was desperate to do well against my state of birth After we scored 422 he came on first change to bowl offspin At the end of Day Two they were 1345 I was wicketless and had bowled poorly felt my career is over I went off and got drunk Next day Jai threw the ball to me and I took three while he ended up with six I felt better and continued playingrdquoBCCIrsquos disdain for History is painful Unlike Financial Accounting itrsquos a subject they are happy not opting formiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper