Sport

Ranji Trophy 2022: MP won the first title, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s reaction

June 26, 2022
Bharat Times

Bangalore: Madhya Pradesh, which has not been considered in the elite category of cricket during the last decade, on Sunday beat domestic powerhouse Mumbai by six wickets In a one-sided Ranji Trophy final under the leadership of coach Chandrakant Pandit, who, 23 years ago, cast away the ghost of a loser at the same ground. On the final day, Mumbai scored only 269 runs in their second innings, leaving MP with a modest target of 108, and they did it in style as Pandit won a record sixth national title as coach.

Sarfaraz Khan (45), who ended the session on 18 for 1000, and young Suved Parkar (51) tried their best but with the need to attack every opportunity, MP’s Kumar Karthikeya (4/98) and The other bowlers knew that the wicket would come their way.

While chasing, there were a few hiccups, but with just over 100, it was like a walk in the park for the MP team.

As he completed the victory, Pandit was filled with memories (not happy), which he could not erase for more than two decades and despite winning five trophies as a coach.

It was at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in the summer of 1999, when MP, despite a first innings lead of 75, failed to win the game as Pandit, a proud captain, ended his playing career in tears.

Ahead of the final, he spoke to PTI about divine intervention and the cycle of life and sat in a corner with a white towel on his lap over the course of five days.

Having won Vidarbha four trophies (consecutive Ranji and Irani Cups), he has proved to be an ‘alchemist’ again, with a team that did not have superstars.

Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri, Shubham Sharma, Gaurav Yadav or Saransh Jain are not the kind of players who would make you realize that they are India’s prospects, the classy Rajat Patidar being the exception. But they indicated enough that they are not willing to accept even a micro millimeter without a good scrap.

He gave the people of Mumbai a lesson in the correct execution of strategy with the ‘Khadoos’ cricket doll, considered by many to be a patent of the 41-time champion.

MP’s win once again proved that Ranji Trophy is often won by sides that don’t have too many superstars or India’s ambition or prospects to play top-flight cricket.

This happened with Rajasthan when it was Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Aakash Chopra during their victory, while in Vidarbha Wasim Jaffer and Ganesh Satish were guiding a group of youngsters.

In MP, there was no Avesh Khan or Venkatesh Iyer and there was only one rising potential star in Patidar, yet he followed Pandit’s ‘Gurukul’ style ‘My Way or Highway’ coaching philosophy to emerge victorious.

Since 2010, the Ranji Trophy, excluding Karnataka’s dominance for a few seasons and Mumbai won it once, has been hosted by teams such as Rajasthan (twice), Vidarbha (twice), Saurashtra (once) and Madhya Pradesh. Those who have won will never dispute in the past.

This shows that cricket has moved from Shivaji Park, Azad Maidan or Cross Maidan in Mumbai, to the National Stadium in Delhi or from state-of-the-art camps in Bangalore or Kolkata to hinterlands.

Bhopal’s Yash Dubey, who had vision problems as a teenager, or Sultanpur’s Kumar Karthikeya, who hadn’t gone home for nine years, or Hoshangabad’s Gaurav Yadav, who beat Prithvi Shaw’s bat several times just for fun. There are men, which has not been easy.

When the Ranji Trophy began, the Madhya Pradesh cricket team was not even formed and at that time a princely state of the British era known as Holkar produced one of the country’s finest cricketers – the charismatic Mushtaq Ali – or the first. Once the captain of the Indian cricket team – the great CK Nayudu.

The Holkars were a formidable team until the 1950s before being renamed again as Madhya Bharat and later as Madhya Pradesh. MP has produced some of the finest cricketers over the years – spinners Narendra Hirwani and Rajesh Chauhan, who had brief but significant international careers.

Amay Khurasia, who ended his cricket a few years before the IPL, where he would have had a resounding success.

And then there was the unmatched Devendra Bundela, one of those unlucky middle-order batsmen who played to the fanfare of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman in the 1990s and 2000s.

But as a Ranji team, it never felt dangerous, except for the occasional final played over 23 summers under Pandit’s captaincy.

However, this was a team that had enough confidence and was ready to punch above its weight. He did it with aplomb for five days.

Ranji Trophy should be in MPCA cabinet for next one year.