Mumbai’s quest to win the Ranji Trophy for the 42nd time was halted by Madhya Pradesh. Coach Chandrakant Pandit earned his sixth title in India’s top First-Class event.
Dinesh Karthik referred to Chandrakant Pandit as the “Alex Ferguson of the Ranji trophy” in a tweet he sent out in celebration of the man who led a sixth victorious campaign in India’s best first class competition.
Pandit had previously won Ranji Trophy championships with Mumbai (2002-03, 2003-04, and 2015-16) and with Vidarbha (2017-18 and 2018-19) as the head coach; however, Madhya Pradesh’s inaugural triumph on Sunday (June 26) showed the normally stoic Pandit’s emotional side for the first time.
Because Pandit, who was captain of Madhya Pradesh at the time, led his team to a loss in the Ranji Trophy final at Chinnaswamy Stadium in April of 1999, Karnataka won the match.
After more than twenty years had passed, when he finally accepted the position of head coach for Madhya Pradesh, it seemed like a beautiful atonement.
After the game, Pandit addressed the media and said, “Every trophy gives you satisfaction, but this is really special because 23 years ago, being the captain I couldn’t do it, but today I’m very proud of Aditya [Shrivastava] that he has done it.” Aditya Shrivastava is the player who won the trophy.
I’ve always had the feeling that I owe Madhya Pradesh something, and I think that’s one of the reasons why I was a bit more happy and passionate about the fact that they won the trophy and brought it back to their state.
Pandit was pleased with the dedication shown by skipper Aditya Shrivastava throughout the tournament. He recalled an incident in which the 28-year-old came to him inquiring about the best way to plan around the cricketing calendar for his marriage. Pandit was pleased with the dedication shown by Aditya Shrivastava throughout the tournament.
“I will never forget the day when he was due to be married, and he asked me, ‘Sir, what date (should I get married)?'” I told her, “Only in June is there a chance for you to be married, and even then, the break would only be two or three days at the most.”
There is not going to be enough time for you to go on your honeymoon. Pandit, who was effusive in his appreciation of Shrivastava, thought back to when they had begun their own preparations and reminisced about Shrivastava.
“I’ve worked with a large number of captains, and everyone gets along well with me, and everyone has a nice combination with me. On the other hand, I believe that the dynamic and combination with him (Shrivastava) is completely different.
He is the only captain who has been in the room with me for a significant amount of time… Winning the trophy is a separate accomplishment from the manner in which he has executed all of the tactics and planning, as well as any messages that have been sent to him, and he has done it very beautifully.
I believe that contributed to the team’s successful performance. Obviously, he has his own opinions and thoughts, but everything that we’ve spoken about and that he’s put into action has been based on our conversations.
According to Pandit, “He has been an outstanding captain for the Madhya Pradesh team.”
Due to their commitments with India, Madhya Pradesh’s two most important players, Venkatesh Iyer and Avesh Khan, were unavailable for most of the Ranji season.
Due to the fact that the Indian Premier League was taking place between the group stage of the Ranji Trophy and the knockout round, some players weren’t available as Madhya Pradesh began their preparations for the second leg of the tournament.
Pandit, on the other hand, emphasized the fact that they were maintaining consistent communication with the players in order to ascertain whether or not they retained the desire to play red-ball cricket.
It is quite difficult to convince them to alter their opinions, but the fact that they were given an opportunity is something that we cannot refute.
During the Indian Premier League, several of the players, including Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Rajat Patidar, Arshad Khan, and Kartikeya, have been in constant contact with me.
This is fortunate for all of us. And that can be of some assistance to me in motivating them and ensuring that they comprehend the significance of this competition.
“The mentality was not to be altered in favor of white-ball cricket; nevertheless, you must return right away and practise with the red ball.” Therefore, I believe that we continued to provide them with that type of drive. They were attempting to figure out what was going on as Aditya was speaking with them.
Therefore, certain topics were brought up on a consistent basis, which assisted us in maintaining them in this manner as well, as Pandit said.
Following a dominant performance in the first innings, Madhya Pradesh entered the final day as the odds-on favorite to win. On the other hand, Mumbai was showing signs of making a game out of it by first erasing the deficit and then opening up a lead for themselves.
Everyone who batted for Mumbai went into the game with the goal of scoring runs quickly, and for the most part, they were successful in achieving that goal.
Although overnight hitter Armaan Jaffer was dismissed after adding just seven more runs, both Suved Parkar and Sarfaraz Khan revived Mumbai’s hopes with a spirited 53-run partnership for the fourth wicket off of only 49 balls. This was accomplished while batting together for the fourth wicket.
Before being dismissed by Kumar Kartikeya, the previous batsman too reached fifty before being dismissed.
During that time period, Mumbai struggled, and Kartikeya was also responsible for Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring only one point. The situation took a turn for the worst when both Shams Mulani and Sarfaraz (45 out of 48) lost their wickets in rapid succession while attempting to score fast runs.
The bottom order of Mumbai’s batting lineup was successful in increasing their advantage to 108, but it was not enough to win.
During the chase, Madhya Pradesh suffered a loss of four wickets; Dhawal Kulkarni struck in only the second over, while Shams Mulani struck three times.
However, the first innings centurion Rajat Patidar was able to keep his team together throughout the chase by being undefeated on 30 runs and also scoring the runs that won the game.
