: Madhya Pradesh clinch maiden Ranji Trophy title #IndiaNEWS #Cricket Bengaluru: Madhya Pradesh, not considered among cricketing elites during the past decade, on Sunday humbled domestic powerhouse

Madhya Pradesh clinch maiden Ranji Trophy title #IndiaNEWS #Cricket
Bengaluru: Madhya Pradesh, not considered among cricketing elites during the past decade, on Sunday humbled domestic powerhouse Mumbai by six wickets in a one-sided Ranji Trophy final under coach Chandrakant Pandit, who exorcised the ghosts of losing one at this very ground 23 summers ago.
On the final day, Mumbai could only manage 269 in their second innings, leaving MP with a paltry target of 108, and they did it in style as Pandit won a record sixth national title as a coach. Sarfaraz Khan (45), who finished the season with 18 short of 1000 runs and young Suved Parkar (51) tried their bit, but with the need to attack at every opportunity, MPs Kumar Kartikeya (4/98) and the other bowlers knew that wickets would come their way.
While chasing, there were some hiccups, but with just over 100 to get, it was a stroll in the park for the MP team.
As they completed the victory, Pandit was flooded with memories (not happy ones), which he hasnt been able to erase for over two decades and despite winning five trophies as a coach.
It was here 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, finished his playing career in tears.
Before the final, he spoke about divine intervention and circle of life and during the five days, sat in one corner with a white towel on his lap.
He has again proved to be an Alchemist, after guiding Vidarbha to four trophies (successive Ranji and Irani Cup), with a team that didnt have superstars.
The Yash Dubeys, Himanshu Mantris, Subham Sharmas, Gourav Yadavs or Saransh Jains arent players who would give you the feeling that they are India prospects, the classy Rajat Patidar being an exception. But they gave enough indication that they arent ready to concede even a micro millimetre without a good scrap.
They gave the Mumbai men a lesson in perfect execution of tactic with dollops of Khadoos cricket, which many thought was a patent of the 41-time champions. MPs win once again proved that the Ranji Trophy is often won by sides which dont have too many superstars or India prospects with ambition or wherewithal to play top-flight cricket.
It happened with Rajasthan when they had Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Akash Chopra during their triumph while Vidarbha had Wasim Jaffer and Ganesh Sathish guiding a bunch of youngsters.
In MP, there was no Avesh Khan or Venkatesh Iyer and had only an emerging potential star in Patidar, yet they followed Pandits Gurukul style of My Way or HighWay coaching philosophy to emerge triumphant.
Since 2010, the Ranji Trophy, barring Karnatakas dominance for a few seasons and Mumbai winning it once, it has been won by teams like Rajasthan (twice), Vidarbha (twice), Saurashtra (once) and Madhya Pradesh, who would never be in contention in the past.

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