The New Year witnessed a repeat of last year’s surprise in the Ranji trophy tournament. For a long time it appeared to be almost always a Mumbai affair. This year Vidarbha won the trophy for the first time proving that the game is getting nationwide popularity. Last year also Gujarat, an outsider annexed a trophy beating Mumbai. For Vidarbha’s glorious win, hats off to coaches Chandrakant Pandit and Subroto Banerjee neither of whom ever donned the India cap. Vidarbha proved that the game of glorious uncertainty could turn into a decisive victory with unfailing teamwork. It has only one test cricketer, base bowler Umesh Yadav. But the eleven snatched the cup almost without Yadav who played only in one watch. Fast bowler Rajneesh Gurbani captured the second highest number of wickets in the tournament this year-39 in all. Veteran Wasim Jaffer and skipper Faiz Fazal were sober influences exhibiting the rare secular spirit of the gentleman’s game.
It is good that the Ranji trophy tournament which was receding into the background with test matches hitting the headlines is now back in the news. Gone are the days of B B Nimbalkar, Nirmal Chatterjee and Premanshu Chatterjee doing great things with the bat. The BCCI is embroiled in perpetual infighting but the states are in a constructive mode. The Vidarbha Cricket Association invested a large amount in an academy in 2008 to do talent scouting in districts beyond Nagpur. Players have come from tier 2, 3 and 4 cities following a trail blazed by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. They can prove their mettle achieving kudos at the national level.