Bengaluru, June 21: Mumbai cricket chases an unprecedented 42nd Ranji Trophy title but now finds a bunch of bravehearts from Madhya Pradesh standing in its way with the tricks of the trade learnt from a Mumbaikar.
MP head coach Chandrakant Pandit won’t let his team settle for anything less than a championship but Amol Muzumdar’s men have dominated the proceedings since the start of the business end of the season.
On paper, the Mumbai team is overwhelming favourite in the final match starting on Wednesday with the best Gen-Next talent in its repertoire.
Sarfaraz Khan, after a few indifferent seasons, has raised his game to an altogether different level with 800-plus runs in just five games. Yashasvi Jaiswal has three hundreds in four innings. Prithvi Shaw isn’t the typical Mumbai khadoos (stubborn) batter but can butcher any attack.
However, MP is one of the most improved teams in recent times and under Pandit inculcated the discipline that’s needed to reach the summit clash in a tournament like Ranji Trophy. Missing Venkatesh Iyer in batting and pace spearhead Avesh Khan in bowling didn’t do them any good but unheralded Kumar Kartikeya, with his stamina to bowl for hours, has done the job for his team.
The Himanshu Mantris and Akshat Raghuvanshis have also all executed their assigned roles to perfection. (PTI)
