CHENNAI: It's no secret that former India stumper and chief selector Kiran More played a huge role in fast-tracking MS Dhoni into the Indian side. Rest as they say is history with Dhoni clinching all coveted ICC trophies and becoming the most successful Indian captain ever. But not many know that the veteran from Baroda also contributed to Madhya Pradesh's meteoric rise in domestic cricket in the past two years.
Even as Madhya Pradesh fittingly culminated their excellent Ranji campaign by winning their maiden title beating domestic giants by six wickets in the final at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on Sunday, the secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), Sanjeev Rao, expressed his gratitude towards More for his role in helping them hire services of renowned coach Chandrakant Pandit.
"We had two pretty ordinary seasons and were looking desperately for a turnaround in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. More was in Indore early in 2020 and called us (Sanjay Jagdale, former BCCI secretary and me). He told us that Pandit is not extending his contract with Vidarbha and we should talk to him for coaching the MP Ranji team," Rao told this daily.
Pandit, the former India wicketkeeper-batter, had played for the state and fell agonisingly short of winning the coveted title in 1998-99 when the side led by him lost the final to Karnataka. Given his past connection and history with MPCA, Pandit agreed. "In March, he was appointed coach but the lockdown was imposed soon after extending his immediate takeover," added the MPCA secretary.
With a few relaxations in place in June, Pandit, who already started meeting players virtually, arrived in Indore for one-on-one interaction. "The situation prevalent those days prevented him from meeting all the probables at a time so he decided to meet them in a group of four-five players. It all started there and its hard work and dedication of more than two years that eventually bore fruits today (Sunday)," added Rao.
The coach then conducted over 400 camps, organised sessions for players with consultants from Infantry School in Mhow to make them mentally tough and reached the venue for knockouts around 25 days ahead to ensure the cricketers get acclimatised with Bengaluru weather and also have some practice matches under their belt before the all-important summit clash. The efforts paid rich dividends as MP outclassed their more fancied rivals Mumbai in all departments to emerge triumphant.
Earlier resuming their day at 113/2, 41-time champions Mumbai could manage only 269 in their second innings, giving MP a modest target of 108 to chase and put their hands for the first time on the glittering trophy. Aditya Shrivastava-led side though suffered a few hiccups but that couldn't deter them from winning their first Ranji title. It was also Pandit's sixth title as a coach. He had won three with Mumbai and two with Vidarbha in the past.
The win even made Pandit, known as a hard taskmaster, emotional as with moistened eyes he first touched the ground and then gestured towards the Mumbai dressing room with folded hands as a mark of respect. Speaking on his association with the MP team, he said, "Every trophy gives satisfaction but this one is special. I couldn't do it as an MP captain years back (23 years). All these years, I have always felt that I had left something back over here. That's the reason I am a bit more excited and emotional about it."
He was also all praise for the MPCA and termed the win a collective effort. "Wherever I go, I have to struggle with the association but here at the MPCA, it was the other way round. The office-bearers here never said no to me. Most importantly, I got support from the selection committee as it always agreed with our choice."
MP batter Shubham Sharma (116 & 30) was adjudged Player of the Final while Mumbai's Sarfaraz Khan (982 runs in the season) was announced as Player of the Tournament.
Brief scores: Mumbai 374 & 269 in 57.3 ovs (Parkar 51, Sarfaraz 45; Kartikeya 4/98) lost to MP 536 & 108/4 in 29.5 ovs (Himanshu 37, Rajat 30 n.o; Mulani 3/41).