Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy final opponents were first guided by their current coach Chandrakant way back in 1994, when he turned out to be an apt replacement for Sandeep Patil, who also did wonders for the Central Zone outfit from 1988-89 to 1992-93
Chandrakant Pandit during a Mid-day masterclass session at the MIG Cricket Club in Bandra East, on March 28, 2019. Pic/Atul Kamble
Chandrakant Pandit has come a long way since he decided to be associated with Madhya Pradesh, the team he is currently guiding as coach in the Ranji Trophy final against Mumbai at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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To me, it doesn’t seem so long ago, when, after finishing a Kanga League game for MIG Cricket Club at one of the gymkhanas at Marine Drive, he broke the news of him leaving Assam to join MP.
Pandit, of course, had been a regular Mumbai Ranji Trophy player from 1982-83 to 1990-91 before his two-season stint with Assam. MP managed a fine replacement for Sandeep Patil, who led them till 1992-93, when they lost in the semi-finals to eventual champions Punjab.
Some members of his new team had seen what he could come up with when they were on the opposite side in the 1989-90 pre-quarter finals at Wankhede Stadium, where Pandit captained Mumbai to an innings and 43-run victory.
Pandit’s exploits with and bat and behind the wickets for Mumbai were remarkable and earned him his India opportunities. There were times he played as a batsman – his Test debut against England at Leeds in 1986 and the Tied Test against Australia in the same year.
Talking of his Mumbai performances, it is worth recalling his 157 in the 1982-83 final against Karnataka at the Wankhede Stadium. His knock helped Mumbai pile up 534 in the first innings. Normally, that’s a large enough score to win the Ranji Trophy on the first innings, but Brijesh Patel’s team were all out only after smashing 551. Pandit ensured his efforts in the next Ranji final – against Delhi the following season – did not go in vain. Dilip Vengsarkar scored 123 and Sunil Gavaskar helped himself to a double ton, but also vital was Pandit’s 71 in Mumbai’s mammoth 625 all out. Delhi couldn’t do a Karnataka and Mumbai got the Ranji Trophy back after 1980-81.
Like Patil, he led MP astutely and became their mentor. Each player was important to him. Each player was capable of putting more illustrious players on the back foot and there was aggression thrown in.
Two seasons before MP’s heart-breaking loss to Karnataka in the 1998-99 Ranji final at Bangalore, Pandit’s MP clashed with Mumbai in the 1996-97 semi-finals at Indore. It was a needle clash and Pandit provided the small group of travelling reporters fodder when he expressed his unhappiness over being adjudged caught behind by Sulakshan Kulkarni off Nilesh Kulkarni for 40 just when he was giving Mumbai a bit of a headache. Pandit stood his ground, walked off hesitantly and had something to say to umpire S Lakshmanan.
Had he been reported by referee Sarkar Talwar, there would have been yet another storm in his season. It had all started with Central Zone and national selector Kishen Rungta sending Pandit packing for not pulling his weight in the Deodhar Trophy game against West Zone which ended in a tie. Later, Pandit went on to state that the umpires had messed up in MP’s Super League game against Kerala. In light of all this, I was moved to start my report on the incident from Indore: “Controversy has chased Chandrakant Pandit all season. Or is the other way round?”
Mumbai were too good for MP in that semis and Sanjay Manjrekar’s team marched ahead and won the title by beating Delhi under lights at Gwalior. For MP, a semi-finals finish could have been satisfying and they had given it their best shot. Pandit has an analytical mind and he brought that to his leadership.
The Rungta-Pandit issue left a bad taste. That a former Test cricketer was accused and dropped from his zone team as captain and player for not trying hard enough didn’t go down well with Pandit’s first state association. The Mumbai Cricket Association was right behind Pandit. They took up the issue at the BCCI’s working committee meeting in February 1997.
There was also a morcha by city cricketers from Eros cinema to the Cricket Club of India, the venue of the Board meeting, to protest the treatment meted out to Pandit. “I have always played for my team and my performance proves it, but this allegation was very surprising and that too coming from a national selector who plays a role in selecting the Indian team,” Pandit told me then.
Reportedly, Pandit was first asked to declare himself unfit for the rest of the Deodhar Trophy to save himself the embarrassment. “Why should I revert to such tactics when I have not done anything wrong? Cricket is my bread and butter and if I would do a thing like that, I would be cheating myself,” he told the media. An insider told me yesterday that there was a history to the Rungta-Pandit 1997 clash – both arguing over a wet pitch for a Ranji Trophy match in Udaipur in 1995.
Perhaps, Pandit hasn’t realised that this is the silver jubilee of that controversy, now that he has the Ranji Trophy silverware on his mind. It is a trophy he is personally familiar with, but who’s to say he doesn’t deserve holding it again in his present capacity.
mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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