Ranji Trophy Final: Rampaging Mumbai seek lost crown

Having coasted to their 46th Ranji Trophy final and looking like the near-invincible sides of the past, domestic kings Mumbai will be determined to put Madhya Pradesh, who are clear underdogs, to the sword and regain the crown that has remained elusive since 2017.

In a sport obsessed with statistics, the title clash between Mumbai and Madhya Pradesh, beginning here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday, is as lop-sided as it can be. While Mumbai have won the national first-class tournament a whopping 41 times, including 15 consecutive trophies from 1958-59 to 1972-73, Madhya Pradesh have contested only final, way back in 1998-99 when they lost in a heart-breaking fashion to Karnataka at the very same venue.

Even when the current sides are stacked up against each other, Mumbai appear to be the overwhelming favourites. It’s a side oozing with talent, with the likes of Sarfaraz Khan, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Arman Jaffer, Suved Parkar, Hardik Tamore and Shams Mulani, all exhibiting wonderful form with the bat. Add skipper Prithvi Shaw, who is yet to fire big this season, Mumbai have easily been the best batting side in the competition this season.

Bowling-wise, too, Mumbai have shown a great mix of skill and experience to bowl out sides on four out of five occasions. Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani is the leader of the pack, with 37 wickets at a brilliant average of 14.59 while pacers Dhawal Kulkarni (12) and Mohit Avasthi (14) and off-spinner Tanush Kotian (18) have also been impressive.

The sheer dominance and hunger from Mumbai was visible in the quarter-final and semi-final where they bullied Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Batters fired big, the bowlers did their trick on placid pitches and the fielding was exceptional, be it catches taken or the aggression heaped on opposing batters with constant chatters. In short, Mumbai, under head coach Amol Muzumdar, have looked like a well-oiled machine.

There is no cockiness about being the superpowers of the domestic circuit but there is a quiet assurance in the way they play with the exuberant youth taking pride in donning the famed Mumbai cap and looking forward to leaving their stamp on a great legacy.

Although Madhya Pradesh are aware of the monumental challenge that awaits them, they’ll be taking heart from fellow minnows like Saurashtra, Vidarbha and Gujarat who triumphed against all odds in the recent seasons. The title victories showed the gulf between small and big teams have indeed reduced considerably and the former no more fears the latter.

The man, who was instrumental in Vidarbha’s back-to-back title triumphs (2017-18, 2018-19), will be looking to repeat the magic with MP as its coach. Chandrakant Pandit, whose hard task-master ways are well documented, changed the face of Vidarbha cricket during his short glorious reign.

Pandit is brilliant at getting small teams to rise above the ordinary and punch in unison. While his bold ways may not bode well with starry teams, it acts as a catalyst for small teams willing to walk over fire in search of glory. MP, who many would not have predicted to be finalists when the season started, have exactly done that.

They got the job done neatly in the group phase and showed exemplary character to defeat Punjab and Bengal in the quarter-final and semi-final, respectively. Rajat Patidar, Yash Dubey and Shubham Sharma have scored over 450 runs each while Himanshu Manti was the star of the semi-final with his player of the match performance against Bengal.

Bowlers Kumar Kartikeya (27 wickets), Anubhav Agarwal (12) and Gaurav Yadav (17) average less than 20 and the trio have been very effective as a unit. They’ve created pressure as an entity and delivered consistently.

MP will be banking on that team performance to down Mumbai and the 41-time champions will be wary of that as they seek lost glory.