Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Final: Madhya Pradesh look to create history against formidable Mumbai – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

It takes plenty of years in the game to have a strong CV. Decades of contribution to a sport as a player, as a coach, or both. Chandrakant Pandit fits the bill in this scenario. There is something about him that makes pundits take notice of one of the most successful coaches in Indian domestic circuit.

“It is not going to be a cakewalk for Mumbai because of Chandu. MP progressed to the final after beating good teams [Gujarat, Punjab and Bengal]. That will be an advantage for MP,” Amre told Mid-Day.

Whether it is leading Madhya Pradesh to their only final back in 1998-99 or coaching Mumbai and Vidarbha to Ranji titles, he has seen it all.

Pandit is back at the venue where his side suffered a defeat against Karnataka in the title clash more than twenty years ago. This time, he won’t be taking the field but will be sitting in the dressing room as the coach of Madhya Pradesh who are up against domestic giants Mumbai with India’s most prestigious domestic trophy at stake.

For MP, it’s about two things. First, creating history. Second, giving their coach a perfect present. He had lost the final leading the same team and winning the title as coach would certainly fill in for that defeat.

For Mumbai, the concept is clear. They have won the tournament 41 times but there has been a trophy drought, relatively speaking, and they are now on the hunt for first success since 2016 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.

MP’s arsenal

Madhya Pradesh have turned out to be a pretty strong-headed team and this was evident during the semi-final against Bengal where despite the fightback from opponents, the side made a comeback and etched a comfortable win.

MP are full of match-winners. They have a bunch of players who take up the onus whenever the side are in a spot of bother. Whether it is Himanshu Mantri, Rajat Patidar or Shubham Sharma with the bat or Kumar Kartikeya or Puneet Datey with the ball.

MP spin a web

Bengal frustrated Jharkhand in the quarter-final after they posted 773/7 (declared) in the first innings and 318/7 in the second as the match ended in a draw and the team qualified for the semis on the basis of first innings lead as Jharkhand were bowled out for 298 earlier. Majority of the Bengal wickets in that match went to spinners.

MP did capitalise on this small glitch as Kartikeya and Saransh Jain shared six wickets in the first innings and Kartikeya then bagged a fifer in the second. Saransh also had two in the second innings.

The track in Alur had just a bit to offer especially in the initial part of the game but the MP spinners made brilliant use of it, troubling the batters with the deliveries pitching on and around the off stump channel. Kartikeya played a key role as he kept asking questions from the batters.

Coming to the semi-final clash between Mumbai and UP. Mumbai dominated UP bowlers thoroughly and scored heaps of runs but out of the 14 wickets that they lost, eight went to the spinners.

With MP having both left and right-handed spinners in the unit, Mumbai would need to focus on negotiating them if the pitch in Bengaluru does offer assistance for the spinners.

Batters vs Batters

The final of this Ranji Trophy edition can see some batting masterclass from both ends. Mumbai’s Yashasvi Jaiswal is coming into this game on the back of two hundreds in the semi-final, Suved Parkar has already become a household name after that brilliant double ton.

Apart from these two, Armaan Jaffer also struck a century in the second innings of the previous game while Sarfaraz Khan is on a roll in this competition.

He has more than 800 runs to his name in five matches which includes three tons and a couple of fifties.

Mumbai have a pretty solid, sorted and an in-form top and middle-order. They have almost all the shots in the arsenal and the way they have been playing, the MP bowlers might face some difficulties as all of them have frustrated the opposition with long batting hours.

Captain Prithvi Shaw’s form has been a bit of a problem but the right-hander notched up a quick-fire fifty in the last game.

Mumbai can still relax if Shaw is able to chip in with runs in that manner. While he can provide a brisk start, Jaiswal and others can make valuable contributions.

For MP, Patidar, Shubham Sharma and Himanshu Mantri are the three batters who have scored runs when it was most needed.

Patidar is riding high on confidence after that hundred and a fifty for RCB in the IPL, Shubham notched up a century in the quarter-final fixture while Mantri helped the side bail out of a tricky situation with a ton in the semis.

Akshat Raghuwanshi is another batter who made the headlines after he took on the Bengal spinners in the semi-final match and stitched an important stand along with Mantri. A contest between him and Shams Mulani would be something to watch out for.

Overall both sides are pretty balanced and it would be interesting to see whether MP write history or Mumbai add another trophy to their cabinet.

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