Madhya Pradesh head coach Chandrakant Pandit, who has been carrying the burden of a traumatic defeat for more than two decades, on Sunday reacted to his teary-eyed reaction to the Mumbai dressing room as a mark of respect after the team won the Ranji Trophy. can be well understood. Apart from Pandit, the role of captain Aditya Srivastava in Madhya Pradesh’s victory was also very big. He made a huge sacrifice to make the team the champions. The coach himself told about this.
Rajat Patidar’s most important one run in Madhya Pradesh’s history completed a cycle for head coach Pandit following the state’s failure to win the state’s first Ranji Trophy title 23 years ago as a player. Looking tired after winning the Ranji Trophy, Pandit said, “Every trophy gives satisfaction but this one is special. I couldn’t give it up 23 years ago as captain of Madhya Pradesh. For so many years I always felt that I had missed something here. That’s why I’m a little more excited and passionate about it. ,
As a player, Pandit has seen many heartbreaking defeats, including his best innings of 39 in the tied Test against Australia at Chepauk. Then in the 1987 World Cup semi-final against England at the Wankhede Stadium, he was on 24 but India lost the match. They were defeated by just one run in the Ranji Trophy final against Kapil Dev-led Haryana. But what hurt him the most was the 1999 Ranji final of Madhya Pradesh, in which he was crying inconsolably after losing to Karnataka.
It was his last professional match and he lost it. But as a coach he has done completely the opposite, including an unprecedented six Ranji Trophy titles. Pandit and Aditya Srivastava share a ‘special relationship’ that goes beyond the relationship between a professional coach and a captain. Pandit said, “Sacrifices have to be made to reach the top. Last year when Aditya was getting married he came to me and he asked which time would be right then I told him that I can give him only two days time. ,
The young captain smiled and said, “I got married last year but I haven’t even gone on vacation with my wife for 10 days. The coach said immediately, “I told him that you have to work hard for hours to be successful. It is like a mission. Pandit went to the ground staff of the Chinnaswamy Stadium and took a picture of the entire team with them.
“You guys made a great wicket and it’s special because it’s the 100th first-class match at this stadium,” he told the groundsmen. His captain also handed over a 500 rupee note to a curator. Pandit has won six Ranji Trophy as coach, three with his home team Mumbai, two with Vidarbha and now with Madhya Pradesh. Out of this, winning the trophy with Madhya Pradesh is special as they had their last first-class season with them.