Ranji Trophy final: Chandrakant Pandit finds redemption at Chinnaswamy Stadium | Cricket News – Times of India

BENGALURU: Of all the six Ranji titles that Chandrakant Pandit has won as a domestic coach, the one he won with Madhya Pradesh when his team beat Mumbai by six wickets in the final at the Chinnaswamy Stadium must have felt the closest to his heart.
Twenty-three years ago, it was at this venue when Pandit, playing his last First-Class match, suffered a heartbreak, failing to achieve his ‘MP’ dream by a whisker. Chasing 247 on the last day of the 1998-99 Ranji Trophy final against Karnataka, MP, led by the former India stumper, collapsed to 150 from 108-3, with Vijay Bhardwaj taking six for 24.

It was perhaps why he was drowned in emotion while soaking in the accolades once MP clinched their maiden title. Soon, he did a ‘count of three’ with his players, in which he yelled ‘who are the champions,’ to which his players responded: ‘Madhya Pradesh.’
A few moments later, he was talking to two former Karnataka bowlers who were a part of that final – national selector Sunil Joshi and Mumbai selector Anand Yalvigi. For all his achievements as a celebrated coach in domestic cricket, Pandit had some unfinished business left. On a pleasant Sunday afternoon here, he finally found redemption at Chinnaswamy.
“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. I had lost the match back then and I always felt that I had to give something back to MP. I am happy that we won. That’s the reason why I’m a bit more excited and emotional about it,” Pandit said.
Like in his previous coaching stints with domestic teams, Pandit got the MP players to do things they hadn’t done before. He was what he is known for-a hard taskmaster. An official of the MPCA revealed that to get players out of their comfort zone, the Mumbaikar called them at 2 am for nets under lights. They received a call from him to practice at 1.30 am in the night. Practice went on till 5 am.