Finally , after a long wait of almost 60 years from its debut and more than 80 years of inception of Ranji Trophy 2017 , Vidarbha has made it to the title for the first time in the coveted premier championship of Domestic Cricket and have been crowned as Ranji Champions.
Though I am a diehard fan of Shivaji Park Cricket and Mumbai Cricket Team which has won the championship for 41 times, I have always felt that Maharashtra should play as one Ranji Team .There would always be a viewpoint that by having 3 teams within Maharashtra , each franchisee Mumbai, Maharashtra and Vidarbha localities’ get multifold opportunities and representation to showcase their talents in this 3 way competition within one state.
Mumbai dominated the domestic cricket scene , Maharashtra pitched in twice and Vidarbha were never ever in the contention of the title. Having said that , it was very obvious that India greats belonged to Mumbai , Maharashtra could produce few Test caps whereas Vidarbha had almost none in a long history of the game.
If one looks at the stalwarts of the game from Maharashtra , Bhausaheb Nimbalkar of Maharashtra still holds the national record of highest individual score of 443* which he made against Kathiawar team way back in 1950s and if my memory recollects well, he was on course to break Sir Don’s the then record of highest score of 452* in domestic cricket had the Kathiawar team not conceded the match and the pity is such a stalwart never played Test Cricket from India. Maharashtra produced few more names like Kanitkar father son duo, Kedar Jadhav , etc. However the count of players has always been insignificant.
The Vidarbha team though was always on forgotten side of the game. Poor infrastructure , lack of facilities, coaching and exposure always made Vidarbha a special team which helped others to climb up the points table in any competition. It always had local talents like Pravin Hinganikar, Hemant Wasu , Suhas Phadkar, and the talented spinner Pritam Gandhe who almost made it to India team but never had the opportunity to breach the barrier and make it with the big boys of the game . Some old stalwarts almost at retiring age came to play for Vidarbha , the best name I recollect was Rajinder Amaranth , the least known brother of Mohinder and Surinder Amarnath. This time though non locals Wasim Jaffer , Satish have made a difference to the winning cause. I also reckon ,though it has its own negativities, IPL has changed the whole scenario of the game and has brought the parity in the teams and opportunities galore. Umesh Yadav is such a find from this Vidarbha team who is now an India regular but otherwise is an IPL byproduct.
This Ranji Trophy win , I am sure will make the Indian Selectors have a close look at the Vidarbha Team. With cricket changing its center of popularity to small towns , these very players I am sure are bound to dominate the future of India Cricket. Its time that small centers and associations are looked after well by the BCCI. It’s an ‘Advantage Indian Cricket’ that such small teams are champions of the domestic arena as this would make the sport popular within small kids as they will have local heroes amongst them who have made it to the TOP. It’s also a time , schools propagate such events and let the kids enjoy such events from a close quarter.
Being a true Maharashtrian , I would hope and wish that the trend continues and Maharashtra ( Inclusive of all the 3 teams) can continue its dominance on domestic cricket but at the same time for the sake of Indian Cricket , would love to see other small towns and states perform to their true potential and keep producing the future stalwarts of the game and the Ranji Trophy after 80 years of inception get the same reckoning what English Counties or Sheffield Shield have brought to England and Australia.
-Jayawant
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