...But fearless MP, propelled by coach Pandit's tactics, will rely on bowlers to turn the tide
BENGALURU: If it's the business end of the Ranji Trophy, Mumbai are usually involved and, given their tremendous success in the tournament, have a rivalry going with just about every opposition.
Mumbai's rivalry with Madhya Pradesh - the other finalists whom they will play at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium starting Wednesday - has a storied history. It dates back some 78 years, when the erstwhile Bombay and Holkar faced each other in the 1944-45 final at the Brabourne stadium.
Bombay, led by Vijay Merchant, won the title and, over the next decade, the teams met again three times in the title clash. Over the years, Mumbai took their tally of titles to a staggering 41, while Holkar won the trophy four times and last appeared in the final in 1998-99. Now, they are back again in another final.
Mumbai will start favourites but MP have had a remarkable season and are unlikely to be meek opposition. They have exhibited a fearless brand of cricket.
In one of those rare instances, the focus will be on the coaches as well - Mumbai's Amol Muzumdar and Chandrakant Pandit, the battle-scarred campaigner who now helms Madhya Pradesh.
Muzumdar will marshal a young Mumbai in a final for the first time, while Pandit has a list of achievements that would be the envy of the coaching world. He has guided Mumbai to victory three times (2002-03, 2003-04 and 2015-16) and has helped Vidarbha script a success story twice (2017-18 and 2018-19).
Both were pupils of the legendary Ramakant Achrekar but have had contrasting fortunes as players. Muzumdar has been part of the Ranji Trophy-winning Mumbai squad eight times while the closest Pandit came was in 1998-99 when MP lost to Karnataka in the final in Bengaluru.
He will be hoping MP can achieve what he failed to as a player and for that, he has worked tirelessly. But it will take much more than just planning and strategies for MP.
Prithvi Shaw and company's purple patch bears the hallmark of ruthless prowess. Sarfaraz Khan has found his Midas touch and is the competition's leading run-getter.
The other top-order batsmen, Yashavi Jaiswal, Armaan Jaffer and Suved Parkar have all gained enough batting practice during the two previous outings alone.
Spinner Shams Mulani (37 wickets), leads the bowling charts. Mumbai's pace strength lies in the experience of Dhawal Kulkarni, Tushar Deshpande and form of Mohit Avasthi.
MP will bank on Rajat Patidar (506 runs), Yash Dubey (480), Shubham Sharma (462) and Himanshu Mantri (307) to spearhead their batting. They are a better bowling side with left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya (27 wickets) proving to be a match-winner.
Pace duo Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep have delivered with the new ball while Shahbaz Ahmed has fulfilled his role as an allrounder.
As it has been over the past three weeks, the threat of rain is omnipresent but the SubAir system at the stadium could save the day for what promises to be a cracker of a contest.
