MP winning Ranji Trophy is not really surprising

Ranji this season threw up some outstanding talent, especially Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan. Not many knew about Patidar a month ago but after a crucial hundred in IPL and another in the Ranji final he is someone you will look at closely. Same with Sarfaraz, who has dominated Ranji like nobody else.

Ranji Trophy has a new winner. One more domestic season is over and players can put their kitbags away for a few months before the new cycle starts in September. Madhya Pradesh, a relatively unfancied team, winning the national championship is a triumph but those who track domestic cricket are not surprised. It’s not a simple matter of hiring Chandu Pandit to work his magic as a super coach. Ranji is not won by one coach or the 20 players who wear the state colours. It requires a lot more to get to the top.

Madhya Pradesh's players celebrate their win after their team beat Mumbai by 6 wickets in the Ranji Trophy final cricket match, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. (PTI)

MP is a well-run state association which takes its cricket seriously. This intent shows in grassroots work, infrastructure development, inter-division tournaments, coaching camps across age groups, state cricket academy, exposure tours—basically a proper structure. State cricket is a whole of all these parts and MP cricket is sorted because it has progressive leadership backed by professional management. To cite one example: Player clothing is ordered months in advance. In other states players are lucky to receive kits the evening before the game.

If Ranji is about teams, the best four rose to the top this year. Just as MP’s triumph is no fluke, Bengal and Uttar Pradesh made the last four on capability and merit. Bengal cricket is on an upward curve (they were runners-up last season) and not many were surprised UP stunned Karnataka in the quarter-final. UP has enough talent to put up two Ranji sides and the team is led by young Karan Sharma who was appointed captain on his Ranji debut.

Mumbai, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are domestic powerhouses but missing from this elite list is Delhi, who have abundant talent (Virat, Shikhar, Rishabh in the Indian team, almost 20 players in IPL) yet underperform in national tournaments. But it seems they are on the mend, determined to reclaim the space ceded to other teams.

Ranji is about players and this season threw up some outstanding talent, especially Rajat Patidar and Sarfaraz Khan. Not many knew about Patidar a month ago but after a crucial hundred in IPL and another in the Ranji final he is someone you will look at closely. Same with Sarfaraz, who has dominated Ranji like nobody else. In an era of the quick slog he stands out as a hungry batsman wanting to score big.

There were other positives too, notably Yashasvi Jaiswal and Yash Dhull. Jaiswal switched gears from T20 cricket to score two hundreds in the semi-final, his effort remarkable because he took 54 balls to get off the mark. Among young batsmen, patience is in short supply but Jaiswal confirmed he is a quality talent across formats.

Yash Dhull, the U-19 star, was equally impressive while scoring three Ranji hundreds, two in his debut game. That too in an unfamiliar batting position—his runs came when opening for the first time in his career. Mumbai’s Suveed Parkar smashed 250 on debut in a knockout game and MP’s Shubham Sharma reached triple figures four times in six games.

Ranji is changing in many small ways—players are fitter, more aware and professional in approach and attitude. Teams are looking to hire good support staff and top coaches are in demand. Arun Lal, Amol Muzumdar, Vijay Dahiya, Surendra Bhave, Yere Goud and Tinu Yohanan have had good seasons with their respective sides.

All are hugely experienced and understand the recent trends of the game, one of which is bowling attacks being built around disciplined medium pace. Teams routinely pick three quicks in the eleven because the days of spin-friendly dust bowls are done. Strangely, players are fit but many remain injured for extended periods. Some attribute this to wrong training methods and excessive gym work. BCCI has taken note of this and announced a programme for educating the strength and conditioning coaches.

Going forward, other reforms are needed. The domestic calendar (U-16 going up to Ranji/Mushtaq Ali and Hazare) should be announced in advance for teams to plan training and prepare better. Steps are also required to ensure IPL stars who are not India players do not miss Ranji on frivolous grounds or by faking injuries.

Women’s cricket should be another focus area, now that an IPL is around the corner. Currently, the pool of players in states is very small, which results in the same set playing in different teams. More players must be attracted into the sport and each state must be in mission mode to increase the numbers who put bat to ball.

There is a need to send out a loud message confirming the supremacy of red-ball cricket. ’Days’ cricket is the strong foundation on which rests Indian cricket; if this is weak or wobbly then the superstructure can only be fragile.

Lastly, it is everyone’s responsibility—players/selectors/administrators—to keep the game clean and maintain its integrity. Nobody wants a repeat of Uttarakhand.