Chairman of India selectors, who also heads the Mumbai selection committee, doffs his hat to valley outfit after they beat 40-time Ranji Trophy champs
Hardeep Singh and Sandeep Patil
Chairman of the national and Mumbai selection committees, Sandeep Patil was on India duty yesterday when his city's Ranji Trophy team lost to lesser-fancied Jammu & Kashmir by four wickets at the Wankhede Stadium.
Jammu & Kashmir batsman Hardeep Singh celebrates his team's victory against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy Group A match at Wankhede Stadium yesterday. Hardeep stayed unbeaten with 41 to guide J&K to a four-wicket win. Pic/PTI
Patil was watching the Karnataka vs Tamil Nadu Ranji Trophy game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
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"This is not the time to feel bad. This is a time to celebrate Jammu & Kashmir's success and where Mumbai are concerned, learn from our mistakes and move on. I wear two hats here," Patil told mid-day yesterday evening after Mumbai were outplayed by J&K.
"I've sent my congratulations to the winning captain and Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association officials."
Remember 42 all out?
Patil said he would speak to the key members of the Mumbai set-up and his fellow selectors to find out what went wrong. "Look, this is not the first time Mumbai have lost.
I remember in the 1977-78 season, we were bowled out by Gujarat for 42 at Bulsar (where Mumbai lost by 225 runs). My co-selector Milind Rege was Mumbai's captain then. We were disappointed then but we moved on," said Patil, who went on to lead Mumbai.
Sandeep Patil
Times have indeed changed. "Previously, other teams used to learn from Mumbai. Now, Mumbai has to learn from other teams. No problem with that. J&K played well and remember, they reached the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals last year. I salute them," said Patil, fully realising the hurdles the valley team faced to achieve their latest success.
Elaborating on Mumbai's situation, Patil said, "This is not an excuse but we don't have Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma (in Australia) here. It's not the end of the road. Remember, this is just the first match of the Ranji season.
You must have the will to learn and fight back." The team for whom Patil wore that lion-crested cap from 1976 to 1986 always did. He sees no reason why they can't do so now, headline-making loss notwithstanding.
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