For city cricket buffs, Mumbai’s recent Ranji Trophy quarter-final loss brought back painful memories of their losses in 1973-74, 1981-82, 1982-83, and 1986-87 seasons
Karnataka’s KL Rahul celebrates his century in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Mumbai at the MCA-BKC ground on Monday. PIC/SATEJ SHINDE
As cricket crazy Indians were lapping up the start of the T20 World Cup, two fierce domestic rivals, Mumbai and Karnataka, were locked in battle at the MCA-BKC ground to qualify for the Ranji Trophy semi-finals.
Karnataka couldn’t have asked for a better start on February 6, bowling out the 42-time champions for just 120 at the MCA-BKC ground.
Mumbai, as they often do, fought back and restricted Karnataka to a 53-run lead. A better showing in the second innings saw Mumbai post 377, giving Karnataka a 325-run target. Karnataka, who had Test batsmen KL Rahul, Karun Nair, skipper Devdutt Padikkal and Mayank Agarwal in their ranks, overwhelmed the hosts by reaching their target with four wickets to spare.
One of the sub plots of the quarter-final was, who would fare better among the two current India Test opening batsmen — Yashasvi Jaiswal or Rahul. Although Jaiswal put up a positive show in the second innings, Rahul walked away proud with a fourth innings century that evaporated Mumbai’s hopes. The delight quotient earned by Karnataka through their win over Mumbai will not be brought to nought even if the southern state fails to get their hands on the Ranji Trophy. As for Mumbai, this deep cut will take some healing.
Karnataka thwarting Mumbai reminded me of some of their wins over Mumbai in the knockout rounds of the Ranji Trophy — in 1973-74, 1981-82, and 1986-87. The 1973-74 semi-final in the Garden City had Ajit Wadekar’s defending champions taking on Erapalli Prasanna’s Karnataka, whose victory broke Mumbai’s 15-season title-winning streak.
In 1981-82, Mumbai were troubled by Karnataka’s future India spinner Raghuram Bhat [8-123 and 5-77], who turned the ball square, prompting skipper Sunil Gavaskar to bat left-handed in a bid to combat him.
Mumbai all-rounder Suru Nayak, who was to make his India debut later in the year, recalled how spin-friendly the Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch was and how the hurt of losing the semi-final stayed on for a while. “We had no answer to Bhat in that game. We were very disappointed since we had beaten Delhi in the Ranji final the previous year [with five regulars on India duty in Australia and New Zealand],” Nayak told me on Tuesday.
The match was marred by poor crowd behaviour; the spectators incensed by umpire Rajen Mehra adjudging Vishwanath out. The Mumbai fielders reportedly appealed for a caught Vengsarkar bowled Ashok Mankad verdict after Mankad’s leg before wicket appeal was turned down. “A surprised Vishwanath stood there for a few seconds that was longer than usual,” said The Sportstar magazine report.
The following season, Mumbai lost the Ranji Trophy final to Karnataka at the Wankhede Stadium, where the visitors responded to Mumbai’s first innings score of 534 with 551.
Under the headline ‘Karnataka win — lose friends’, Sharad Kotnis, who covered the game for Sportsweek magazine, wrote that the spectators were treated to a big-scoring game, but were left disappointed by the twin failures of Gundappa Vishwanath (dismissed by pacer Suresh Shetty in both innings) and captain Brijesh Patel’s “inability to accept the challenge in the dying moments.” Patel clearly didn’t want to jeopardise a Ranji title.
Vishwanath was a constant feature in Karnataka vs Mumbai games in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the 1973-74 semi-final, he carved 162 in the decisive first innings. His 144 went in vain in the following season’s final.
In the 1986-87 quarter-final, he was sent back by left-arm spinner Ravi Thakkar as Karnataka piled up 465. The visitors threatened to get there through the batting efforts of Sulakshan Kulkarni (175) and Sanjay Manjrekar (99), but they fell short by 61 runs.
“It was so disappointing to lose on the first innings. We planned to bat session by session. Getting run out through a brilliant fielding effort with the ball going through Syed Kirmani’s feet to hit the stumps, is something I will never forget,” Kulkarni told me on Tuesday. The former Mumbai coach also remembered how Karnataka dished out another turning track for its visitors, in complete contrast to what they got for practice sessions.
“My innings was appreciated by Sunil Gavaskar at a function in Mumbai after that match and many years later, Gundappa Vishwanath introduced me to legends like BS Chandrasekhar and EAS Prasanna by bringing up my innings.”
Incidentally, Vishwanath’s farewell to first-class cricket coincided with Karnataka’s first innings loss to Mumbai in the 1987-88 Ranji Trophy pre-quarter-final at the Wankhede Stadium.
The memory of Monday’s Mumbai vs Karnataka result will linger for those part of the action. Karnataka will look to push on for their ninth Ranji Trophy triumph, while Mumbai will lick their wounds, hoping that Title No. 43 will not be as far away as their sharpest critics think it will be.
mid-day’s Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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