The magic of Chandu Pandit has worked again. Madhya Pradesh which have entered the Ranji finals after almost a quarter of a century are on the verge of winning the Ranji Trophy as this is being written. Pandit is the coach and there is thus no surprise that he has instilled a self-belief in this team like he does with all the teams that he coaches. Look at what he did with the Vidarbha team. He got them to win the Ranji Trophy not once but twice and the Irani Trophy too. Like Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh are also a team without any super stars or big name players though after this year’s IPL, the cricketing world got to know of Rajat Patidar, Kumar Kartikeya and Kuldeep Sen the fast bowler. There is also Venkatesh Iyer who is on India duty against Ireland. Both Sen and Iyer did not play the finals but that seemed to have hardly made a difference to the Madhya Pradesh team as they have played some top cricket to get to the finals and now will be the new Ranji Trophy champions.

Sharp mind

This knack of making a team of unknown players into a champion team is one of the reasons why Pandit is a much sought after coach in domestic cricket. He gets his boys to play street smart cricket and to never give up. That’s exactly the cricketer he was. Tough as nails with a smile on his face always, he looked laid back but had his eyes and ears open all the time picking up little tips and nuances from the home team as well as the opposition. He is also the consummate bluff master and this is said about his cricket and in great admiration.