Ranji Trophy’s historic giants Mumbai won’t faze Vidarbha in title clash: ‘We have become khadoos now’

The way he puts it, it’s almost like Faiz Fazal is obliging Mumbai.

“In our last meeting,” says the former Vidarbha captain, “we won by an innings. Of course, that was at our home. But we don’t mind beating them at Wankhede.”

Fazal won’t be on the field if that happens – on the biggest, grandest stage in domestic cricket, the Ranji Trophy final that starts Sunday. He retired recently, drawing curtains on a two-decade-long career during which he led Vidarbha’s transformation into a domestic force. But his words capture the mindset of his former teammates.

A decade ago, a fixture like this might have unnerved, even intimidated, Vidarbha. Today, they go into the match feeling like equals. In this Maharashtra derby, the big brother syndrome exists no more.

And since it’s Ranji, Mumbai and Wankhede, a heady mix for all the nostalgia and cliches, this final can also be called the battle between ‘Khadoos’ and ‘Khadoos lite’.

“We have become khadoos now. The moment we are pitted against a bigger team, we are at our best,” Fazal says.

This isn’t them being the noisy neighbours. Taken at face value, the final is a mismatch in some ways. The pedigreed Mumbai, going for their 42nd title, against a team that doesn’t even have that many appearances at an elite level, forget the trophy count.

Mumbai: Mumbai’s Musheer Khan celebrates his maiden double century on the second day of a Ranji Trophy quarter-final cricket match between Mumbai and Baroda, at the BKC Ground, in Mumbai, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024. (PTI Photo)

Zoom into the last decade, however, and you see a different picture. During this period, Vidarbha have been the more successful of the two. Mumbai’s last title came in 2015. Since then, Vidarbha have emerged as a prominent force, winning back-to-back crowns in 2017 and 2018, and now aiming for the third.

Neither have they been one-season wonders nor was their success an overnight phenomenon. “When we won Ranji in 2017-18, we won CK Nayudu (for U-23) before that, the under-19 title…” captain Akshay Wadkar counts.

He missed one title, which Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane remembered. “The Irani Trophy, too,” Rahane said. “When you are reaching Ranji finals, it means you are playing consistently. They always play together. They are a very good team. We respect them.”

That’s high praise coming from a former India Test captain and the leader of domestic giants who boast of a local structure that’s second to none. Vidarbha had none of that – they didn’t even know what it took to win in Ranji Trophy. Their approach, too, is a study in contrast.

While Mumbai keeps on churning quality players, largely because of hard-working grassroots-level coaches who spent countless hours under the sun on the maidans, Vidarbha have relied on outside help, conscious that they did not have a vibrant local circuit.

“When our junior cricket academy was set up in Nagpur, we got a few coaches from outside. Then, we had these couple of pros every year who could contribute,” Fazal says. “Sometimes, you need players who have played internationals or enough first-class cricket and have that experience to guide the young or developing players.”

He goes on a breathless run to name some of the players who helped Vidarbha – former Mumbai spinner Sairaj Bahutule, Tamil Nadu’s Hemang Badani and S Badrinath, Odisha’s SS Das, Ambati Rayudu who started his journeyman career with Andhra and had a detour in Vidarbha, Karnataka’s Ganesh Satish and the domestic legend, Wasim Jaffer.

“Even now, Karun (Nair) and Dhruv (Shorey)… although they are still very young. All these players had a major role,” Fazal adds. “Also the coaches. The local cricketers were groomed really well under all these coaches.”

Chandrakant Pandit (FILE)

Few coaches had a bigger impact than Chandrakant Pandit. Until he was made Vidarbha’s coach, the team had never come close to reaching a Ranji final. In 2017 and 2018, he led them to back-to-back titles.

There are many other reasons, too, that led them to the crowns – most importantly, Fazal says, an attitude change wherein the players started devoting more time towards the game and raised the bar for themselves rather than settling for mediocrity.

But Pandit instilled a champion’s mindset and, with his unique team-building exercises, ingrained a feeling of ‘togetherness’ that Rahane alluded to. Fazal gives the example from the trophy-winning years when Vidarbha had a travel committee, a food committee, an entertainment committee, and so on.

“The players took on different roles. The travel guys would take care of the airline check-in process, for instance; those on the food committee would speak to the chef at the hotel where we would stay and sort out the menu. The entertainment guys would plan movie nights and dance competitions. It was all stupid and silly things but ultimately, made a lot of sense and we connected tremendously with each other,” Fazal adds.

Coaches changed and there was a transition in the playing group but this ethos has remained. On the field, they’ve become smarter and ruthless, as they have been this season with the team selection; not afraid to tinker with the winning combination and adopting a horses-for-courses policy.

There can’t be a better test for them to gauge how far they’ve come. Mumbai, after all, are the gold standard.

“To play Mumbai in Mumbai is massive,” Fazal says. “But I don’t remember when Mumbai last won the Ranji Trophy. When was it?” 2015, Faiz. “Well, so they are under pressure more than us.” He laughs; the ‘khadoos lite’ seem ready for another upgrade.

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