da lvbet： Easter Sunday, retirement from first class cricket and a Ranji Trophytriumph
Anand Vasu23-Apr-2000Easter Sunday, retirement from first class cricket and a Ranji Trophytriumph. Abey Kuruvilla was a picture of contentment as he led theside off the field after they beat Hyderabad by the thumping margin of297 runs. The scenes out in the middle that followed the fall of thelast wicket were made especially emotional by the events that led upto this victory. Mumbai had a very bad season last time around and didnot even qualify for the Ranji Super League. Sachin Tendulkar handedthe captaincy of the Mumbai team to stumper Sameer Dighe and stillpulled off a spectacular win against Tamil Nadu in the semifinal.Mumbai needed just 33 minutes on the final day to knock off the lastthree Hyderabad wickets. Rajesh Pawar helped himself to career bestfigures of 7/103 on what was supposed to be a green top. Mumbai wentinto the match with four seamers and ironically it was the slow leftarm spinner who had the best returns.A disappointed Mohammed Azharuddin admitted that they were outplayedin all departments. “We batted badly, fielded badly and bowledbadly. On the first day we really should have bowled Mumbai out forabout 350.” When he was asked if travelling by train all the way toMumbai from Hyderabad made a difference he said “The boys were verytired after that journey. It was almost 12 hours long and at the endof a season it would have made sense to fly. The team has been workingvery hard all season and has been doing well. It would have been agood gesture on the part of the board to fly the players for thefinal. That’s the kind of support we expect from the board.”The contrast was obvious for all to see when an overjoyed Dighe metthe press. “We’ve played very well all season and I’m very happy thatwe won.” He was full of praise for all his teammates but reserved thebest for Tendulkar, “Sachin was a great motivating factor. What can Isay about his commitment, dedication and approach to the game?”The coach of the Mumbai team Ashok Mankad was proud of his boys. “Iam so filled with different emotions. Contentment, fulfillment and asense of redeeming ourselves for last year’s performance fills menow.”The last match of the domestic season ended on a high note for thehome team. As one journalist whispered, the Ranji Trophy has come backhome.