His articles on corporate and management give a glimpse of his expertise and vast work experience in IT field. You will find his blogs more analytical and informative than his opinion. His sharp linguistic skills and"soft but firm" style will surely abide you to convince to his point.
On Atul's request, he agrees to write and share his thoughts to taagung.
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After a long wait of more than 60 years from its debut and more than 80 years of inception of Ranji Trophy, Vidarbha had made it to the title for the first time in the coveted premier championship of Domestic Cricket in 2017-18 and were crowned as Ranji Champions.
To come back very next year and retain the championship needs a special team and Vidarbha proved that they were no fluke last year as they convincingly beat Saurashtra in the finals of 2018-19.
Cricket in Maharashtra has been ruled by Mumbai and Shivaji Park for years and it dominated the Ranji championship for 41 times. Maharashtra pitched in twice and Vidarbha were never ever in the contention of the title. It was very obvious that India greats belonged to Mumbai with Maharashtra producing few Test caps whereas Vidarbha had almost none in a long history of the game.
For years, Vidarbha team was always on the forgotten side of the game. Poor infrastructure, lack of facilities, coaching and exposure always made Vidarbha a special team which helped others to climb up the points table in any competition but it all seems to have changed in last few years ultimately culminating in a coveted championship win.
Vidarbha always had local talents like Pravin Hinganikar, Hemant Wasu, Suhas Phadkar, Paresh Sutane and the talented spinner in Pritam Gandhe almost made it to India team. Some old stalwarts also tried their luck at the fag end of their careers and came to play for Vidarbha with likes of Rajinder Amaranth (brother of Mohinder and Surinder Amarnath) but Vidarbha could never breach the barrier of qualifiers.
Finally after years of struggle, wilderness and hard work of bunch of youngsters who are full of self-belief, positive approach jelled with the likes of Ex Cricketer Prashant Vaidya, seasoned coach Chandrakant Pandit, Mumbaite Wasim Jaffer have made the turnaround for Vidarbha which has been phenomenal.
This Ranji Trophy win will surely make Indian Selectors to have a close look at the Vidarbha Team and some of its youngsters are bound to dominate the future of Indian Cricket.
Domestic Cricket in India has come of age in a long way and it’s good to see small towns and states perform to their true potential. One hopes to see Ranji Trophy after 80 years of inception get the same reckoning what English Counties or Sheffield Shield have brought to England and Australia.
-Jayawant
Image courtesy : mangalam.com
Disclaimer: The blog is a personal opinion as Vidarbha cricket fan.
