By Qaiser Mohammad Ali, IANS
New Delhi : Former India all-rounder Gyanendra Pandey, now Uttar Pradesh coach, is just one match away from joining a unique club of cricketers who have been part of the Ranji Trophy winning team both as a player and coach.
If the Mohammed Kaif-led Uttar Pradesh beat Delhi in the final, starting in Mumbai Jan 16, Pandey will join the select group that includes legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi (Delhi), Chandrakant Pandit (Mumbai) and Karsan Ghavri (Mumbai).
“It will indeed be a big and rare honour for me if I can join such a select group of players,” Pandey, 35, told IANS on phone from his home city Lucknow.
Pandey was part of the Mohammed Kaif-led Uttar Pradesh side that defeated Bengal in the final at the K.D. Singh ‘Babu’ Stadium in Lucknow to win their historic first Ranji title in 2005-06. He was appointed the state coach immediately after retiring last season.
The left-handed batsman and left-arm spinner himself came close to leading Uttar Pradesh to their first ever Ranji title in 1997-98. But Karnataka then led by Rahul Dravid defeated Pandey’s boys in Bangalore to deny him the honour.
Former India captain Bedi, Ghavri and Pandit were pleasantly surprised to know that they were part of this unique club after the concept of the coaches came into fashion in the 1990s.
“It was a very pleasant remembrance. I was totally unaware of this achievement,” Bedi, who captained his adopted state side Delhi to the Ranji crowns in 1978-79 and 1979-80, told IANS with a smile.
The ace left-arm spinner, who played for the erstwhile Northern Punjab before switching to Delhi, had also ended up on the losing side as Delhi captain in 1976-77 and 1980-81.
Bedi was the first to achieve the feat of winning Ranji both as captain and coach in 1992-93 when he coached Gursharan Singh’s Punjab to the title. Punjab defeated Maharashtra in the final in Ludhiana.
Ghavri, who was part of Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy-winning teams five times between 1972-73 and 1980-81, coached Ravi Shastri-led side to the title in 1993-94.
“This record never struck me until you brought it to me notice,” Ghavri, a former India left-arm pacer who shared the new ball with Kapil Dev, said on phone from Mumbai.
Pandit was part of Sunil Gavaskar’s winning teams in 1983-84 and 1984-85 and them successfully coached Mumbai twice in 2002-03 and 2003-04.
Since the inception of the Ranji Trophy in 1934-35, Uttar Pradesh had made it to the final only twice before 1997-98. But on both occasions, in 1939-40 and 1977-78, they lost, to Maharashtra and Karnataka.
This time Uttar Pradesh, led by an in-form Kaif (650 runs in seven matches in Ranji so far), is on a firm wicket against Delhi, who will be missing Virender Sehwag, who is with the Indian team in Australia, and Virat Kohli and Pradeep Sangwan, who are in South Africa with the Under-19 team.
Uttar Pradesh will miss Tanmay Srivastava, also in South Africa.