Karnataka pulled off an improbable comeback from a delicate position to snatch victory from the Railways during its Ranji Trophy encounter in Surat on Sunday.
The youthful team, led by Nikin Jose, was exuberant in celebration, thronging veteran batter Manish Pandey after he guided the team to a once-in-a-lifetime win.
But for two people present at the Lalbhai Contractor stadium on the day, the win brought with it a tinge of nostalgia.
Hyderabad hosted a strong Karnataka team in the Ranji Trophy 1997/98 semifinal at the Gymkhana Ground in Secunderabad. The home team put up a 154-run target for Karnataka after conceding a 29-run first-innings lead.
The target was quite stiff, considering the pitch was a rank turner and Hyderabad had the services of Venkatapathy Raju and Kanwaljit Singh – the latter picking up seven wickets in the first innings.
The Rahul Dravid-led team’s chances looked bleak when Kanwaljit replicated his first-innings performance, leaving Dodda Ganesh and Mansur Ali Khan to take the team home.
Karnataka against Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy semifinal in 1998 | Photo Credit: SIVAKUMAR PV/ The Hindu
“19 runs were needed for the last wicket. Suddenly, lunch was called. Nobody had lunch. We were sitting on our chairs, just putting our heads down,” Mansur reminisced during a chat with Sportstar.
“Ganesh went to Rahul [Dravid] and said in Kannada, ’Don’t worry. We will win this game’,” he said.
“Mansur and I played a lot of cricket together, tennis ball and league cricket. We also played a lot of junior cricket together. We had that belief and trust,” Ganesh told Sportstar, speaking about the rapport the two shared.
“That game was very crucial for us. We worked very hard as a team. I was dropped from the Indian team, Dravid too and the selectors were watching us. M.L. Jaisimha was their coach. We wanted to impress him also,” the pacer added. “Reaching the Ranji Trophy final was very valuable. That was almost like reaching a World Cup for us.”
The victorious Karnataka team with the Ranji Trophy it won in Bangalore in 1998 | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Ganesh went on to score an unbeaten 18 to take Karnataka home that day. The team went on to seal the title against Uttar Pradesh at home on the back of Dravid’s masterful double-hundred.
Cut to a 25 years later, Ganesh, who is part of Karnataka’s Cricket Advisory Committee and Mansur, who is the side’s bowling coach, watched in unison as the team fought back against the Railways to seal a famous win.
ALSO READ | Ranji Trophy: Tamil Nadu will ‘most probably’ qualify for knockouts, feels TN chief selector
“In 1997 I was a player, now a coach. Obviously, there was a lot of heart-beating. We are going forward with a new team. I really appreciated the way we fought back and that is what Karnataka stands for,” Mansur said.
Mansur was also full of praise for Manish and V. Vyshak whose partnership laid the foundation for the chase.
“Till Manish was there I had a lot of confidence because he has drilled Karnataka out many times during the past also. Vyshak also has a good technique to play spinners,” he said.
“Just like Ganesh said that day, Vyshak told me, ‘Don’t worry, from my side 30 runs is assured. I can negotiate this.’ He’s becoming a good all-rounder for Karnataka and hopefully, he’ll play for India also,” the coach added.
Comments
SHARE