Chandrakant Pandit: ‘The Khadoos coach’ who took Madhya Pradesh to the Ranji Trophy final after 23 years

New Delhi: Time repeats itself. Give everyone a second chance. Maybe the same second chance came in the life of Chandrakat Pandit. After beating Bengal, the Madhya Pradesh team reached the Ranji Trophy final after 23 years. When MP last played in the final in 1998-99, the captain was Chandrakant Pandit. Incidentally, this time again, he is the team’s coach. Now, this 60-year-old veteran would like to fulfill the wish that went unfulfilled two decades ago.

Chandrakant is called coach of Khadoos
Pandit, popularly known as Chandu Sir among players, is considered a very strict coach. Knows how to get the best out of the players. With this style, he made a team like the Vidarbha champions for two consecutive years in 2017-18 and 2018-19. Before joining Vidarbha, Chandrakant was the coach of Mumbai and under his guidance, Mumbai won the title in 2015/16 and were runners-up in 2016/17. He also wants to do the same miracle for Madhya Pradesh. In an interview after beating Punjab in the quarter-finals, he said: “I don’t care what people think of my mood. You can have a good day or a bad day on the court, but you have to maintain the discipline of the game.

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Finals against the city where you grew up
Madhya Pradesh will face the strongest team in Ranji Trophy history in the title match, advancing to the final of the prestigious tournament for a record 47th time based on a first-leg lead against India. Uttar Pradesh. The match ended in a draw. The final will be played from June 22 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Two former Mumbai players will face off in the final. Mumbai coach Amol Majumdar and Madhya Pradesh coach Chandrakant Pandit both played for Mumbai.

Played 5 Tests and 36 ODIs for India
Born September 30, 1961 in Bombay (now Mumbai), Chandrakat also played for India. This wicket-keeper batsman played 36 One Day Internationals and 5 Test matches between 1986 and 1992. He made his ODI debut against New Zealand in Sharjah in 1986 and his Test debut against England in Leeds the same year. However, even once he could not break the 50 run mark.

Ranji Trophy: Bombay in the final without winning the semi-final, MP has done wonders after 23 years
Support from pillars like Gavaskar-Vengsarkar
Chandrakant Pandit’s name is taken with great respect in national cricket. During his first-class career, he played 138 games, scoring 8,209 points at an average of 48.57. The highest score of 202 with 22 centuries and 42 half centuries is enough to say what a player he was. As a wicketkeeper, he also made 281 catches. 41′ Stumping also tells of his agility. He was playing for the Mumbai team, which had players like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sandeep Patil and Ashok Mankad together.

How MP reached the final
Bengal needed 350 points to win, but the team could only score 175 points. Karthikeya, who played IPL for Mumbai Indians, won five wickets for 67 runs in 32 overs. He took eight wickets for 128 runs in the game. Playing ahead of their previous day’s score of 96 for four, Bengal added 79 points. Madhya Pradesh bowlers led by Karthikeya eliminated Bengal in 28.2 overs.