Twentynine years ago on this day, the Wankhede was witness to one of the greatest matches in Indian domestic cricket. Sudipto Gupta looks back at that nail-biting May 7 contest.
Long before the thrills of IPL, traditional cricket conjured magical moments out of mundane afternoons, often blurring the great divide between the possible and the impossible.
Like what transpired on the final day of the 1990-91 Ranji Trophy final, between hosts Bombay and Haryana. It turned out to be an extraordinary contest, which, like a good thriller, kept everyone guessing till the end and threw up a stunning result.
The match pitted two teams enormously hungry for success for different reasons. Haryana, captained by none other than Kapil Dev, had never won the Ranji Trophy, losing to Delhi five seasons ago in their only final appearance till then. Bombay, the perennial favourites of the tournament, hadn’t won it since 1984-85 and it hurt their pride.
Those were the days when the Ranji Trophy still attracted the best players and both the teams had quite a few of them. While Kapil’s Haryana had Chetan Sharma, Ajay Jadeja, Vijay Yadav and Amarjit Kaypee, Bombay, captained by Sanjay Manjrekar, had Dilip Vengsarkar, Lalchand Rajput, Chandrakant Pandit, Vinod Kambli and a young Sachin Tendulkar in their ranks.
Haryana, electing to bat first, rode Deepak Sharma’s 199 to post 522 in their first innings. Bombay’s first innings folded at 410, a deficit of 112. The Bombay bowlers, however, fared better in the second innings to dismiss Haryana for 242 on the morning of the fifth day — May 7 — with Salil Ankola and Sanjay Patil claiming three wickets each. Bombay had a little over two sessions to chase down a 355-run target.
The start wasn’t good for the hosts, they were three down for 34. In walked an 18-year-old Tendulkar to give company to the much senior Vengsarkar. While cricketing grammar would have perhaps advised caution, Tendulkar showed none of it. He counterattacked with disdain, a straight six off the mighty Kapil announcing his genius. Word got around quickly and the Wankhede was suddenly the playground of expectations of around 30,000 people.
Tendulkar made 96 off just 75 balls with nine fours and five sixes and put together 134 runs with Vengsarkar. But while his assault unnerved Haryana, his untimely dismissal — caught at extra cover off a full toss — brought them back into the match. Kambli made 45 but the others lower down the Bombay line-up faltered and they were staring at certain defeat after being reduced to 305 for nine.
Vengsarkar was stranded at one end with debutant Abey Kuruvilla at the other. Fifty more runs had to be made. With life at the crease becoming as uncertain as the city’s stock exchange on Dalal Street, Vengsarkar decided to shift gears. He plundered 6,4,6,6,4 off an over from Haryana off-spinner Yogendra Bhandari. Bombay went closer to an improbable win.
By then, Vengsarkar had reached his hundred and Kuruvilla, quite astonishingly, was giving him good company. Vengsarkar had called in a runner, Rajput, with cramps restricting his movement. But with just three required from more than two overs, Kuruvilla played a Chetan Sharma delivery to short fine leg. There was no need to risk a single but Rajput called for one and ran down the crease. The inexperienced Kuruvilla wasted time watching the ball and couldn’t beat the fielder’s throw and was run out. Bombay lost by two runs, a heartbreaking finish for them.
Vengsarkar, unbeaten on an epic 139 off 137 balls with nine fours and five sixes, slumped to the ground in tears and remained so for quite some time.
“I very much remember the match. I was greatly disappointed because we lost by only two runs. It took me a long time to recover from that loss,” Vengsarkar told The Telegraph.
“Kapil and Chetan bowled brilliantly throughout the match. And Sachin also played superbly for us... One of the best innings I have seen him play. Unfortunately, he got out at the wrong time, otherwise we could have won the match... Such was his form, such was his dominance over the proceedings.”
Did anybody dare to speak to him in the Bombay dressing room post the heartbreak?
“Nobody really spoke after the match, because once you lose, there’s no point discussing it. You don’t enjoy yourself. And what’s the use of discussing it after the whole thing is over,” Vengsarkar said.
“It was disappointment, you can’t call it anger. You can’t keep anger inside you. You work hard till the very end and then lose by a whisker, that’s disappointment. You obviously feel bad about it. In fact, it was the biggest disappointment for me in domestic cricket. Internationally though I played many matches which had close finishes, like the Test series in Australia in 1977-78.”
Asked if the game rose to a different height because of the quality of the players involved, the former India captain said: “Of course, there’s no question about it. The Ranji Trophy is a very important tournament in the BCCI’s calendar, but the Board has had scant respect for it of late. They organise U-19, India A tours during the course of the Ranji Trophy.”
“If a 19-year old guy scores a double hundred in the Ranji Trophy, that will give him more exposure and experience than those tours. That’s because here he is playing against players most of whom are 28-30 years old, mature players. The Board shouldn't compromise on that. I understand India A tours are also important, but there should be a proper window for it, not in the middle of the Indian domestic season.
“The Irani Trophy and Duleep Trophy are also very important tournaments and they should be played in September-October, maybe at some place where it doesn’t rain so much at that time. Then the senior India players can also play those games and we will have a better idea of the talent pool.”
But that’s how it is. We miss the IPL, but we have perhaps stopped missing such Ranji Trophy games.
