30 years ago on this day: Wankhede woe for Mumbai

A recall of Sanjay Manjrekar & Co’s heartbreaking two-run loss to Kapil’s Haryana in the 1990-91 Ranji final 30 years ago on this day

Mumbai have won the Ranji Trophy a record 41 times, but the two-run defeat to Haryana at the Wankhede Stadium on May 7, 1991, exactly 30 years ago, still hurts those who played in that Sanjay Manjrekar-led team or backed Mumbai to win that summit clash.

Batting first, Kapil Dev’s Haryana posted a mammoth 522, thanks to opener Deepak Sharma’s 199, Chetan Sharma’s 98 and 94 by Ajay Jadeja. For Mumbai, debutant pacer Abey Kuruvilla and fast bowler Salil Ankola picked four and three wickets respectively. In reply, Mumbai struggled against off-spinner Yogendra Bhandari (5-118) and Kapil (3-54), but managed 410 after Sanjay Patil and Lalchand Rajput contributed 85 and 74 respectively.     

But, thanks to some superb bowling from Ankola and left-arm spinner Patil, who claimed three wickets apiece and opener Shishir Hattangadi’s offies (2-24), the hosts bounced back to bundle out Haryana for 242. Chasing 355, on the fifth and final day, Mumbai lost their top three batsmen—Rajput (11), Hattangadi (1) and skipper Manjrekar (19)—with just 34 on the board by lunch. However, Dilip Vengsarkar’s unbeaten 139 and a quickfire 96 from young Sachin Tendulkar gave Mumbai hope but those gems failed to take the team over the line.

Mumbai’s wicketkeeper-batsman Chandrakant Pandit, who claimed five catches in the game, scored an unbeaten 40 and 12 in first and second innings respectively, admitted that the loss is still tough to digest while Vengsarkar has been quoted in this newspaper several years ago saying he spent many a sleepless night...literally...after that loss.

“Even now, after 30 years, I am hurt by the way I lost my wicket, playing that sweep shot [to left-arm spinner Pradeep Jain in the second innings]. The top edge went to the cover fielder [Deepak Sharma]. I think I got carried away as the sweep was my favourite shot. I played a really bad shot, which I should have avoided and been around to support Dilip, who played a brilliant, fighting knock,” Pandit told mid-day on Thursday. “Dilip was very angry with the way I got out. He uttered a few harsh words after I played that reckless shot,” Pandit recalled.

While crediting Vengsarkar for bringing Mumbai back in the game, Pandit said: “When Dilip came to bat, Kapil immediately took the ball and bowled a fiery spell. But despite getting hit on a few occasions, Dilip was determined to stay at the wicket, which actually changed the equation of the match. Till the last ball, he was fighting for victory. It was unfortunate that Kuruvilla got run out. We needed three runs for victory and Rajput [who was running for the injured Vengsarkar] thought that one run would get Dilip back on strike. But unfortunately, Dilip’s fighting efforts went in vain with that one run out. That evening, I saw Dilip cry for the first time."

Two current national selectors—chief selector Chetan Sharma (2-59) and selection committee member Kuruvilla (5) were facing each other in that crucial over. Rajput, who is now Zimbabwe’s coach was at the non-striker's end. A misunderstanding resulted in Kuruvilla getting run out and Mumbai fell short by just two runs. 

“It was Dilip’s fighting knock which almost got us to victory. The way he thrashed Bhandari and earned 26 runs in an over [with three sixes and two fours], Haryana nearly gave up. It was one of Dilip’s best innings. Luck played its part and we lost,” Rajput remarked.

More than the players, that final was a treat to watch for thousands of spectators present at the Wankhede Stadium on all five days. Cricket fan Sudarshan Kulkarni was lucky to get two passes from Mumbai pacer Raju Kulkarni, who picked two wickets in the game. “I was playing club cricket at the time and along with my friend Mandar Bandekar, I enjoyed all five days of the match which had some top-class batting and bowling performances from both teams. Among several Mumbai supporters, we too cried at the end of last day,” said Sudarshan.

Just like the players, it was tough for scorer Uday Gharat, 75, who was scoring in only his second first-class game. “My partner was Gangaram Sapkal. The open press box made it very difficult for us to concentrate, especially during the mandatory overs because of the noise from the spectators. We did manual scoring then and this match proved to be a great learning curve for me,” he said.

Though Pandit ended up on the losing side, he used that experience in his successful coaching stints with several teams. “I always bring up this game when I have to drive home the importance of fighting till the last ball of a game,” Pandit concluded.

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