Mumbai's defeats to Baroda and J&K told us that we can beat them too: Vidarbha's assistant coach

Mumbai's cricketers are part of winning dressing rooms, and they make for good coaches too. Former Mumbai seamer Atul Ranade has continued this tradition. Since the time Ranade joined Vidarbha in June last year, Vidarbha have reached two successive Ranji Trophy finals, winning the title on the second occasion.

During their 2024-25 triumphant Ranji Trophy campaign, Vidarbha won all their 10 matches in succession-a rare, phenomenal feat indeed. In the semifinals at home at the Jamtha in Nagpur, they downed last season's Ranji champions Mumbai by 80 runs.

Ranade feels that Mumbai's defeats against Baroda and Jammu & Kashmir in the last Ranji season convinced Vidarbha that they too could vanquish the 42-time Ranji champions, and avenge their 169-run loss in the final of the Ranji Trophy final in March last season.

"After Mumbai lost to J&K in Mumbai (with six to seven current India players in their XI) and were also beaten in an away game to Baroda, it opened up a small gate in our minds that this season, if we play to a solid plan and happen to face them, then this Mumbai team can be beaten. It was even better that we beat the domestic giants in the semfinals, as it was a huge booster for Vidarbha going into the Ranji final," Ranade told Mumbai Mirror. Vidarbha beat Kerala in the summit clash.

Being extremely attached to Mumbai cricket, Ranade made it clear that he would be interested in returning to the Mumbai coaching staff in the 2025-26 season, provided the Mumbai Cricket Association offers the role of the head coach.

"Having been a part of the Mumbai Team as a player in the momentous year of 1996/97 when we bagged all the three BCCI championships, The Wills, The Ranji and The Irani and upon being the fielding coach, we won the Syed Mushtaq Ali as well for the first time in 2022/23, which is why being associated with Mumbai has always been nostalgic for me as it brings back a lot of fond memories. That being said, if offered the role of the head coach, I would be more than willing to lead this Mumbai Ranji team to achieve the same and more again," he said.

"I've spent three seasons with Mumbai as the fielding coach, and two with Vidarbha as the assistant coach. In both my seasons with Vidarbha, we reached the Ranji finals and won the Ranji Trophy this season. So. I've got the experience," Raade asserted.

Decoding the reason for Vidarbha's Ranji triumph this season, Ranade said, "The basic importance of having everyone aligned towards one GOAL was important this season and the same was discussed with the squad. The whole squad worked hard together in all the three departments in a good cricketing atmosphere. Also, after losing the finals last year there was fire in the belly to do well this year. The biggest satisfaction point this season was winning the Ranji Trophy convincingly by staying undefeated in all ten games.An absolute rare phenomenon."

An impressive thing about Vidarbha in the last two Ranji Trophy seasons, has been their electric fielding. Clearly, having been Mumbai's ex-fielding coach, Ranade has made a difference in this department, stressing that the players start working on this aspect during the off-season camp.

"Good fielding is like a good habit. It’s accepted that when fielding every thing will not go in one's favour, but it is important that how hard have you worked on it prior to the games and in the off-season. We started our fielding sessions in August and kept loading it before the games. The boys responded beautifully as they turned the course of the match on many occasions with spectacular catches and outstanding one hand pick up and run-outs. Apart from clean fielding from Game 1 of the Ranji Trophy, some players like (Atharva) Taide, Karun (Nair), (Yash) Rathod, Danish (Malewar) and (Yash) Thakur created magical moments for us from the quarter-finals onwards," Ranade explained.

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