A giant wave of pride and joy rippled through the cricketing fraternity in Karnataka after the team retained the Ranji Trophy in Mumbai on Thursday.
Excerpts:
E.A.S. Prasanna: Full marks to the team and I am proud of them. Vinay (Kumar) led the team well and the team reaped the benefits of the good start it had in the season. The confidence was maintained right through. Many times our depth came in handy and even in the final, from five-down with not much on the board, Karnataka went on to post a huge total.
My congratulations to the team. I admired the way Karun (Nair) and (K.L.) Rahul performed in the final. We also should not forget the yeoman service the KSCA rendered in giving the side all the support and encouragement it needed.
Anil Kumble: It is a great achievement. The team has shaped up well. J. Arun Kumar (batting coach) and Mansur Ali Khan (bowling coach) have moulded the team very well. Vinay has done a good job as captain; he has led the boys well and led by example, with a five-for in the semifinal and final, and a hundred too in the summit clash. He, along with Shardul Thakur, have the highest number of wickets (48) this season; that is creditable too.
The team showed character, like in the final when Karun and Rahul rescued the squad from five for 84. It’s a relatively young team and its core has been the same over the last few years.
Winning the Ranji two years in a row is a terrific achievement. Like us in the 1990s, I am sure players from this squad will also go on to play for India. That is good because it gives an opportunity for other youngsters to excel for the State. It happened during our time and I am sure it will happen again. Even now Stuart (Binny) is in New Zealand (with the Indian team for the World Cup), and I am sure he is happy for the team from there.
Rahul Dravid: My congratulations to the management, coaching staff and the players. There have been good performances all through. To win the title one year and then to back it up with another the next year is a terrific performance and they can be proud of that achievement.
Their hunger and consistency is terrific and that has impressed me the most. Despite all the success they are still hungry and they are humble during the process. They are also well-led and well-coached. They never eased up and I am impressed with that.
Like in the 1990s, young batsmen have emerged. We had good fast bowlers then and it is the same story now. Shreyas (Gopal) has come along as a spinner. This team has great potential and it is a good group like the one in the ’90s. Hope they keep up this consistency. The most heartening thing is that this is a young team, and as long as they keep improving and get better, it augurs well for Karnataka. This season we have had new players coming in and they immediately performed, and that is a huge positive — fresh faces coming in and performing.
Javagal Srinath: It is heartening to see the dominating performance of the Karnataka team right through the season. There was so much happening outside: Test matches, World Cup and so on but the team never lost focus and stayed on its path and that is creditable. Everyone chipped in and I am especially happy with the way Vinay and Karun performed in the final. In fact, I am happy with the entire team.
The side has won almost everything in the last two years and I only hope this translates into a bigger stage where the players can excel at the highest level. All credit to J. Arunkumar and Mansur Ali Khan too.
