Mumbai celebrate wildly

It was absolute madness inside the Mumbai dressing room after they thrashed Saurashtra to win their 40th Ranji Trophy title at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday.

Players screamed emphatically as celebration refused to die down for at least a couple of hours.

We've Done it again: Mumbai players celebrate with the Ranji Trophy after beating Saurashtra by an innings and 125 runs in the final at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday. Mumbai now have 40 Ranji Trophy titles to their credit. Pic/Atul Kamble

A source in the dressing room revealed to MiD DAY: "Champagne was sprayed on all the players. But nobody dared to do the same on Sachin (Tendulkar).

Once the champagne was over, the players smashed everything that was in the fridge. It included eggs, ketchup, curd, lassi and what not. It was an absolutely wild celebration." A player said: "As a mark of respect and seniority, nobody poured the champagne on Sachin Sir."

Tendulkar too...
Tendulkar too partied like a kid, the source informed. "Amongst the senior players, he was most actively involved. He celebrated like a kid. In spite of achieving all possible records in the cricketing world, he still cherishes the importance of winning the Ranji Trophy. His involvement on and off the field was phenomenal," he said.

Even the Mumbai Cricket Association's senior officials, including president Ravi Savant, were dragged into the celebration.

It is learnt that during the celebration, the team's video analyst Saurabh Walkar got injured. "One of the champagne bottles slipped from a players hand and broke. The glass pieces may have hurt his leg. But he is fine now," said the source.

"But the cleaning of the dressing room will take at least three to four hours. It is in that bad shape. But never mind, such celebrations do not happen everyday," the source added.u00a0

Superstitious Mumbai players
Many members in the Mumbai squad have been clamouring for rooms with even numbers throughout the Ranji season, it is learnt. "Players, especially younger ones, started getting a feeling that rooms with even numbers have been lucky for them. It has been working for a few of them. So, they continued to follow it," a team source said.

Lucky jersey
The Mumbai team manager Shrikant Tigdi ensured he wore his lucky jersey during the Ranji Trophy final against Saurashtra. He sported it during all the matches of the season. "It is my lucky jersey. Whenever I put on that jersey, Mumbai has won. I wore it when I was manager of the Mumbai U-14, U-16, U-19 and U-22 wins," Tigdi said.

Double bonus
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president Ravi Savant has promised to match the prize money of Rs 2 crore dished out by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. "We will match the Board's prize money and also see if anything more can be done. Sachin (Tendulkar) requested me to look after the players' needs. So we will work that out soon," he said.