‘We have the self belief,' says MP's Chandrakant Pandit ahead of Mumbai clash

Chandrakant Pandit and Amol Muzumdarmdashboth students of late legendary coach Ramakant Achrekarmdashwill be in opposite camps as coaches in the Madhya Pradesh v Mumbai Ranji Trophy final at Bangalore from WednesdayMuzumdar in his first year as Mumbai coach has attracted plaudits while Pandit an experienced coach has done wonders with Madhya Pradesh and has enhanced his track recordChandrakant PunditHe guided Mumbai to victory in 200203 200304 and 201516 after which he masterminded Vidarbharsquos Ranji Trophy success in 201718 and 201819Pandit was not keen to dwell on the fact that as a former Mumbai coach he will now cross swords with the same team ldquoThe Mumbai team are playing well They won their last two games against Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh with good performances Their batsmen are in good form The confidence levels of both MP and Mumbai teams are goodrdquo Pandit told midday from Bangalore on SundayAlso Read Indian World Champions unite Anju Bobby George meets Kapil Dev send fans into a tizzyBack in 201516Pandit was Mumbairsquos coach when they beat Saurashtra by an innings and 21 runs in the 201516 final at Pune He helped Mumbai reach the final next season when they lost to Gujarat by five wickets in Indore Current Mumbai captain Prithvi Shaw is the only player from the 201617 team who will be playing against MP in the decider But Pandit indicated that Mumbai will not be at a disadvantage by not having players with the experience of playing finals He said ldquoMumbairsquos culture is different Though they Mumbai players are new they are playing well and that gives them confidence Even Madhya Pradesh players performed well and have that kind of confidence MP also have new players and they have played very wellrdquo Pandit 60 a former India wicketkeeperbatsman who played five Tests and 36 ODIs started MPrsquos Ranji knockout preparations by reaching Bangalore 20 days prior to the quarterfinals against Punjab to play a couple of practice games Coach hopefulldquoWe had two strong teamsmdashGujarat and Keralamdashin our group When we beat them of course we qualified for the knockouts but players got that confidence as well Punjab and Bengal are also strong teams in the country When we beat them it gave us another level of confidence I think getting that sort of selfbelief started from the first league game against Gujarat 106 runvictory I hope we continue in the same veinrdquo said PanditAs MP skipper in 199899 Pandit was close to clinching the coveted Ranji Trophy but lost the final to Karnataka by 96 runs in Bangalore Pundit now eyes a win at the very same groundmdashM Chinnaswamy StadiumldquoEveryone whether he is a player or a coach wants to play in the final and win it That desire remains the same Yes we MP missed out on winning the Ranji Trophy 23 years ago and it hurts Conversely itrsquos always a nice feeling as captain or coach to win a Ranji finalrdquo Pandit added1999The year MP last entered a Ranji Trophy final