Chandrakant Pandit recalled how a meeting with KKR principal owner Shah Rukh Khan was fixed at the latter’s bungalow before the 2012 season.
Not often in cricket, a coach hogs the limelight after a team’s title-winning run but such is the aura and legacy of Chandrakant Pandit that he becomes the centre of attraction whenever his team goes all the way.
Chandrakant Pandit Recalled Meeting Shah Rukh Khan Before IPL 2012
On Sunday, it happened for the sixth time in Ranji Trophy. After leading Mumbai (thrice) and Vidarbha (twice) to Ranji Trophy triumphs, Chandrakant Pandit gave Madhya Pradesh their maiden first-class title. They defeated the mighty Mumbai by six wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Despite his enviable numbers as a coach in the domestic circuit, Chandrakant Pandit has never been associated with an Indian Premier League franchise.
“If I call (any IPL teams), I will get something but that’s not my style,” he said.
He recalled how a meeting with KKR principal owner Shah Rukh Khan was fixed at the latter’s bungalow before the 2012 season.
“I met Mr. Shah Rukh Khan back then but somehow I couldn’t bring myself to work under a foreign coach,” he had said on that day.
It took 23 years for tears of heartbreak to change to tears of joy for Chandrakant Pandit at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Chandrakant Pandit, as captain of Madhya Pradesh, was on the verge of making history, dominating Karnataka for the best part of the 1998-99 final before Vijay Bharadwaj stole victory from the jaws of defeat, picking up 6 for 24.
Chandrakant Pandit, as a coach, would have felt similar nerves when Madhya Pradesh was 2/1 in pursuit of a small target of 108 in the Ranji Trophy 2021-22 final. But nobody in the Mumbai ranks could do a Vijay Bharadwaj and, Madhya Pradesh, led by Aditya Shrivastava, could not be denied, winning their maiden title.
Chandrakant Pandit Felt Winning Ranji Trophy 2022 For Madhya Pradesh Was Special As He Failed To Do It As A Skipper 23 Years Back
He is now aged 60 plus and hence won’t be considered for any national team’s coaching assignment. But Chandrakant Pandit has no qualms.
“Every trophy gives satisfaction but this one is special. I couldn’t do it as an MP captain years back (23 years). All these years, I have always felt that I had left something back over here. That’s the reason I am a bit more excited and emotional about it,” a visibly exhausted Pandit said after his latest Ranji Trophy triumph.
Chandrakant Pandit has seen heartbreaks as a player – his best Test knock of 39 came in the famous tied Test against Australia at Chepauk. Then, he was well set on 24 in the World Cup semi-final versus England at the Wankhede Stadium in 1987, but India lost the game. The gut-wrenching one-run defeat in the Ranji Trophy final against Kapil Dev’s Haryana also hurt him.
But what had hurt him the most was that Ranji final for MP in 1999 when he was on his hunches sobbing inconsolably after being beaten by Karnataka. It was his last professional game and he had lost it.