Everyone's a winner for a change...

Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy...

Cricket was the eventual winner...

The groundsman was winning praises...

and this kid won all the hearts ....

Just watch this video before I say anything... Even folks who do not like cricket, I sincerely request you guys to take a look at the athleticism....




Manish Pandey has surely won all hearts in this match, you felt for him just like you felt for Sachin after the Chennai Test Match India lost to Pakistan...

After a dodgy lbw for zero in the first innings, the kid walked out to bat at 47/3 chasing with Karnataka 292 runs away from victory with an angry Ajit Agarkar bowling really well... what followed was some breathtaking stroke play where this kid simply breezed through, pulling, hooking, cutting, driving and what not... He ended with 144 of 151 balls an innings studded with glourious shots. An India spot beckons... sooner than later... just keep churning runs and plucking catches like the one above out of no where... !!!!!!!!

I am sure every Mumbaikar's heart too felt for this Karnataka lad as he fell short of pulling off a stunning comeback by his team.

The match than went into a gripping final hour and while there was a catch dropped with Karnataka needing just 8 runs & it just seemed Mumbai had lost it... but the bull dogs of Mumbai, who in many ways are in Domestic Cricket what Australia is in world cricket, never said die....

Karnataka lost but cricket won.... ! A wonderful cricketing spectacle... !

I hope this match has opened the eyes of the BCCI as to how to go about preparing pitches, thanks to a wonderful wicket, this match was much more talked about and much much more exciting and pleasurable to watch than the series in Bangladesh. 5 day cricket is alive and its Kicking with some VIGOUR !!

P.S. - A 20 year old young rookie fast bowler Abhimany Mithun of Karnataka is another young quickie to watch out for... !!!!! You will hear about him in the days to come... !!!!!