 "Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar at Ranji Trophy final match")
Red-ball cricket needed it, Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma wanted it.
The growing emphasis on the importance of domestic cricket and red-ball games got another shot in the arm with Tendulkar and Rohit attending the third day's play during the Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Vidarbha here on Tuesday.
Coming off an excellent 4-1 series win over England with a depleted Indian side and heading into IPL 2024 season, Rohit appeared relaxed and was spotted in the Mumbai dressing room during the afternoon, with the dominant hosts running away with the contest on the field.
Rohit was seen scrolling through his phone while also chatting with Mumbai teammates including Shardul Thakur, but how did the India skipper made his way to the domestic giants' dressing room with a phone while not being a part of the squad remained an intriguing question.
A legendary presence at the Wankhede Stadium @sachin_rt | #RanjiTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank | #Final | #MUMvVID
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) March 12, 2024
Follow the match https://t.co/k7JhkLhOID pic.twitter.com/i5bSQlGcmO
In the morning session on Tuesday, the TV camera kept panning towards the MCA President Box wherein sat the legendary Tendulkar to witness the action.
Tendulkar was spotted sitting alongside former players Dilip Vengsarkar, Subroto Banerjee, a few officials as well as Chandrakant Pandit, the incumbent coach of Madhya Pradesh and Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Little Master, who had termed Mumbai's batting as 'ordinary' on the opening day when the 41-time champions were shot out for a mere 224, appeared satisfied with the improvement shown in the second innings wherein Musheer Khan (135), Ajinkya Rahane (73) and Iyer flayed the opposition.
Tendulkar took to his social media platforms to share his observations.
"Mumbai displayed a lot more discipline, patience and commitment in the second innings," he wrote.
"First, a crucial partnership between @ajinkyarahane88 and Musheer Khan put Mumbai in a solid position. Then, Musheer's stand with @ShreyasIyer15 has taken the game further away from Vidarbha. Had a good time watching the game today with my friends and colleagues," Tendulkar added.
The presence of Rohit and Tendulkar came a day after another Mumbai and India legend, Sunil Gavaskar, showed up.
Look who’s here!#TeamIndia Captain Rohit Sharma witnessing the #RanjiTrophy summit clash @ImRo45 | #RanjiTrophy | @IDFCFIRSTBank | #Final | #MUMvVID
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) March 12, 2024
Follow the match https://t.co/k7JhkLhOID pic.twitter.com/CIP1KGkENF
Crowds show up too
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The opening day marked the presence of enthusiastic crowd turning up in decent numbers to full up the Vijay Merchant Pavilion, but they also had to deal with the disappointment of Mumbai batters not making it big in the first essay.
But the disappointment did not last long as Mumbai fought their way back into the final to get into the driver's seat. However, there were some off-field issues that did concern a few.
With the IPL 2024 about 10 days away, the Wankhede Stadium is undergoing renovation work which is expected to be completed before the venue hosts its first game on April 1 between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.
A few fans, though, complained about the lack of a scorecard for fans despite a manually-operated scorecard operational across the field.
There also were complains about the mobile toilets installed near the pavilion but there is not much that can be done since the stadium is witnessing renovation work.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
