The Indian domestic red-ball cricket season can be grueling, as it involves travel across states with different temperatures and weather conditions. A Ranji Trophy season is usually around two months long. The tournament witnesses records being made and broken, retirements announced, controversies, and revelations. The 2023-24 season, where Mumbai emerged victorious, will be remembered for the new players like Musheer Khan, who smashed a century in the final, and proven players in new roles - Sai Kishore's leadership for Tamil Nadu that guided the state to the semifinals for the first time since 2016-17. There have also been retirements of seasoned campaigners Manoj Tiwary (Bengal), Saurabh Tiwary (Jharkhand), Varun Aaron (Jharkhand), Faiz Fazal (Vidarbha) and Dhawal Kulkarni (Mumbai) - all India internationals. Some of the off-field incidents left a bad taste in the mouth. Here they are:
1. Unfair treatment to Ayush Badoni
Delhi batter Ayush Badoni got dropped for the match against Uttarakhand in January. There is a section that believes the Delhi and District Cricket Association officials wanted to teach the Indian Premier League (IPL) star a lesson, so he was kept out of the 15-member squad, and asked to stay at the hotel during the match.
The 24-year-old represents the Lucknow Super Giants in the cash-rich league.
He made way for Kshitiz Sharma, who is said to be close to a former BCCI office-bearer.
Highly rated on the national circuit, Badoni returned against Baroda to score 44. He also starred in the 76-run win over Himachal Pradesh with 51 in the first innings and 111 in the second.
Hanuma Vihari versus Andhra Cricket Association
India international batsman Hanuma Vihari announced his departure from Andhra and vowed not to play for the state again.
After the quarterfinal loss to Madhya Pradesh, Vihari revealed that the Andhra Cricket Association asked him to step down from captaincy after the first match of the season. The senior pro had a run-in with a young wicketkeeper-batsman K.N. Prudhviraj.
Vihari believed he was removed from captaincy in response to a complaint by Prudhviraj, who is the son of YSRCP politician Kuntrapakam Narasimha.
According to reports, the senior batsman used a common Telugu expletive during an argument, which Prudhviraj did not like.
The ACA denied the allegations, adding that the selection committee had taken the call regarding his captaincy.
Hanuma Vihari
Sulakshan Kulkarni blaming Tamil Nadu captain R. Sai Kishore for semifinal loss
Tamil Nadu coach Sulakshan Kulkarni blamed captain R. Sai Kishore openly after the semifinal loss to Mumbai.
Kishore listened to his inner voice and instincts throughout his captaincy stint, which worked in Tamil Nadu's favour in the season. His last-minute change of plan to bat and not bowl after winning the toss did not go down well with Kulkarni.
Tamil Nadu was all out for 146 in the first innings. Mumbai put up 378 and dismissed them for 162 to win by an innings and 70 runs.
"I always speak straightforwardly - we lost the match at 9 o'clock on Day 1. We won the toss. As a coach and a Mumbaikar, I know the conditions well. We should have bowled, but the captain had some different instinct," said Kulkarni.
He faced backlash from former Tamil Nadu and India internationals Dinesh Karthik, Hemang Badani and K. Srikkanth.
An infuriated Srikkanth on his YouTube channel said: "This is absolutely not fair. Dear TNCA, please do not recruit such coaches from outside (the state)."
Batting depth of Mumbai
Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande bat at No. 10 and No. 11 for Mumbai. Nobody expected them to score hundreds, and the players achieved much more than that in a crucial quarterfinal against Baroda.
Besides scoring centuries, they stitched a 232-run partnership for the last wicket. Deshpande scored 123 off 129 balls, while Kotian remained unbeaten on 120 off 129 balls.
Deshpande's 123 is now the highest score by a No. 11 Indian batter. He was dismissed on the cusp of breaking Ajay Sharma and Maninder Singh's 233-run stand for Delhi against Mumbai in the 1991-92 semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium.
Tushar Deshpande (second from left)
Gaurav Yadav, a new face leads bowling charts
Fast bowler Gaurav Yadav grew up in Bisoni Kalan in rural Madhya Pradesh. He had not played any age-group cricket but wanted to become a successful fast bowler.
Yadav debuted for Madhya Pradesh in 2012-13, but he featured in only 30 first-class games in 10 years. He moved to Puducherry and took a career-best match haul of 10/98 against Delhi in the season opener. He was one of the chief characters who caused the upset.
Yadav finished the season as the second-highest wicket-taker with 41 wickets in seven outings with best figures of 7/49.
He is 32, and he may not be playing for India but his passion to make up for lost time has been inspirational.
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