Shailender stars in Chinmaya's triumph

NAGAPATTINAM:

Getting into the ◣I for the Ranji Trophy final in place of injured Mohit Avasthi — Mumbai’s highest wickettaker coming into the final — was the fairytale ending for Dhawal Kulkarni’s First Class career. The script ended on an even better note as Kulkarni — the king of Ranji finals — took the final wicket to end his career on a high.

It was the fifth final Mumbai had won where Kulkarni — the pacer who played his 96th First Class game — featured in.

In the first four, he had three fivewicket hauls and a matchturning 87 with the willow — his personal best — against Karnataka in 200910, a match he describes as his “most memorable”.

No wonder then that Rahane stressed that the team requested him to prolong his retirement by a season while Rohit Sharma referred to him as “Mumbai’s warrior” in a social media post.

Road ahead unclear

For Kulkarni, though, the road ahead is unclear but being the workhorse he has been, he promised to be involved with cricket.

“I have not thought about it much, but cricket has given me so much that I want to give back to it, whether it be coaching or whatever I get,” Kulkarni said.

“Winning a final in a tough way is what you want and that’s what we did as a team. We hung on to our nerves, put pressure, bowled really well, all the bowlers chipped in, it was what you could say bowling in partnership and that’s what we did,” Kulkarni said.

More than his 12 ODIs and two T20Is for India, Kulkarni is hailed as a domestic stalwart.

Ever since he marked his Ranji debut with a fivewicket haul in November 2008, Kulkarni has been the leader of the Mumbai’s pace pack.

In fact, on Thursday, the quickest Mumbai pacer Tushar Deshpande asked captain Ajinkya Rahane to get Kulkarni to bowl and pick the last wicket.

“I should have played more (for India) than I did but that wasn’t in my hands.

“I wanted to help Mumbai win by getting my A game, especially in the knockouts. Whenever I played for Mumbai, I wanted the lion to roar,” Kulkarni said.

As much as Kulkarni will miss wearing the lion’s crest — the signature emblem of Mumbai Cricket Association — the lion’s crest will also miss him.

V.

Chinmaya Vidyalaya 128/9 in 20 overs (S. Adith 29, A. Ahamed Hafil 3/9, Tharanesh 3/7) bt Adharsh MHSS 63 in 11.4 overs (V.S. Dheeran 25, V. Shailender