Having made final, Kaif UPs ante

Mumbai were conquered and Uttar Pradesh had just entered their third Ranji Trophy final ever, their first in eight years. So how did the pla...

3 min readMumbaiJan 24, 2006 12:00 AM IST

Mumbai were conquered and Uttar Pradesh had just entered their third Ranji Trophy final ever, their first in eight years. So how did the players celebrate? With a game of volleyball, which soon split into several playful wrestling one-on-ones in a distant corner of the Wankhede stadium on Monday.

Soon after Gyanendra Pandey smacked an off-drive to romp past Mumbai’s target of 214 runs, the Uttar Pradesh dressing room emptied onto the field. It was a ploy first adopted by UP’s cricketers to keep the media at bay each evening and also to limber down after a long hard day on the field.

‘‘We bonded over volleyball games this season, not inside closed doors’’, Pandey said.

UP have never won the Ranji Trophy, but have twice gone down to Karnataka in the finals. And old warhorses Pandey and Ashish Winston Zaidi are keen to finish on the winning side this year. ‘‘We’ve stumbled twice, but after starting in ordinary fashion, we’ve reached the final this season, so we want to go all the way,’’ said a visibly excited Zaidi, who had triggered Mumbai’s batting collapse on the third morning and set up the win.

Essentially a mid-table side in the elite division, Uttar Pradesh had shrugged off a sluggish start to record three straight outright wins and can thank their bowlers for the turnaround.

‘‘Getting 20 wickets in all three matches means our bowling has been spot-on,’’ said captain Mohammad Kaif, who chose to play down his own crucial contribution of 128 runs over two innings, a quarter of the team’s scores. An enviable blend of wise old hands and youngsters like Piyush Chawla and Suresh Raina, who are on the national fringes, Uttar Pradesh turned the corner after Md Kaif took over from Jyoti Yadav. The team admittedly has looked a sprightly and fitter unit since.

‘‘It’s not that UP didn’t have good cricketers. Some like Zaidi were unlucky to miss the India bus. But now with so many youngsters coming up well and those like me and Raina in the India dressing room, we have started believing that we can aim higher,’’ said Kaif.

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Winning the Ranji Trophy at Kanpur is only the first step for this bunch. ‘‘The volleyball will remain constant,’’ reminds Shallabh Srivastav, a self-proclaimed crack setter.

Shivani Naik

Shivani Naik is a senior sports journalist and Assistant Editor at The Indian Express. She is widely considered one of the leading voices in Indian Olympic sports journalism, particularly known for her deep expertise in badminton, wrestling, and basketball. Professional Profile Role: Assistant Editor and Columnist at The Indian Express. Specialization: While she covers a variety of sports, she is the primary authority on badminton for the publication. She also writes extensively about tennis, track and field, wrestling, and gymnastics. Writing Style: Her work is characterized by "technical storytelling"—breaking down the biomechanics, tactics, and psychological grit of athletes. She often provides "long reads" that explore the personal journeys of athletes beyond the podium. Key Topics & Recent Coverage (Late 2025) Shivani Naik’s recent articles (as of December 2025) focus on the evolving landscape of Indian sports as athletes prepare for the 2026 Asian Games and beyond: Indian Badminton's "Hulks": She has recently written about a new generation of Indian shuttlers characterized by power and physicality, such as Ayush Shetty and Sathish Karunakaran, marking a shift from the traditionally finesse-based Indian style. PV Sindhu’s Resurgence: A significant portion of her late-2025 work tracks PV Sindhu’s tactical shifts under new coaching, focusing on her "sparkle" and technical tweaks to break out of career slumps. The "Group of Death": In December 2025, she provided detailed tactical previews for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty’s campaign in the BWF World Tour Finals. Tactical Deep Dives: She frequently explores technical trends, such as the rise of "backhand deception" in modern badminton and the importance of court drift management in international arenas. Legacy and History: She often revisits the careers of legends like Saina Nehwal and Syed Modi, providing historical context to current Indian successes. Notable Recent Articles BWF World Tour Finals: Satwik-Chirag have it all to do to get through proverbial Group of Death. (Dec 2025) The age of Hulks in Indian badminton is here. (Dec 2025) Treadmill, Yoganidra and building endurance: The themes that defined the resurgence of Gayatri and Treesa. (Dec 2025) Ayush Shetty beats Kodai Naraoka: Will 20-year-old be the headline act in 2026? (Nov 2025) Modern Cinderella tale – featuring An Se-young and a shoe that fits snugly. (Nov 2025) Other Sports Interests Beyond the court, Shivani is a passionate follower of South African cricket, sometimes writing emotional columns about her irrational support for the Proteas, which started because of love for Graeme Smith's dour and doughty Test playing style despite being a left-hander, and sustained over curiosity over their heartbreaking habit of losing ICC knockouts. You can follow her detailed analysis and columns on her official Indian Express profile page. ... Read More

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