Sachin Tendulkar gave valuable suggestions for reviving Mumbai cricket, says MCA official

The Mumbai Ranji team was known to produce a "Gharana" of world-class batsmen who scored heaps of runs and tormented the bowlers. Players like Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Vengsarkar, etc who have served the Indian team for a long time have come through the ranks of the Mumbai Ranji setup. These batsmen were called "Khadoos" for their ability to put a price on their wicket and bat for long periods of time. There was a time when opposition feared playing Mumbai.

But things have changed recently. Mumbai's decline has coincided with the rise of teams like Karnataka, Gujarat, Vidarbha, etc and Sachin Tendulkar believes that changes need to be made from the grassroots level to revive Mumbai's lost glory. In the meeting, he made many suggestions like avoiding bus travel at night, having more grounds in the city etc. The meeting was attended by president Vijay Patil, vice-president Amol Kale, secretary Sanjay Naik and members of the Apex Council including Ajinkya Naik, Amit Dani, Gaurav Payadde and Vihang Sarnaik.

Sachin focused on improving the quality of cricket played at lower levels and also spoke about promoting women's cricket. His other suggestions were ensuring a 14-member squad for school teams and respectful farewell to be given to senior players. Maybe the unfair treatment with Mumbai veteran Wasim Jaffer made him suggest this point. Tendulkar also said that minutes of meetings of the selection committee be recorded, the source said. A senior MCA official said half of the suggestions were in the process of being implemented.

Vihang Sarnaik later tweeted "Had our first Apex Council meet today and we were joined by 'The Lil Master' who shared his vision and thoughts with us. I'm blessed to have had this discussion while we work towards our common goal of developing and taking Mumbai cricket to much greater heights."

Many of the suggestions given by Sachin were already those that the MCA was working upon. With positive messages and vibes coming out from the meeting according to sources, there is a hope that Mumbai will soon be on its way to becoming a mighty Ranji team again.