Vijay Merchant was respected by his peers, Sunil Gavaskar idolised by generations and Sachin Tendulkar worshipped by a nation — three eras strung by a common thread called Mumbai cricket team.
The 41-time Ranji Trophy winners will be playing their 500th encounter in the National championship against Baroda at the Wankhede Stadium to become first among the equals.
Having produced the maximum number of international cricketers across three formats, even the staggering statistics will not be able to tell the kind of impact one team has had on Indian cricket over the years.
Gavaskar's discipline and Tendulkar's panache are testimony to Mumbai's 'Gharana' of cricket based on 4D's — Discipline, Devotion, Dedication and Determination.
Add to it Dilip Vengsarkar's grace, Eknath Solkar's courage, Dilip Sardesai's flamboyance and the supple wrists of Rohit Sharma — the 'Maximum City' has time and again given maximum joy to the cricket lovers.
'Khadoos' (uptight) is an attitude that every cricket coach in Mumbai wants their students to inculcate.
So what makes Mumbai Ranji team different from other state teamsIJ Former India captain and Mumbai stalwart Ajit Wadekar attributes it to "Killer Instinct".
Being second best or losing in the semi-finals has always been considered a failure in Mumbai's cricketing parlance.
Wadekar has played several memorable knocks for Mumbai but ask him which is the one that is most memorable and he quipped:"I scored 150 odd runs against Karnataka (Mysore then) on a square turner (Aakhada or mud-pit in cricketing lingo) in the second innings of the game.
Big teams perform on big occasions and Mumbai is no exception. Just like getting the best out of players in the finals, they have also played well in the milestone matches. Mumbai won their 100th and 200th Ranji Trophy games — both against Gujarat. The first in the 1962-63 season by an innings and 40 runs and then in 1978-79 season by innings and 48 runs. Both the games were played in Mumbai.
They also won their 300th Ranji game against Haryana by an innings and 202 runs at Faridabad in the 1993-94 season and and also their 400th Ranji game defeating Bengal by 132 runs to lift the trophy in the 2006-07 season at Mumbai.
The 1990-91 Ranji Trophy final at the Wankhede Stadium was one of finest summit clashes in tournament's history where Kapil Dev's Haryana beat Sanjay Manjrekar's Mumbai by 2 runs. The most poignant moment was a teary-eyed Dilip Vengsarkar leaving the field after an epic 139 after No 11 Abey Kuruvilla was run-out due to a mix-up with Vengsarkar's runner lalchand Rajput.