Tendulkar, Rohit's presence at Ranji Trophy final underlines growing emphasis on domestic cricket

Mumbai: Red-ball cricket needed it, Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma wanted it.

The growing emphasis on the importance of domestic cricket and red-ball games got another shot in the arm with Tendulkar and Rohit attending the third day's play during the Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Vidarbha here on Tuesday.

Coming off an excellent 4-1 series win over England with a depleted Indian side and heading into IPL 2024 season, Rohit appeared relaxed and was spotted in the Mumbai dressing room during the afternoon, with the dominant hosts running away with the contest on the field.

Rohit was seen scrolling through his phone while also chatting with Mumbai teammates including Shardul Thakur, but how did the India skipper made his way to the domestic giants' dressing room with a phone while not being a part of the squad remained an intriguing question.

With the backdrop of Shreyas Iyer missing out on a BCCI contract and also losing his spot in the Indian Test side, Rohit witnessed the right-handed batter getting back into his groove but also throwing away his wicket when he was just one hit away from triple-figure mark.

In the morning session on Tuesday, the TV camera kept panning towards the MCA President Box wherein sat the legendary Tendulkar to witness the action.

Tendulkar was spotted sitting alongside former players Dilip Vengsarkar, Subroto Banerjee, a few officials as well as Chandrakant Pandit, the incumbent coach of Madhya Pradesh and Kolkata Knight Riders.

The Little Master, who had termed Mumbai's batting as 'ordinary' on the opening day when the 41-time champions were shot out for a mere 224, appeared satisfied with the improvement shown in the second innings wherein Musheer Khan (135), Ajinkya Rahane (73) and Iyer flayed the opposition.

Tendulkar took to his social media platforms to share his observations.

"Mumbai displayed a lot more discipline, patience and commitment in the second innings," he wrote.

"First, a crucial partnership between @ajinkyarahane88 and Musheer Khan put Mumbai in a solid position. Then, Musheer's stand with @ShreyasIyer15 has taken the game further away from Vidarbha. Had a good time watching the game today with my friends and colleagues," Tendulkar added.

Mumbai displayed a lot more discipline, patience and commitment in the second innings.

First, a crucial partnership between @ajinkyarahane88 and Musheer Khan put Mumbai in a solid position. Then, Musheer's stand with @ShreyasIyer15 has taken the game further away from Vidarbha.… pic.twitter.com/pq76C421mO

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) March 12, 2024

The presence of Rohit and Tendulkar came a day after another Mumbai and India legend, Sunil Gavaskar, showed up.

Gavaskar sat with cricket administrator Ratnakar Shetty and former women's cricket team skipper Diana Edulji as well as former captain and chairman of the Mumbai selection committee, Milind Rege.

Crowds show up too

The opening day marked the presence of enthusiastic crowd turning up in decent numbers to full up the Vijay Merchant Pavilion, but they also had to deal with the disappointment of Mumbai batters not making it big in the first essay.

But the disappointment did not last long as Mumbai fought their way back into the final to get into the driver's seat. However, there were some off-field issues that did concern a few.

With the IPL 2024 about 10 days away, the Wankhede Stadium is undergoing renovation work which is expected to be completed before the venue hosts its first game on April 1 between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

A few fans, though, complained about the lack of a scorecard for fans despite a manually-operated scorecard operational across the field.

There also were complains about the mobile toilets installed near the pavilion but there is not much that can be done since the stadium is witnessing renovation work.