‘Met Shah Rukh Khan before IPL 2012 for KKR, but didn’t agree to work under a foreign coach': Chandrakant Pandit

Not often in cricket, a coach hogs the limelight after a team's title-winning run but such is the aura and legacy of Chandrakant Pandit that he becomes the centre of attraction whenever his team goes all the way. On Sunday, it happened for the sixth time in Ranji Trophy. After leading Mumbai (thrice) and Vidarbha (twice) to Ranji Trophy triumphs, Pandit gave Madhya Pradesh their maiden first-class title. They defeated the mighty Mumbai by six wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Despite his enviable numbers as a coach in the domestic circuit, Pandit has never been associated with an Indian Premier League franchise. Does it bother the former India wicketkeeper-batter? "Agar phone karunga, toh kuch mil jayega par who mera style kabi thaa nahi (If I call (any IPL teams), I will get something but that's not my style)," he had told PTI.

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He recalled how a meeting with KKR principal owner Shah Rukh Khan was fixed at the latter's bungalow before the 2012 season.

"I met Mr Shah Rukh Khan back then but somehow I couldn't bring myself to work under a foreign coach,'' he had said on that day.

He is now 60 plus and won't be considered for any national team's coaching assignment. But Pandit has no qualms.

"Every trophy gives satisfaction but this one is special. I couldn't do it as an MP captain years back (23 years). All these years, I have always felt that I had left something back over here. That's the reason I am a bit more excited and emotional about it," a visibly exhausted Pandit said after his latest Ranji Trophy triumph.

Pandit has seen heartbreaks as a player – his best Test knock of 39 came in the famous tied Test against Australia at Chepauk. Then, he was well set on 24 in the World Cup semi-final versus England at the Wankhede Stadium in 1987, but India lost the game. Or the gut-wrenching one-run defeat in the Ranji Trophy final against Kapil Dev's Haryana.

But what had hurt him the most was that Ranji final for MP in 1999 when he was on his hunches sobbing inconsolably after being beaten by Karnataka. It was his last professional game and he had lost it.

(With PTI inputs)