Mumbai, Nov 3: The 78th edition of the Ranji Trophy gets underway with 15 teams from the Elite league and the best two teams from the Plate division competing against each other to take home the coveted title. India’s best batsman over the last two decades, Sachin Tendulkar, spoke about the Ranji Trophy in an exclusive chat with bcci.tv.

Speaking on the role of the Ranji Trophy in the development of any budding young cricketer Tendulkar said, “I think Ranji Trophy is an extremely important tournament. I remember in my case, when I was part of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy squad, we had possibly seven or eight Test players and to rub shoulders with the likes of [Dilip] Vengsarkar, [Ravi] Shastri, [Sanjay] Manjrekar, Lalchand Rajput, Chandrakant Pandit, Raju Kulkarni, Suru Nayak, all these top players, it was a great opportunity for me to learn at such an early age. I thoroughly enjoyed my season. I was only 15 then but it was great fun to be part of that team.”

The current Ranji Trophy season will feature a number of Indian stars playing in the competition. Harabhajan Singh will captain the Punjab side, Sourav Ganguly will turn out for Bengal while Irfan Pathan is all set to lead the Baroda pace attack. Quite appropriately, Tendulkar believes that the Ranji Trophy reflects the best of Indian cricket.

“The competition is fierce and that is how it should be. You’ve got to have good tracks to play on and good opposition to play against. That’s what raises the standard of playing. If somebody performs well against a good opposition, then that performance has to be recognised. I’m sure the selectors are trying their best to watch most of the matches. To have the top players playing this tournament is always an additional bonus,” he said.

Mumbai, Tendulkar’s Ranji side, have historically dominated the Ranji Trophy competition with unparalleled success, having won the competition 39 times. With a number of great Indian batsmen including Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar and Tendulkar himself, the legend believes that the young batting stars of Mumbai, like Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, have it in them to carry forward Mumbai’s legacy.

“Yes, we do have very good players. We have players who have delivered. We’ve won the Ranji Trophy so that itself is a clear indication that the team is performing. In the current lot, we have some promising players and in the years to come they will be recognised as great players.”

Speaking on Mumbai’s chances ahead of the current season, Tendulkar said that while it was difficult to make predictions in cricket, one has to be optimistic. “You want to start the season thinking that you can lift the trophy. That’s how you prepare yourself physically and mentally. I’ve spent some sessions with the Mumbai team and they have been working hard without any doubt. And if you work hard, and are heading in the right direction, then the results are good,” said Tendulkar.

Although international duties have kept Tendulkar away from playing for Mumbai consistently, the master batsman has provided his fans with some memorable knocks over the years. When asked to pick his favourite memory from the many Ranji Trophy appearances he has made, Tendulkar singled out his innings of 233 in the semi-final against Tamil Nadu in the 1999-2000 season.

“We chased 484 runs and the funny thing was, we had to score 42 runs with only two wickets in hand. I ended up scoring those 42 runs and Nos. 10 and 11 both scored zero. The competition was so fierce and intense, I didn’t realise that both batsmen [No. 10 and No. 11] hadn’t scored a single run. It got to that moment where we scored the winning run and my reaction said it all. That has to be my favourite moment.”