Vijay Hazare Trophy: Mumbai coach Ramesh Powar credits positive environment created by senior players for title win

Mumbai coach Ramesh Powar on Monday credited his side’s Vijay Hazare Trophy national ODI championship title win to the positive team environment and contribution by the seniors. Domestic giants Mumbai clinched their fourth Vijay Hazare title on Sunday after beating Uttar Pradesh in the final. Mumbai, who were knocked out in the league stage of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy national T20 championship, made a turnaround by winning Vijay Hazare Trophy under new coach Powar, a former India off-spinner. “All (the) 22 players were told what’s their status and role in the team. Structured practice and senior players like Shreyas (Iyer), Surya (Suryakumar Yadav), Shardul (Thakur), Prithvi (Shaw) and Dhawal (Kulkarni) made significant contributions by sharing insights and keeping a positive team environment,” Powar told PTI on Monday. Powar had special words of praise for skipper Shaw, who created three records for himself — highest individual run-scorer in a single edition of the tournament (827 runs), highest individual score in the tournament (227 not out against Puducherry) and highest score by an Indian in List A chase. “After three India players left, Prithvi was hands-on as captain and contributed,” said Powar, also a former coach of the Indian women’s team. The coach said that all the players were keen to make an impact. “Keeping positive environment by challenging individuals potentially made a difference (and) all of them increased their standards and wanted to make an impact,” added Powar. Mumbai, which has won the Ranji Trophy a record 41 times, on Sunday rode on Shaw’s blitzkrieg and a responsible unbeaten hundred by former skipper Aditya Tare as they made a mockery of a 313-run target to thrash Uttar Pradesh by six wickets in the summit clash.