"The reason behind that is Sachin Tendulkar" - Sanjay Manjrekar on not watching the last hour of the 1990-91 Ranji final despite being Mumbai skipper

Sanjay Manjrekar has revealed that he missed out on watching the decisive moments of the 1990-91 Ranji Trophy final because of Sachin Tendulkar.

The 1990-91 Ranji Trophy title decider was played between Mumbai and Haryana at the Wankhede Stadium. The Kapil Dev-led Haryana stunned domestic heavyweights Mumbai by two runs to win their only title to date.

Recalling the match in the latest episode of the Sportskeeda show SK Tales, Sanjay Manjrekar disclosed that Sachin Tendulkar was responsible for him not being able to watch the nail-biting finish. He said:

"A memorable match, a tense and exciting game that people talk about. But the Mumbai captain, that means me, I didn't watch the last one to one-and-a-half hour at all. The reason behind that is Sachin Tendulkar, who got very superstitious at the time."

The former India batter reminisced about Mumbai's narrow defeat despite Dilip Vengsarkar's unbeaten century. Manjrekar elaborated:

"It was the Ranji Trophy final - Mumbai vs Haryana, 1991. Kapil Dev was the Haryana captain and I was captaining Mumbai. Mumbai was chasing Haryana's score, it was a big target and Mumbai lost by two runs. Dilip Vengsarkar remained not on 139 and Abey Kuruvilla was there with him as the last man, who got run out in the end via the runner."

Mumbai were bowled out for 352 while chasing a 355-run target. Sachin Tendulkar scored 47 and 96 runs in the two innings.

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Sanjay Manjrekar on Sachin Tendulkar's role in him missing out on the action

Sachin Tendulkar is known to be superstitious

Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted that he couldn't even share his thoughts with the batters in the middle despite being the skipper. He stated:

"But the story not too many people know is that normally when you have such a tense game, as captain I should be watching the game and giving suggestions. I didn't do anything and for almost the last 1-1.25 hours, I didn't see the match."

The cricketer-turned-commentator also shared the reasons behind his plight. Manjrekar revealed:

"Thanks to Sachin Tendulkar's superstition. He said that we are going to win this match, there is a good partnership between Abey Kuruvilla and Dilip Vengsarkar, so no one should move from their place and should keep sitting wherever they are, so that the luck doesn't change."

Manjrekar concluded by stating that he had to figure out what was happening in the middle based on the spectators' reactions. He explained:

"We actually did that, Sachin was like a kid then. So I was in the Wankhede Stadium dressing room and Sachin didn't allow me to go out and watch the game. I was visualizing the whole drama by what I could hear because you can make out in the dressing room if a wicket has fallen or a good shot has been played. Till the time the applause was on, I knew Mumbai was doing well and when it was absolute silence, then it was some bad news."

Several players have shared stories about Sachin Tendulkar's superstitions as a cricketer. Virender Sehwag has also previously revealed that Tendulkar didn't let him watch MS Dhoni's match-winning six in the 2011 World Cup final.