“Every coach’s expectations are to do well,” Samant told Cricinfo on Friday, “and we have some senior players in the squad. Manan Vohra is the captain, he is an experienced player who has played in IPL and the Ranji Trophy. He is a very good captain. We are hoping to give our best shot [against Mumbai].
“Mumbai prepares at a different level, it’s a challenge to face them because Chandigarh has black soil at home and Mumbai has red soil. We’ll see how to progress session by session. Ups and downs are always there, but we have to stick together as a team.”
Samant had coached Mumbai for two seasons, from 2018 to 2020. Apart from his high-profile coaching experience, Samant also brings with him recent success with the Bihar team. Under his coaching Bihar lifted the double of the Ranji Trophy and the Vijay Hazare Trophy – both in the Plate groups – last season. Bihar beat Manipur in the final of both formats to lift the titles. Sawant had also led Mumbai to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title in the 2018-19 season.
Chandigarh had won just one out of their seven Ranji Trophy matches last season, losing five and drawing one.
Samant played 101 first-class matches, 45 List A games and 11 T20s in a domestic career that ran from 1995-96 to 2011-12.
