Bombay cricket’s enduring romance

Chasing dreams in the maximum city of Mumbai can be physically and mentally exhausting, yet the very nature of the journey can be captivating.

April 25, 2015 11:33 pm | Updated April 26, 2015 04:07 am IST

The romance of cricket in Bombay endures. Chasing dreams in the maximum city can be physically and mentally exhausting, yet the very nature of the journey can be captivating.

Along the way, there is some magic, and then, some mystique in the manner those daunting hurdles are surmounted. Here tears co-exist with joy, providing a fascinating insight into the city’s ethos.

Where else would you play in pouring rain, on a wet ground and create an extraordinary competition in which cricketers muddy trousers and sharpen skills? Where else would young cricketers go through the ordeal of travelling eight hours in the city’s crowded trains for practice each day of a week? These locomotives, crisscrossing the city, carry with them sweat and hopes.

Inspired by heroes from the past, driven by passion for the game, and dancing to the rhythm of a city that resonates with energy, these aspirants learn to survive in a demanding environment where the breeze from the Arabian Sea might be the only soothing element.    

Makarand Waingankar’s book is a worthy effort that does more than just scratch the surface. The author has lived his life in Mumbai, seen cricketers grow and fade away from up close. Apart from being a journalist and a columnist, he has also been a talent spotter and comprehends the city’s cricketing pulse. Mumbai has given India cricket legends, has been a behemoth in the domestic competition, triumphing a record 40 times in the Ranji Trophy.     

What has been the mantra to Mumbai’s sweeping successes — It’s the strength of mind is the answer. Waingankar often talks about the Bombaikars being ‘khadoos.’ He elaborates, “The khadoos attitude of the Bombaikars is their never-say-die spirit — the attitude of never accepting defeat in advance, of struggling to the end. This is an intrinsic part of a Bombaikar’s life.” This side has made rousing comebacks from impossible situations.  

Of course, he talks about the famous Kanga League, where the cricketers play on wet, often unplayable pitches under a downpour to broaden their horizons. “It would not be incorrect to say that the league was one of the mediums for sustaining the philosophy of Bombay cricket across generations.” Bombay has played winning cricket for the most part, even if accused of negative tactics by some. The former Bombay captain Ashok Mankad is quoted in the book, “We all learnt from Polly Kaka (the formidable Polly Umrigar) to assess situations and act accordingly. Retreat and attack are two aspects of any strategy. Now, if retreating to thwart opposition is termed negative, I don’t know my cricket.”

Waingankar dwells on Bombay’s batting might in a chapter aptly titled ‘The Batting Gharana of Bombay’. From the technically pure Vijay Merchant to the prolific Sunil Gavaskar, from the elegant Dilip Vengsarkar to the all-conquering Sachin Tendulkar, Bombay has been home to some of the greatest batsmen.

The author says, “Gavaskar was a genius but his genius was not his own. He was a product of a series of legends of Bombay cricket. Gavaskar was a product of Merchant, (Vijay) Manjrekar and (Dilip) Sardesai and many other great cricketers of Bombay who had bequeathed the legacy, the conditions, for Gavaskar to come and play. Later, Gavaskar too became an inspiration for many other cricketers from Bombay — a story that is well known too. Can there be a finer example of legacy.”

In the chapter the two legends — Gavaskar and Tendulkar — the author, while acknowledging Tendulkar’s phenomenal gifts and performances, tilts towards Gavaskar since he played without helmet and then with a scull cap (that was hardly any protection) in the era of the great fast bowlers on lively pitches. There were no neutral umpires then, no limitations on bouncers and Gavaskar had to curtail his natural attacking instincts owing to less support in batting. Yet, for all its glorious batsmen, Bombay produced only a handful of exceptional home-grown bowlers — match-winning leg-spinner Subash Gupte, deceptively quick Ramakant Desai and crafty left-arm spinner Padmakar Shivalkar. This is hardly surprising since, as the author points out, Bombay, with its array of technically well equipped batsmen, laid emphasis on grinding down attacks and batting the other team out of the match. After the exploits with the willow, the role of the bowlers was more restrictive in nature.

There are some nuggets in the book such as when Eknath Solkar received news of his father’s death during a Ranji Trophy match but continued playing for the team. Vengsarkar, the author reveals, was inconsolable after a failure early on in his career. Sacrifice and competition are central to Bombay cricket. 

A MILLION BROKEN WINDOWS — The Magic and Mystique of Bombay Cricket: Makarand Waingankar; HarperCollins Publishers, A-75, Sector 57, Noida-201301. Rs. 399.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.