Ajit Wadekar, who led India to historical overseas wins in 1971 against the West Indies and England, does not fancy India’s chances of defending the World Cup title.
He picked Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka as the teams with the mettle to go the full distance. “India may qualify for the quarterfinals. It has to play three good games,” said Wadekar
In an exclusive chat with
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Wadekar chose Farokh Engineer as wicketkeeper-batsman and opener. “I have seen him blast the likes of Wesley Hall, Charlie Griffith, Gary Sobers at Chennai in 1967. He got Dakar 94 before lunch and then scored a century. He also scored those crucial runs at The Oval in 1971. My second opener will be Vino Mankad; he is a straight pick and walks into any team. In fact, all players pick themselves,’’ said Wadekar.
The former captain and left-hander, who scored a majestic 85 at Lord’s in 1971, will bat at No. 3. He chose Polly Umrigar to follow him and then, in batting order, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, Chandu Borde, Salim Durani, Dattu Phadkar, Rusi Surti, Ghulam Ahmed and Ramakant Desai.
“Tiger would have been a great asset. When in form he would hit sixes easily. Salim (Durani) would have been a crowd favourite, giving them whatever they wanted, including sixes on demand. But he would have had to be controlled. Maybe he would have needed a runner too," said Wadekar in jest.
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In the course of a conversation on Tuesday evening at a suburban club, Wadekar had chosen leg spinner Subhash Gupte, but on Wednesday, he replaced him with Ghulam Ahmed. “You see it will be difficult to take the ball away from Polly (Umrigar); he would want to bowl everything. Ghulam would play as a specialist bowler. Ramakant would have been really quick.”
Wadekar chose M. L. Jaisimha, R. G. 'Bapu' Nadkarni, G. S. Ramchand and Manohar Hardikar as other members of the squad. “I think my Indian team for a World Cup competition would have challenged all teams and possesses the capacity to win the title."