होनहार बिरवान के होत चिकने पात ।

होनहार बिरवान के होत चिकने पात ।

Translation- Coming events cast their shadows before.

What Bengal thinks today, (the) world/India thinks tomorrow. Once upon a time, this was an established fact. Anything/everything novel used to take place there. Bengal is reknowned for its football mania, but the first cricket club outside England was set up in Bengal. Yes, you read that right. Not Australia, the Brits chose Calcutta first to set up a cricket club in 1792 and it was called the Calcutta cricket club.

At the turn of the 19th century, jingoism/patriotism was at an all time high. We were challenging Brits in everything, be it politics or sports. The outcome was Town Club in 1884. It was the brainchild of a bunch of Bengalis, including Saradaranjan Ray, who was the elder brother of Oscar winner Satyajit Ray's grandfather. Greatness was in the genes, you see. Town Club became the Mecca for all the Indian cricket enthusiasts.

When Lagaan released, I voraciously read all the articles to discover if the story was anyway inspired by a true incident. Finally, I can say that something like that definitely happened, but no "Lagaan" was involved sadly.

Such was the popularity of the Town Club that the reknowned revolutionary Hema Chandra Ghosh was its talent scout. He stumbled upon an effulgent young lad in General Assembly Institution's(now known as Scottish Church College) premises. The lad was Narendranath Dutta. His physique and agility totally floored Mr Ghosh. He asked the lad if he would be interested in trying his hands on cricket and the lad said yes in a heartbeat.

What transpired at the Eden Gardens, which was just 20 years old at the time, when CCC and Town Club met, was something which is etched in the cricket folklore to this day. The lad was rampant and he ran through the CCC top order and ended with seven wickets in the match. Although the result of the match is unknown, the heroics of this young lad is well documented.

Hema Chandra Ghosh was overwhelmed by the aura Narendra had and he was sure that he would go on to achieve immortality and he was bang on. The world later bowed down to his spirituality and philosophy. His "sisters and brothers of America" speech in Chicago achieved legendary status and the world woke up to a world leader by the name of SWAMI VIVEKANANDA.

What if he had continued with cricket? He would have been a LEGEND there as well because "Honhaar birwan k hot chikne paat".

P.S.- The Ray family was the first Indian cricketing family. Muktidaranjan and Kuladaranjan Ray were slick batsmen and Pramodaranjan Ray was one of the best fast bowlers of that era. Cricket often featured in Satyajit Ray's works.

Jassi Jaisa Koi Nahin!

"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."

I am a 90s kid, when cricket was awesome and fierce. I have seen Ambrose owning Aussies in their backyard. I have witnessed Aqib Javed demolishing India at Sharjah. These two are my all time favourite quick bowlers, but Waqar was someone else, something else (read it like Oliver Queen of Green Arrow). He was the one who moulded my young mind and stamped the fact that yorkers are the invincible balls bowled in cricket. No offense to Wasim who also had a mean yorker, but the banana inswing yorkers of Waqar were unparalleled.

There were a few who came after Waqar who tried to emulate his art of bowling yorkers, like Shoaib Akhtar, Shane O'Connor(I don't know if people remember him, but he had a decent yorker), Geoff Allot etc but the rightful heir debuted in 2004 and his name was Lasith Malinga. Malinga revolutionized the yorker.

As far as India is concerned, the best yorkers I have seen were from Anil Kumble and Manoj Prabhakar(sometimes). We have had decent fast bowlers but we never had an out an out tearaway fast bowler who could terrorise the batsman like Waqar did. But by Sachin's grace, everything changed on 6th December 1993, in Ahmedabad, when a Sikhni gave birth to a special kid and he was named Jasprit Bumrah. He lost his father at a tender age and was brought up by a single mother, who was a school Principal and a disciplinarian. No wonder Jassi is a focused and disciplined lad.

What caught everybody's eyeballs was Bumrah's queer action. This lad was a trophy hunter from day one. He made his T20 debut for Gujarat in 2012-13 in Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy and helped his team win the title with a man of the match performance in the final. He was instantly picked up by Mumbai Indians for the 2013 edition. He didn't play all the matches, but MI won their first title that year and they haven't looked back since.

Many thought he isn't cut out for the best format, but he is the first Asian bowler to take a 5-fer in Australia, SA and England in a calender year. This has ruffled many feathers. For the first time ever, there is an Indian fast bowler, of whom the world is envious of. Pakistanis call him a "Polio patient", but Sohail Tanvir was a totally normal kid. Aussies call him "chucker". This is the term they used for a bowler who ended up with 1300+ wickets.

India is a formidable team now, courtesy Jassi. We can't thank him enough. Now we can proudly brag about our fast bowlers. Happy Birthday Jasprit Jasbirsingh Bumrah. May you live long and prosper.

Vijayi Bhavah! Ayushmaan Bhavah!

Jassi Jaisa Koi Nahi!

Virendra Sehwag

पराक्रमो विजयते- The courageous always win.

I have been a Sachin fan all my life. But there was a brief period when I liked a certain cricketer as much as Sachin. The most spectacular thing about that cricketer was that he always lived in the extremes. If it was his day, he would demolish anyone and everyone, but if it wasn't, he could get out to a part timer. He was showered with praises one day and was castigated by the whole country on the other. Being a Sehwag fan was never easy. It is still not easy defending his exploits on the social media and in commentary box. But what the hell, he is my childhood hero, who played the way every Indian wanted every cricketer to play, but never wanted them to get out the way he used to get out, most of the times.

Ian Chappell once said in an interview that he has never seen a cricketer as unabashed and belligerent as Sehwag. He was a fan of his audacity. That is high praise coming from a man, who was not even impressed by the Great Donald Bradman. I totally agree with Ian. Sehwag was a unique cricketer who never gave a damn about what the experts or the fans thought about his style of playing. He just kept on with his merry ways and it paid dividends.

To be brutally honest, I used to find test matches soporiphic in the 1990s. I used to just check scores sporadically and used to get a glance of the last session. Last session of the day always fascinated me, because I feel that is the only time the bowlers have their noses in front. This is the reason Sehwag's 80+ against England while chasing 360+ is one of my favourite test innings because it was scored in the last session and it was carnage. He literally murdered Graeme Swann and changed the mood of the dressing room who were planning for a draw. This is what Viru did all his life, changed the perception of the cricket fans and Pundits, as to anything is possible.

So, yes, Viru was the reason why my interest in test matches spiked and what a daredevil he was. You have to be demented to go for a six when you are on 295, but he already gave Sachin his word that if Saqlain bowls that over, he will go for it and he did, inspite of Sachin advising otherwise. This is Viru for you. He even went against GOD. He tried the same during his 293 against Murali and failed. Everybody applauded the former incident and castigated the other. He was the hero and the villain, but he never cared and he still doesn't. There was Sir Viv who defined non-chalance once and Viru took it to another level.

I can never thank him enough for the memories and the goosebumps he gave me throughout his career. He was, is and will always be a CHAMPION.

Happy Birthday Viru! You are awwwwwwesome.

Anil Kumble

मनस्वी म्रियते कामं कार्पण्यं न तु गच्छति । अपि निर्वाणम् आयाति न अनलः याति शीतताम् ॥

Translation: A strong-minded person can die on self-will, but will never attain pitiable state. Fire gets extinguished, but never becomes cool.

Cricket is a gentleman's game, but this image has been tarnished on many occasions. The desire to quench one's thirst for victory lures people into tossing their principles out of the window. However, there are people who never opt for shortcuts and remain true to their principles. Today we will be celebrating one such gentleman, who goes by the name of Anil Kumble.

He was one of the biggest match winners, India has ever had. A gritty cricketer, who never gave an inch. From "not being good enough to play for India", according to Kapil Dev, to becoming the leading wicket taker for India in ODI and test matches, Kumble demolished umpteen number of stigmas/stereotypes in his illustrious career. What stigma you ask? Bishan Singh Bedi was never happy with the pace at which Kumble used to bowl. It's not Kumble's fault, Bedi was old school. He was of the opinion that a leg spinner should give more flight and should induce the batsman to come forward and then beat him. But who is the most successful leg spinner currently? Rashid Khan, right? Shahid Afridi wasn't bad either. Kumble was a pioneer of sorts, because before him, I don't recall any spinner bowling as quick as he used to do.

If we sit and discuss Kumble's achievements, it will take all day, but some of them are worth mentioning. 10 wickets in an innings against a formidable Pakistan team, an 8-fer in Australia which is a graveyard for spinners, a test hundred in England etc, but the most iconic moment of his career, according to me, was when he came out to bowl with a fractured jaw and caught Brian Lara plumb in front. I have been hit in the jaw and I wasn't able to continue, trust me. The ball I faced was hardly 100-110 KMPH, but he was hit by a West Indian fast bowler. It was the paragon of daredevilry for me and it is stuck in my head to this day.

Apart from his exploits and discipline on the field, he is an exemplary disciplinarian off the field as well. The post match interview after the infamous Sydney test, was gutsy and hard hitting. Throughout his life, he called a spade a spade. The way he stepped down from India's coach position when Kohli made it clear that he wanted a sychophant and not a coach was a glimpse of the strong-willed and proud man he is. The best part of all the scandal was he never maligned Kohli, which he could have done easily. A classy fellow personified.

I can keep on writing about this LEGEND, but I will stop here and wish Sir Anil Kumble a very happy birthday and a happy Dussehra in advance. Thank you for everything and I hope you will help Punjab lift the IPL soon.

Nivu Uttamaru!

Amarjit Kaypee

कर्मण्ये वाधिका रस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।

मा कर्म फल हेतु र्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्व कर्मणि॥

Translation: You have a right to “Karma” (actions) but never to any Fruits thereof. You should never be motivated by the results of your actions, nor should there be any attachment in not doing your prescribed activities.

In the previous editions, we discussed domestic champions from relatively potent and sought-after sides. So this week we zeroed in on a domestic legend who didn't represent a glamorous team. On the contrary, he raised the bar for the team he played for and helped them win their maiden title. This week, the spotlight is on Amarjit Kaypee, the run machine. If you don't know him, let me tell you that he was the highest run getter in Ranji trophy, before Amol Mazumdar outstripped him.

Mr Kaypee was born in Jalandhar, Punjab on 2nd October 1960. He made his debut for his home team in the 1980-81 season against Jammu and Kashmir. He served Punjab for five years and then moved to Haryana and played rest of his cricket there from 1986 to 2000. He was a blessing for Haryana and helped them win their only Ranji title in 1990-91.

The most fruitful season for Amarjit was 1990-91, where he scored 940 runs, which was the highest that year and the outcome was Haryana being crowned the Ranji champions for the first time. This also helped him win the Indian cricket cricketer of the year. He carried on with his merry ways next year as well and piled up 812 runs. He also captained Haryana for 31 matches. There was never a dip in his form, but still he was picked only twice in the North Zone team for the Duleep trophy, playing two matches each in the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons. This massively impacted his chances to get picked for the national side and unfortunately he missed out on the India cap.

He called it a day in 2000 and his career aggregate of 7894 runs(including 27 centuries, with a best of 210*) topped the Ranji runs table till 2009. After retirement, he served as the coach of Haryana for 2008-09 season and was a match referee for BCCI for a number of seasons.

Unlike other domestic legends who were at a touching distance from the coveted Indian cap, Amarjit never came close to getting a call from the selectors. However, he was a part of the Indian veterans XI, captained by Azharuddin, which toured Pakistan in 2006 for a four match limited overs series. That was his swansong.

Amarjit's exclusion also busted the age old myth that the selectors of 90s only considered players who won trophies for their respective states. I seriously need to interview one of the selectors from the 90s to understand what were they thinking.

Sitanshu Kotak

कर्मण्ये वाधिका रस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।

मा कर्म फल हेतु र्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्व कर्मणि॥

Translation: You have a right to “Karma” (actions) but never to any Fruits thereof. You should never be motivated by the results of your actions, nor should there be any attachment in not doing your prescribed activities.

Sometime back, Saurashtra's stalwart Sheldon Jackson went berserk and castigated the Indian selectors for being out of favour. But before Sheldon, there was another stalwart from Saurashtra who persevered silently without whinging. He became the U-19 coach, along with Paras Mhabrey last year, taking the reins from Rahul Dravid. This week, the spotlight is on the Saurashtran southpaw Sitanshu Kotak.

Saurashtra has a rich cricketing history. It is as old as Indian cricketing history. Ranjeetsinhji and Duleepsinhji, both hailed from Saurashtra. It was Saurashtra, where the university and college cricket started and picked up pace, but sadly the team didn't achieve anything significant for 60 years, since it's inception in 1950-51.

At present, Saurashtra is a formidable team which has a Ranji title under their belt and have been runner up three times. They boast of champion players like Sheldon Jackson, Ravindra Jadeja and Pujara, but Sitanshu Kotak formed the fulcrum of Saurashtra's hapless batting unit before the arrival of these giants. Kotak didn't have the innate ability of Sachin or the belligerence of Kohli. Although he had the attributes of Geoffrey Boycott and Chris Tavare. He wasn't pleasing to the eyes either. But he used to murder bowlers with his steely resolve and used to grind them to dust by just boring them to death. The spectators used to feel that they were subjected to Chinese torture. Kotak was unperturbed with whatever was hurled at him. The moniker "Rock of Gibraltar" seems so apt.

He made his debut for Saurashtra in the 1992-93 season and remained their sheet anchor for 20 long years. He made it a habit of bringing Saurashtra's innings on track after a flurry of quick wickets. Like Surendra Bhave, he fancied the mighty Mumbai team. Amol Mazumdar fondly talks about one of Kotak's marathon inmings against Mumbai, when he literally "killed" them, by scoring 168 off 543 balls in 796 minutes, which seemed like eternity. However, Sitanshu felt that his best knock was 118(384 minutes, 302 balls) against a star studded Karnataka's bowling line up of Srinath, Kumble and Dodda Ganesh, in his only Irani Cup appearance for Rest of India in 1999.

When asked about whether he has any regrets or complaints, he very diplomatically shrugged off the question and said that he has no complaints. However, he regretted losing the only Ranji final he was a part of in 2012-13, against the side he fancied. He was never off color against Mumbai, in his entire career, but he scored 14 and 0, in that final and Saurashtra suffered an ignominious defeat in just three days. 

As far as playing for India is concerned, he said that he accepted his fate, courtesy the fab four. The closest he came to wearing the Indian jersey was in 2007, when he went in as an injury replacement for one of the India A players in West Indies, but didn't get a game.

Kotak is a paragon of "stats not telling the whole story".

The Renaissance Man

कर्मण्ये वाधिका रस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्म फल हेतु र्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्व कर्मणि॥

You have a right to “Karma” (actions) but never to any Fruits thereof. You should never be motivated by the results of your actions, nor should there be any attachment in not doing your prescribed activities.

In all the previous editions, we discussed our domestic legends who were proficient cricketers, who gave their best, but their best wasn't good enough. The spotlight this week is on the man, who was perhaps the most loved figure in the Indian cricket circuit and was called the "Renaissance man". Yes, we are talking about Maturi Venkat Sridhar.

Sridhar was born on 2nd August 1966 in Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh, but went on to represent Hyderabad between 1988/89 and 1999/00. Interestingly, his best score of 366 came against Andhra Pradesh, when Hyderabad piled on a colossal score of 944/6 declared. During that innings, Sridhar owned a record which stands till today. 850 runs were scored, while he was batting, which is the most runs added during a batsman's innings in first class history.

He was one of those "good guys", who was devoid of any kind of malice towards anybody and the vice versa. When you search about Sridhar, you will find more anecdotes about how good a person he was than how good a cricketer he was. One such incident is when he travelled from Hyderabad to Bangalore to watch VVS Laxman bat, when he was on the verge of breaking Sridhar's record of 366. Unfortunately, VVS fell short, but he was moved by Sridhar's gesture. He later wrote the foreword of Sridhar's biography. When Sridhar was asked about the same, he said that he wanted to emulate Gary Sobers who went to see Brian Lara breaking his record of 365.

After his retirement, he served Indian cricket in myriad roles. He was our assistant manager during India's tour of Australia in 2007/08, when the "monkeygate" incident happened. Bhajji said in an interview that Sridhar was instrumental in helping India win that case and reducing Bhajji's punishment. He was promoted and was made India's media manager and during his tenure, there were no information leaks. He was the best media manager ever.

His biography is called "The renaissance man- Doc MV Sridhar", written by former Hyderabad Ranji Trophy cricketer and selector Harimohan Paruvu. Renaissance man means a person with many talents. He was a doctor, a fine cricketer, a competent administrator, a bank clerk, a educationist and a jazz drummer.

He is perhaps the only cricketer, who is more known for his other talents, but it doesn't mean that he was a lesser cricketer. He was a fine batsman, who should have played for India, but sadly couldn't.

Sridhar passed away on 30th October 2017.

Ashish Winston Zaidi

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |

मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ||

Translation: You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.

Who are the most injury prone, when it comes to cricket? Fast bowlers, right? But what if I tell you there was a fast bowler in our country, who played for 18 years on trot without a single injury. Sounds incredible? But it's true, it's damn true(Kurt Angle style). There was a guy about whom it was said that "he used to intoxicate the ball to such an extent that it used to vacillate profusely". It gives me immense pleasure to present to you a legend from my native state Uttar Pradesh- "Mr Ashish Winston Zaidi".

Everybody has an idol and they wish to meet them someday. In the same way, Ashish's idol was the Haryana Hurricane Kapil Dev and the impression he made on him in their first meeting was something which stuck with Kapil perpetually- which was 14 wickets against Haryana. Kapil was so impressed with the lad that he later recommended him for the MRF pace foundation. He considered his stint at the academy as the paradigm shift in his career. He was naturally an in-swing bowler, but this is where he learnt the art of out-swing and became a complete package.

Ashish was born in Prayagraj (then Allahabad) on 16th September 1971. Yes, today is his birthday and this post is my tribute to the great man. He got picked to play for Uttar Pradesh U-15 in a trial at Guru Gobind Singh Sports college, Lucknow and he took a ten-wicket haul on his U-15 debut. He made his first class debut for UP at the tender age of 17. 

He earned the most interesting moniker which I have heard of, because of his first Hindu name, second Christian name and third Muslim name. He was called "Amar Akbar Anthony" by his team mates. That's India's diversity rolled into one person. He was a "true servant" of UP and played for 18 years without any expectations and only for his passion for the game. When he hung his boots, he had won a Ranji trophy for UP in 2005-06(which was his swansong) and was a proud owner of 378 wickets in 110 matches, which is unheard of, for a fast bowler in Indian conditions.

During an interview, when he was asked if he had any regrets or does he blame anyone for not getting the India cap, he meekly said- "I stopped blaming people long back, because it doesn't change your reality". I was in contention for the 1992 world cup and Singer cup, but I have no idea what happened. The selectors demanded five wicket hauls and I took more than five wickets, day in, day out. The surfaces which I played on, during my time, were either turning tracks or flat tracks. I never saw a trace of grass on them, but I had a penchant for taking wickets.

Ashish's best performance came against Vidarbha in 1999-00 season, when he took 9/45, Mohd Saif took the remaining wicket. Vidarbha was bowled out for 98 and Ashish bowled 20 overs on trot. The interesting part of this herculean effort was that, out of his nine wickets, seven were either bowled or LBW. He took 49 wickets that season and was sure of getting a call from the selectors, but the phone never rang.

Amol Mazumdar's story is so hyped that we feel that he was the most unlucky player ever, but after reading Ashish's story, I beg to differ. Mazumdar's competition was the invincible Sachin Tendulkar. On the contrary, Ashish's competition were Indian pacers of 1990s, who were average at best, apart from Srinath. It has to be the regional bias which kept Ashish away from the Indian cap. Rusi Jeejeebhoy who was in the selectors panel then, once told Ashish that none of the selectors ever brought up his name. Sad, right?

Sridharan Sharath

कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन |
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ||

Translation: You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.

If a decent cricketer like N Gautam* confers the moniker of an "all time great" of a state which has produced quality cricketers incessantly, then you should have done something right. But what enrages me is when players who played alongside him and were nowhere close to his calibre got call ups for the national side and the deserving guy missed out. This week we are discussing the tragic+ uplifting story of Tamilnadu's greatest Sridharan Sharath.

Sadagopan Ramesh and Sharath, both were southpaws. Ramesh's first class average was 42 and Sharath's average was 51. Ramesh ended up playing 19 tests and 24 ODIs for India. On the contrary, Sharath kept chasing the coveted India cap.

I am a sucker for good stories. I grew up in the 90s, which was all about recuperating from an injury and winning at life, cinema wise, for me. I only saw Jean Claude Van Damme's movies. If you remember "Blood sport"(Bollywood's version of it is Ajay Devgn's starrer "Jigar")- in the ultimate fight, when the antagonist uses a certain powder to blind Van Damme, he struggles for a wee bit, then closes his eyes, concentrates a little and kills the menace. Something similar happened to Sharath in 1993. He suffered a deadly accident, resulting in the tibia and febula of his left ankle breaking into two pieces. Few months prior to this, he had scored a hundred and two fifties against the NZ U-19 side, which featured Dion Nash and Stephen Fleming. Life is so unfair, you would think, but the guy makes a Van Damme-esque comeback and scores a hundred in his very first match. What a champion!

When you have had vanquished pain and rejection, nothing deters you. He was the first Tamil Nadu player to play 100 Ranji matches. W.V. Raman and K Srikkanth have heaped praises on Sharath and both wanted him to play for India, but both have diverse views on why he didn't get the India cap. Raman feels that the accident was the reason he couldn't play for India and Srikkanth feels it was between Dravid and Sharath, who were the contenders for the Indian cap in the 90s and it went to Dravid, because both batted in the middle order.

When a player stuggles and gets dropped, he/she goes back to the drawing board and starts working on his flaws, because he/she is aware of what they are lacking, but my heart goes out for people like Sharath who did everything right, but fell short. A classic case of "NEKI KAR AUR DARIYA KE DAAL".

*N Gautam was a Tamilnadu cricketer who passed away in 2002. He played 23 tests for Tamilnadu from 1988-2002. He was battling cancer.

Surendra Bhave- EKLAVYA!

एकलव्यं  हि  साण्गुष्ठम्षक्ता  देव दानवाः।

स राक्षसोरगाः पार्थ विजेतुं युधि कर्हिचित्।।

Meaning- Krishna tells Arjuna that if Eklavya hadn't lost his thumb, then he would have been invincible.

Maharashtra is one of the only two states which fields three teams in our premier domestic tournament which is the Ranji Trophy. The state is brimming with talent. But there is a gigantic gulf between the number of players being awarded with the Indian cap from Mumbai than Vidarbha/Maharashtra. The selectors of the 80s and 90s were only interested in players who could score in the crunch games and were trophy hunters. Maharashtra didn't win a major tournament in those two decades. Hrishikesh Kanitkar made it to the team because he was just too good to be ignored, but players like Sugwekar, Salgaonkar etc were sidelined. Abhijit Kale had to resort to unfair means to get the Indian cap. The spotlight today is on a player whose exclusion from the Indian team is baffling. We are talking about Surendra Sriram Bhave.

Bhave was born in Pune on 30th March 1966 and made his debut for Maharashtra in the 19866-87 season. He wasn't a regular member till 1988-89 when he took the tournament by storm by scoring 730 runs at an average of 91.25. Out of his four tons that season, the best was 274 which he scored against a formidable Dilip Vengsarkar led Mumbai. He was Mumbai's worst nemesis all his career. Mumbai and Maharashtra shared a vehement rivalry during the 90s, when Bhave captained the Maharashtra side. Bhave's critics always called him a "flat track bully", to which he jokingly replied that it had to be someone from the Mumbai team who started this campaign.

Bhave was setting the domestic scene ablaze in the late 80s and early 90s. India had just lost Srikkanth and Gavaskar who hung their boots and Bhave being an opener should have been the ideal candidate for the Indian cap, but it never materialized. What is even more perplexing is that Sidhu who was our first choice opener in the 90s always struggled for a settled partner.

Bhave scored seven double hundreds in his career, out of which three were scored in the year 1992. Such was his consistency that it wasn't until 1997-98 that he ended a season with an average under 50 and he never scored less than 800 runs from 1992-93 to 1996-97. His best performance 292 came against south zone when he was playing for west zone in the Duleep trophy in 1994. His vigil lasted 739 minutes. Apart from Mumbai, he fancied playing against Saurashtra and plundered them for 1471 runs at 91.93 including seven hundreds.

The closest he came to getting the Indian cap was when he represented India A in the SAARC quadrangular series in 1992-93. He scored 81 against the Sri Lankans and India reached the finals. Unfortunately, the series was called off courtesy a riot in Dhaka.

After calling it a day, Bhave opted for coaching and also served as a selector. Kedar Jadhav is his protege. Ask him about Kedar and he will just not stop talking.

After retirement, Bhave once said in an interview that he made a little promise to himself that he wouldn't be a "bitter former cricketer". He chased the Indian cap madly, there was no doubt about it, but he wasn't bitter about it.

If there was hue and cry about Amol Mazumdar who averaged 48+, then why not about a player who averaged 58+?

Mahi ab nahi maarega!

Since 2015/16, I was ardently waiting for this day, but when I heard the news of Dhoni's retirement, I felt lachrymose. Yes, I am no more a Dhoni fan, but there was a time when I was a Dhoni fanatic. The fans are perhaps the most treacherous beings on this planet. We go gaga when a person is at the top and we are the first to abandon them when they fall. Hitherto, there haven't been a sportsperson who was at the top of his/her game throughout his/her career and Mahi was no different, but his purple patch was longer than many players's whole career.

Nevertheless, Dhoni was, is and will always will be one of the biggest pillars of India's glorious cricket history. I still remember the days, when all our wicket keepers used to do was keep wickets and score paltry 20-30 runs and we were content with that. We used to dream about having someone like Gilchrist and we never thought in our wildest dreams that we will get someone who is arguably better than Gilchrist. If you ask me, I feel Dhoni is better than Gilly.

If we go down the memory lane, there are umpteen number of instances of daredevilry of Mahi. But the clincher has to be the 2011 world cup winning six, which was something dreams are made of- winning the world cup via a six, this has happened just once and Dhoni did it. You will find every ICC trophy in Mahi's cabinet and that speaks volumes about the calibre of the man. He was a phenom, a once in a generation player, but his virtue which I am a fan of is his "tight-lipped-ness". I am a fidgety person. I am always on tender hooks, but being calm for 19 goddamn years, unresponsive to all the mud slinging and still performing unperturbed is a stuff of LEGENDS. There are only two people who are blessed with this virtue- Mahi and Sachin.

I know I have not been an ideal fan, but thank you Mahi. Thank you for everything, especially for Rohit Sharma, Ashwin and Jadeja. We are forever indebted to you. May you live long and prosper!!

"Gardaa udaa diyalah marde". "Jeeya Jwaan". (Bhojpuri)

Palwankar Baloo- Karna of Indian cricket!

KARNA!

सूतो वा सूतपुत्रो वा यो वा को वा भवाम्यहम्।

दैवायत्तं कुले जन्म मदायत्तं तु पौरुषम्॥

Translation- Whether I am a weaver or his son, whoever or whatever I am, the birth in this family was given by my Daiva or fate. But the prowess and power I have accomplished are by my own self.

Few days back, I saw a lachrymose Michael Holding reciting a passionate account of how his parents faced racism, when he was growing up. I was moved by what Holding said. It made me look into Indian cricket history, if we had anything remotely germane to the bias which the black people used to face in the past. In India, we have casteism which is not far from racism.

Fortunately and unfortunately, I stumbled upon the story of Palwankar Baloo. There is no better way to put this, so he was the first Dalit to play cricket. He was born into the Chambhar caste in Dharwad(this place is famous for its "pede", a sweet), Bombay presidency on 19th March, 1876. His father was a sepoy in the 112th infantry regiment of the British Indian army.

Baloo used to be a pitch curator for the Parsees in Pune. Occasionally, he used to bowl to J. G. Greig, an english batsman of the British Poona gymkhana. He used to bowl left arm orthodox spin. In 1896, he moved to Bombay and started playing for Parmanandas Jivandas Hindu gymkhana. He was a part of "Maharaja of Patiala's" Indian team which toured England in 1911. The tour was a disaster, but Baloo was the stand out performer.

During his playing days, he faced a lot of biases. During the lunch breaks or tea, he wasn't allowed to enter the dressing room. He was served his meal/snacks outside via a dalit attendant, in disposable plates.

He moved on from cricket and in 1910s became pals with Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar. He was a devout Gandhian and was strictly against dalits converting to other religions. His friendship with Ambedkar ceased when the latter converted to Buddhism. He contested against Ambedkar twice and lost the elections by a small margin. He died in 1955.

When I was going through his story, I couldn't help but compare Baloo's life with the mythological character KARNA, the invincible warrior who didn't get what he deserved.