Can a Vengsarkar-like player emerge?

Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar; (left) three of his seven sixes at the 1975-76 Irani Cup in Nagpur. Pic Courtesy/Hosey Mistry, Sportsweek

Four rookies have been given a berth in Mumbai's Ajinkya Rahane-led Irani Cup squad. Not all will make it in the playing XI against Ruturaj Gaikwad's Rest of India band at Lucknow. But there could be one, if not two, who will make the cut on Tuesday.

Over the years, stars have emerged from this annual event between the reigning Ranji Trophy champions and the rest of the country's domestic cricket cream. In Mumbai's case, the best example of emergence through the Irani Cup is Dilip Vengsarkar. He did so with a spanking hundred in the 1975-76 fixture against a Rest of India attack, which had Bishan Singh Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna at Nagpur.

Vengsarkar, 19, carved his maiden first-class century on the third day of the game, after the first day and a part of the second were
ruined by rain.

Yajurvindra Singh, who made himself famous for holding on to a record-equalling seven catches on debut in the 1976-77 Bangalore Test against England, was part of the Rest of India team in the 1975-76 Irani Cup game. "Dilip's shots against Bishan and Pras were most impressive. He smashed them out of the ground. Yes, they didn't bowl all that well but it worked for him. I remember Bishan continuing to flight the ball and Dilip thrived," Yajurvindra told me on Wednesday.

Mumbai won on the first innings, easily surpassing Rest's 210, in which Yajurvindra got a duck. "Paddy [Padmakar Shivalkar] got me caught and bowled for a duck and although I stayed unbeaten in the second innings with 46, the first innings was important."

Shivalkar claimed nine in the game, continuing his fine performances in the fixture - his eighth since 1965-66. The left-arm spinner ended up with 51 Irani Cup wickets in 10 games, the last being in 1977-78 in which he went wicketless.

Vengsarkar's 110 got him into India reckoning immediately for the 1975-76 twin tours to New Zealand and West Indies. "In fact there was talk about him going on those tours the very evening of his century. When one of the Rest of India players complained about our poor bowling, Prasanna got up and assured us that he would get Dilip out within four balls the next day. And he did - caught at leg slip by Vishy [Gundappa Vishwanath]," revealed Yajurvindra.

In the 1976 Indian Cricket annual, their cricket correspondent R Mohan waxed eloquent: "It was Vengsarkar, coming in at number five, who stole the show. He stroked his way fluently to 110 in only 113 minutes and his knock was punctuated by seven sixes and 11 fours. He put to sword the spin of Prasanna and Bedi, handing out the sort of rough treatment that the pair had not received in many years even in international cricket. This electrifying knock put in the pale the earlier efforts of Gavaskar and [Ramnath] Parkar and the youngster's reward was a place in the Indian side for the first ‘Test' against Sri Lanka."

Yajurvindra, meanwhile, couldn't stress enough on the importance of the Irani Cup. "It was a make-or-break game for a player. I know that I fared well in the 1976-77 Duleep Trophy but I'm sure that my 61 [out of 173] for Rest of India against Mumbai at Delhi played a big role in my India selection," he said.

Incidentally, Yajurvindra was captain of Rest of India for their Irani Cup game against Bedi's Delhi at Jullandur in 1979-80 but the match was washed out. The Sportstar magazine reported Bedi as saying, "Only swimming can be done here, not cricket," when the Punjab Cricket Association secretary HR Mohla voiced an optimistic tone about the possibility of play. Rain ruined the chances of promising youngsters like Saad Bin Jung, Ashok Malhotra, Yograj Singh and Rajendra Jadeja of exhibiting their skills on a bigger stage.

Yajurvindra also told me how he was not even considered as a player, let alone captain for the following season's Irani Cup game contested between Sunil Gavaskar's Rest of India versus Delhi at the Kotla. Probably the selectors forgot they had named him captain in 1979-80.

Back to Vengsarkar's arrival ton. It was not a bed of roses for him. He didn't enjoy a good outing against the visiting Sri Lankans and it took a while for him to cement a place in the Indian team. In a 1988 interview to Sportsweek magazine, he put his start in perspective. "You come in with a bang, adept at playing on the up on the easy home wickets and form the wrong notions that everything else which follows will be equally easy. It is not so at the Test level. Earlier you may have played all the strokes with equal facility and you don't know then of the big difference when you have to face bowlers like Richard Hadlee or Andy Roberts." Well said. However, the Irani Cup has contributed to dreams being realised and disappointments drying up. A week before his sizzling Irani Cup show, Vengsarkar was despondent with a duck on his Mumbai Ranji Trophy debut against Gujarat at Bulsar.

That Irani knock was a game-changer. Not only did Vengsarkar's great career take off, it also moved a writer at the match to call him Colonel since his stroke play reminded him of Colonel CK Nayudu.

Vengsarkar has been quoted as saying, "I don't like it one bit." But he'd probably love the fact that when he ended his career, no Mumbai player had scored as many runs (779 in nine games) as he had in the annual fixture.

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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