D Road awaits a new MCA chief

Sandeep Patil during an interview last October before the release of the film 83, on India’s historic World Cup win. Pic/Ashish Rane

My first recollection of Sandeep Patil being at the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) office is of 35 years ago.

It was in the Honorary Treasurer Sharad Kotnis's cabin, adjacent to where the then Honorary Secretaries (Bapu Nadkarni and Vilas
Godbole) sat.

Patil was there to collect some tickets and his complimentary pass as an ex-Test player. Despite Kotnis being the secretary of Shivaji Park Youngsters, a club which Patil had been playing for since his youth (he also represented Shivaji Park Gymkhana and Cricket Club of India), he had to wait a while before his tickets were handed over.

As a teenager then, there to pick up a Duty Pass to man a books counter at the Wankhede Stadium the following day (when defending champions India took on England in the 1987 World Cup semi-final), I was surprised by the fact that an international player of Patil's repute had to wait to get his tickets. But then, this was the World Cup and the chaos was meant to be different.

What also struck me was that Patil had no qualms to play the waiting game with no place to sit despite his celebrity status.

The late Kotnis (also a journalist) was getting hotter in the head with every ticket request from all and sundry.

In one of those I'm-so-fed-up moments, he threatened to head to the Wankhede Stadium turf and sit near the pitch so that no one could reach out to him there. He could do it, luckily he didn't. What would happen to all those ticket and pass seekers?

I was told to come back in the evening for my pass. As I made my way back through the Garware Club House, all set for another exasperating visit to the MCA office, I saw former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd trooping in and uttering to someone, "Nadkarni…oh yes I remember him."

Presumably, Lloyd was there for his pass to be collected from Nadkarni, whom he played against in his debut series in India during the 1966-67 season.

I recalled this day when I visited the Garware Club House last week. Interestingly, Patil was in the building to file his nomination for the Mumbai Cricket Association's president's post.

Will he end up being only the second India Test player after Madhav Mantri to head the association is a million-dollar question. Fellow cricketers did not get to see Ajit Wadekar and Dilip Vengsarkar at the top, although they came very close.

Cricketers coming into the administrative fray is commendable. More commendable is when they decide to stand for elections. However positive they may sound, the thought of losing creeps in inevitably. But they put themselves to the test and that's not an easy thing to do.

Having been Mumbai's chief selector, Patil will know what needs to be done for city cricket to be back on top. And by that, I don't mean only getting their name on the Ranji Trophy again.

Inner strength emerges from a strong club structure and that's how Mumbai will produce quality players. He thrived on this aspect of Mumbai cricket and made himself available for every club match, like many of his city peers. I have an October 1982 press clipping in front of me, which is headlined, ‘Sandeep Patil will play for CCI despite fracture.' Patil had pulled out of the Duleep Trophy semi-final, but decided to play the final round of the Kanga League as his team had a chance of winning the pennant. Ultimately, Dadar Union won the title as they beat MB Union.

The Times Shield seemed to be his favourite tournament in which he enjoyed title successes with Tata Sports Club, Nirlon and SunGrace Mafatlal. Keen competition has never been lost on Patil and he faces it even today as his group goes about convincing voters that he's the right man to take charge of the body that runs city cricket.

Several bowling attacks of Mumbai's Ranji Trophy opponents were taken to the cleaners by Patil and some of the innings he played deserved better team results. Like the 145 he hit against Delhi in the 1978-79 Ranji Trophy semi-finals at the Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai were in the doldrums at 72-4 when Patil came in and put his head down to guide his team towards a revival.

Alas, for the hosts, Delhi's first innings total of 359 couldn't be surpassed, with Mumbai ending up with 329. The batsman who had the next best score was Rahul Mankad with 29, scored after openers Sunil Gavaskar (0) and Dilip Vengsarkar (9) were back in the pavilion early.

The next time he faced Delhi in the Ranji Trophy at the Wankhede Stadium - in 1983-84 - he ensured his efforts didn't go in vain. In the following season, he had the privilege of being presented with the Ranji Trophy in the absence of skipper Gavaskar, who was indisposed on the last day of the final against Delhi.

Back to Patil's current ambitions. I am presuming it would have taken a good level of convincing to get him to contest and now that he's committed, he'll go all the way. He's professional, proficient and passionate. This is not to say others don't possess these vital qualities, but isn't it high time a four-decade streak be broken and a Test cricketer be given a go, especially when the C in MCA needs more attention?

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

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