And that’s a century for Rusi Cooper!

Rusi Cooper

Rusi Cooper becomes the second Mumbai Ranji Trophy player in two years to reach a century in life, after the late Vasant Raiji did so in January 2020. The record books show the former Mumbai and Middlesex batsman will complete 100 today.

It can be recalled that Cooper, then 95, made it from his south Mumbai residence to the MIG Cricket Club in Bandra East for a function called ‘The Lions of Mumbai Cricket' in 2008. He spoke about his experiences of playing for Mumbai in the 1944-45 Ranji Trophy final against Holkar at the Brabourne Stadium. "This was an iconic game. It was a match played in pre-independence India, the second World War was on and the Brabourne Stadium didn't have a vacant seat on any of the six days. The match was played in the heat of March 1945. I can still remember the batting order of our team. We batted first with KC Ibrahim and Madhav Mantri opening the innings, Rusi Modi, Vijay Merchant [captain], I came in fifth, then came Dattu Phadkar, Uday Merchant, JB Khot, Baloo Palwankar, KK Tarapore and Madan Raiji," Cooper said.

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His memory was sharp enough to correctly recall the Bombay batting order in that final apart from other details of the match which his team won by 374 runs. The opposition's captain was the legendary CK Nayudu, whose brother CS, also figured in this domestic final.