Cricketers make their presence felt at MCA elections

Paras Mhambrey arrives to cast his vote. Pic/Atul Kamble

Ex-India opener and former Mumbai selector Ghulam Parkar wants new MCA president Ajinkya Naik to prioritise local cricket.

"He should give importance to tournaments like Police, Talim and Purshottam Shields and also increase its price money to encourage cricketers. They should also focus on maintaining standards in inter-school and inter-college tournaments and give priority to cricketing matters," said Parkar, who played for Mumbai in the 1970s and 1980s.

Meanwhile, former all-rounder and MCA's ex-Cricket Improvement Committee chief Karsan Ghavri reckoned both candidates (Ajinkya and Sanjay Naik) were worthy of being winners.

"Both are great servants of Mumbai cricket," said Ghavri.

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Former India pacers - current national chief selector Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan - walked in together and were among the early voters. Ex-India pacer Umesh Kulkarni, India's 1983 World Cup-winning cricketer Balvinder Singh Sandhu, national selector Salil Ankola, BCCI General Manager Abey Kuruvilla, Nilesh Kulkarni, Sanjay Manjrekar, Paras Mhambrey, Suru Nayak, Kenia Jayantilal and Ghulam Parkar and ex-Olympian Dhanraj Pillay also voted.

Former India women's team captain and current MCA women's cricket advisor Diana Edulji, who was supporting Ajinkya, went to the Wankhede Stadium main gate to receive ex-India cricketer and her former teammate Shobha Mundkar. MCA's late president Amol Kale's wife Minal and daughter Arpita cast their votes as well.