Ajit Wadekar bats for better Kanga prize money

Ajit Wadekar still walks out to bat. We don't mean with whites in the Kanga League but for Shivaji Park Gymkhana. He's another example of a player (Dilip Vengsarkar is another) who continued playing for the same club in the monsoon event.

It's a special time for the Gymkhana, which boasted of fielding stalwarts like Subhash Gupte, Vijay Manjrekar, Manohar Hardikar, Padmakar Shivalkar and Sandeep Patil. This year the institution celebrates its centenary just like the International Cricket Council as Wadekar takes pleasure in reminding us.

SPG doesn't claim to be an elitist club, but their sporting forays are commendable. Cricket does not enjoy special treatment as sports like billiards and snooker, tennis, table tennis and carrom are given their due importance too. Of course, their glory days in the willow game are behind them.

There was a time a Dadar Union vs SPG game attracted a huge crowd.

Wadekar cannot forget those battles. "Madhu Patil (Sandeep's father) was our captain and if we beat Dadar Union, there would be celebrations at his place in the evenings. We once bowled out a team for 12 but the biggest satisfaction I got was when I scored a hundred against PJ Hindu Gymkhana on a wretched wicket," the former India captain recalled. Like other old faithfuls, he rued the lack of club loyalty and the little awareness that Kanga League creates now. Mumbai cricket maybe prospering on the first-class front but club cricket is in shambles. Are we chasing an impossible dream? Wadekar agreed but believed that there were ways to enhance the league. "Attractive prize money (winners get Rs 10,000) could be a way out," he reckoned.

Wadekar is looking forward to his third term as president of the club. He won't be elected unopposed at the August 15 elections but there's no doubting his popularity and acumen. As one long-time SPG supporter said: "At Shivaji Park, you can criticise Sachin Tendulkar but not Ajit Wadekar."

Part of the centenary celebrations is a match featuring the top stars of Indian cricket and Sri Lankan cricketers like Arjuna Ranatunga, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakarra. At SPG, they can't wait for the monsoons to end to witness that extravaganza.