Chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil hopes Dhoni’s Team India go from strength to strength after yesterday’s 95-run victory over England at Lord's
Team India celebrate their victory over England in the second Test at Lord's yesterday. Pic/Getty Images and (Inset) Sandeep Patil
Inida's chairman of selectors Sandeep Patil felt as elated as a player when England's No 11 Jimmy Anderson failed to make his ground for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's India to complete an emphatic victory over the visitors at Lord's yesterday.
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Team India celebrate their victory over England in the second Test at Lord's yesterday. Pic/Getty Images and (Inset) Sandeep Patil
Mumbai-based Patil soaked in the thrill of victory as well as tripped into a space of nostalgia in front of his television set.
"I am very happy," he exclaimed to mid-day last evening.
"A victory at Lord's is special because it is known as the Mecca of cricket.This is just the start and I hope the team goes from strength to strength." Patil was never in an India Test playing XI at Lord's although he was part of the squads in 1982 and 1986, the year in which India recorded their first Test win there.
Many years ago, the late Raj Singh Dungarpur (manager of the 1982 and 1986 teams to England) told this writer about how Patil took his non-inclusion in the 1982 Test sportingly.
"Sandeep showed how big hearted he is when it was announced at a team meeting on Test eve that he would not be playing and Ghulam Parkar would make his debut.
Sandeep got up from his seat, embraced Ghulam and wished him well for his debut," said Raj Singh. Patil recalled yesterday how the team was invited to music icon Lata Mangeshkar's London residence (opposite the Lord's ground) before the 1986 Test where she prepared gaajar ka halwa for Kapil Dev's tourists.
"She urged Dilip Vengsarkar to eat the halwa and he'll score a hundred in the Test. And Dilip scored that match-winning century. Lata didi was so kind to us."
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The 1983 World Cup final win over the mighty West Indies against whom Patil scored 27 off 29 balls was special, but he said: "Each win is important — as a player winning the World Cup, as a reserve player in 1986 and now as chairman of selectors."
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