Bombay’s rich cricket traditions

Rex Clementine in Bombay

Due to the Kaveri river dispute, the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka rarely see eye to eye. But both governments had to come together at one point; to catch Veerappan. For some Veerappan was a Robin Hood. For others he is a cold-blooded criminal.

Veerappan was initially known for smuggling of sandalwood and ivory. But as the forest officers and police closed in on him, he started killing them. He kidnapped some prominent politicians and film stars at times bringing life in the two states to a standstill.

Veerappan is believed to have killed 184 people, over 100 of them cops and forest officers. The battle to capture Veerappan is believed to have cost the governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over INR 100 crores.

Killing of Veerappan was meticulously planned and involved the elite forces of the two states.

With his eyesight failing, Veerappan agrees to undergo treatment and some of his confidants arrange for an ambulance. Little do they realize that this is a trap. Once he gets into the ambulance, the forces who are waiting for him open fire killing the elusive bandit.

Veerappan’s killing has been condemned by the media as many believe that he should have stood trial at a court of law for his crimes. But then, for someone who terrorized the governments of two states, the end was inevitable. In our neck of the woods of course not many criminals die in encounters. They die when they go to show the police the arms they had hidden.

Most young Indians want to find out how Aravinda de Silva is doing, why Arjuna Ranatunga lost the elections and whether Sanath Jayasuriya has got anything to do with cricket these days. But old timers are still in awe of Anura Tennakoon, Michael Tissera, Duleep Mendis and Roy Dias. They had left an indelible mark during many visits to India to play the Gopalan Trophy.

For that generation of Indian fans, Tennakoon and Dias are some of the most pleasant batsmen they had seen. Pity they played in the wrong era.

Mendis on his first Test visit to India smashed twin hundreds in Madras. Every Sri Lankan visit to India included a game in Madras those days. But it all changed after 2005 when Jayalalitha Jeyarama’s government banned Sri Lanka from playing in Tamil Nadu.

In this World Cup, Sri Lanka are playing all over India, but not in Madras. Two Sri Lankans – Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana are important cogs in wheel of Chennai Super Kings. They don’t mind having our players in their IPL franchise, but they won’t let our team play in Madras. What hypocrisy.

The Indian cricket board is located in Bombay and it’s within the premises of Wankhede Stadium. It used to be at the Cricket Club of India, a tiny office not so long ago. But currently the Indian board is in posh premises.

Bombay’s main cricket ground has been named after S.K. Wankhede, a former President of BCCI. He was a lawyer and freedom fighter, who was jailed by the British.

Around a radius of one kilometer, Bombay has three Test grounds. Bombay Gymkhana hosted the first ever Test match in India in 1933. Then Test matches shifted to Cricket Club of India (CCI).

But the Indian board had regular disputes with CCI and built their own venue and later named it after Wankhede.

The venue has four stands named after some of the great players produced by Bombay; Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sachin Tendulkar and Vijay Merchant. Ravi Shastri of course is missing. Two of the gates at the venue have been named after two other iconic figures of Bombay cricket Vinoo Mankad and Polly Umrigar.

Cricket Club of India, however, is the place to be when you visit Bombay. It’s an exclusive members only club that apart from cricket facilities has a library, siesta room, accommodation, banquet halls, children’s play area, a card room and a museum.

CCI also has several restaurants and one of them is named All-rounder. In that restaurant, there are paintings of Richard Hadlee, Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Garry Sobers, Shaun Pollock and Jacques Kallis. Something is missing, you feel. Indeed. Imran Khan is not there. His painting was there but after the Pulwama attack targeting Indian security personal it was removed. The attack is blamed on Pakistan.