Clayton Murzello: Kandly remember this cricket gent!

The Khar Gymkhana cricket team of the 1960s and 1970s had a few players with interesting nicknames. Prakash Naik, the brother of Test player Sudhir, was called ‘Dougie' because he looked and batted a bit like Australian great Doug Walters. Bharat Kunderan, their wicketkeeper-batsman, was called Sidney, after actor Poitier. Pacy opening bowler Nitin Shirodkar (father of actresses Shilpa and Namrata) was called Speedy Gonzales, while middle order batsman Kumar Hansraj was known as Puddles because he kept falling into puddles during Kanga League games.

Harendra Upadhyaya at his Khar residence in 2015. Pic/mid-day archives

Among all these players was Harendra Upadhyaya, better known as Kandly. Kunderan revealed to me the genesis of this nickname: Upadhyaya once addressed a letter to his college sports-in-charge asking for the release of cricket equipment with the word Kandly instead of Kindly. His friends came to know about this slip-up and Upadhyaya was known as Kandly forever.

Kandly passed away on July 16 after a heart attack at the age of 74. His contribution to city cricket was quiet, yet significant; unheralded, but appreciated. He was a father figure to players at Union Bank of India on the inter-office circuit and one cannot imagine going for a match at Khar Gym and not seeing Kandly around in his shorts and T-shirt. Of course, we also miss Ranjan Baindoor, who passed away in April.

If there was a downside to Upadhyaya's nickname, it showed up when a Test player asked him to apply for a job at the Associated Cement Companies. When the ACC-employed Test star made enquiries on the status of Kandly's recruitment, he discovered that no such person had applied for a job. Little did the India cricketer realise that the application had been made in the name of Harendra Upadhyaya and not Kandly. Thus, Kandly missed out on being part of the formidable ACC cricket team.

Mumbai batting stalwart Amol Muzumdar said he first met Kandly as a 10-year-old cricketer at Khar Gym, where he turned up for practice. "I always saw him in shorts and when I got to know him better, I used to tell him, ‘Kandly uncle, I dread the day when I see you in trousers.' He went out of his way to help cricketers. I remember, during my last few years with the Mumbai team, I practiced with them in the morning and used to bat at the Khar Gym nets in the evenings, all thanks to Kandly uncle, who organised everything for me," Muzumdar told me.

Vilas Godbole, who played a lot of cricket with Kandly on the inter-bank circuit, compared Kandly to a character called Narayan in Marathi writer and humorist Pu La Deshpande's works. "Like Narayan, Kandly was always helpful and nothing could move without him. Khar Gym without Kandly is unthinkable," said Godbole.

On the on-field front, Godbole praised Kandly's ability to play shots behind the wicket. "In Reserve Bank of India vs UBI matches, I had a lot of fielders behind the wicket for Kandly. Yet he could manage to hit in between them. He was also a fine fielder. Through his death, some lost a brother, others lost an uncle and a large group lost a friend," added Godbole.

Rajendra Singh Hans, the former Uttar Pradesh spinner (whom until last year, was part of Sandeep Patil's national selection committee) also played for Khar Gym. He recalled how Kandly made his players feel comfortable. Kandly was a good cook and his chicken sandwiches were much savoured by his teammates. He even got an electric sandwich grill to the dressing room for his teammates to enjoy grilled sandwiches.

Pradeep Sunderam, the fast bowler who claimed 10 wickets in an innings for Rajasthan in the 1985-86 season, was a beneficiary of Kandly's assistance at UBI, where Kandly was Cricket Secretary. Before important inter-bank tournaments, Kandly used to organise preparatory camps at his beloved Khar Gym where there was never a shortage of facilities.

Dinesh Nanavati, the former Saurashtra player, remembered how Kandly played a role in him emerging a Ranji Trophy player. "I was playing for Bombay University and got some runs against Catholic Gym in the 1976 Police Shield tournament. The day after the match, Kandly came over to my State Bank of India office at Horniman Circle to offer me a place in the Khar Gym team, which was then in the ‘A' division. I agreed despite VB Prabhudesai (my mentor at Siddharth College) telling me not to join a team which was known to be happy-go-lucky. Ultimately, Prabhudesai relented and I can say we were very serious about our cricket at Khar," Nanavati, now a reputed batting coach, told me yesterday.

That cricketing standards in Mumbai cricket have declined is a common refrain, but along with class, talent, grit and ability, there is also shortage of men like Kandly - who work tirelessly without clamouring for any post in the edifice of cricketing power.

Everything Kandly did, he did for the game and its practitioners, even towards the end of his bachelor life. Pardon the pun and Kandly remember him!

mid-day's group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com