Vengsarkar caught Pawar bowled Deshmukh

Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar loses to former Chief Minister Vilasrao in MCA polls

Even a long innings as a Mumbai player - 1975-76 to 1991-92 (apart from being a highly successful Test player and 1983 World Cup winner) - is not enough to move cricket clubs to vote for you. That's the bitter truth Dilip Vengsarkar faced last night for the second time in 15 years.


Dilip Vengsarkar. file Pic/Atul Kamble

Vengsarkar (135 votes) lost to Vilasrao Deshmukh (182 votes) by 47 votes as Deshmukh became the Mumbai Cricket Association's third politician on the trot to be elected as president. Manohar Joshi and Sharad Pawar are his predecessors.


Vilasrao Deshmukh at MCA yesterday. PIC/Nimesh Dave

Deshmukh enjoyed the support of previous president Sharad Pawar. As expected, Vengsarkar was gutted. Former India fast bowler Karsan Ghavri bemoaned the loss of the cricketers' lobby in the intensely-followed MCA elections yesterday.

Ghavri, who failed to win a place in the managing committee, told MiD DAY: "It is a big loss to cricket and the cricketing community in Mumbai more than anything else. It is sad that cricketers were not given an opportunity to serve the game. Mumbai's cricket has lost out on a very good president in Vengsarkar," Former India stumper Chandrakant Pandit was the only cricketer to win a place in the managing committee from the Vengsarkar group. Balwinder Singh Sandhu (managing committee), Milind Rege (vice-president) were the other cricketers from the group who failed to win the voters' confidence.

However, Ghavri said it's not the end of the battle. "It is not yet over. "The battle is still on. We will continue fighting. We may have lost now, but we will come back after two years. In the meantime, we will rectify where we went wrong," he said.

Former Wankhede Stadium curator, Nadim Memon was not confident of Vengsarkar's return to cricket politics. "I don't think Dilip Sir will think of contesting again. If this is how they (Vengsarkar & Co) were defeated, then I don't think any cricketer would think of entering the fold. Hats off to Dilip Sir for putting up a tough fight though," said Memon, who was elected as a managing committee member.