And Kaka will smile from above

Stadiums are sprouting across the country The BCCI is flush with broadcaster money and franchise fees Indian cricket has never been richer never more prosperous The game is spreading into corners of the country where it once barely reached From Kashmir to Kanyakumari new academies turf wickets and floodlit stadiums testify to a sport at its commercial and cultural peakThe Mumbai Ranji Trophy team led by Shardul Thakur began their 202526 campaign against Jammu amp Kashmir at Srinagar on Wednesday Their supporters will be wishing for title No 43 by the end of the seasonIncidentally this is the 50th anniversary of Bombayrsquos 197576 triumph engineered by that master tactician the late Ashok Mankad In the lead up to the final his team which had three debutants mdash Sandeep Patil Rahul Mankad and Vijay Mohanraj mdash outwitted a fancied Hyderabad unit which boasted of Test players MAK Pataudi skipper ML Jaisimha Abid Ali Abbas Ali Baig and Kenia Jayantilal despite conceding a first innings lead to the visitors at Wankhede Stadium Hyderabadrsquos offspinner V Ramnarayan claimed seven to dismiss Bombay for 222 on Day One but the hosts stormed back and legspinner Rakesh Tandon claimed six while Paddy Shivalkar sent back four Hyderabadis to cause one of Bombayrsquos famous winsBihar were conquered in the final at Jamshedpur for Ashok to be presented the silverware for the second season in a rowMind you Bombay were without the services of Sunil Gavaskar Dilip Vengsarkar and Eknath Solkar who were on India duty on the 197576 New Zealand and West Indies toursAshok could make a bowler weep with his patience and a teammate and friend laugh with his wit mdash sometimes in the same afternoon His cricket like his life was about endurance but never without humourHe saw grace where others did not Once when friends teased a bespectacled womanrsquos looks Ashok waved them off with a Gujarati gem ldquoChashma kaado to Hema Malini lage che betardquo mdash ldquoTake off her specs and she looks like the Dream Girlrdquo That was himmdash quick with the line but gentle in its landingHis trusted Herald car was another running gag Its floor had all but vanished offering passengers a view of the tar below Ashok would slap the steering wheel laughing ldquoRaja free airconditioning from belowrdquo RollsRoyces gave status his Herald gave storiesTeammates knew him as the spirit of the Bombay dressing room He could come back from a duck and have everyone chuckling before the next batsman had strapped on his pads As captain he was shrewd enough to know that confidence mattered as much as technique When the 12th man trotted out with a drink Ashok would take a sip and exclaim ldquoWah wah what a drink Rajardquo That word mdash Raja mdash was his magic In that instant he made a reserve feel like a kingIn my first full year 198283 of the Ranji Trophy I had a decent season with over 550 runs in seven matches We lost the final to Karnataka in the first innings In a crucial moment of that match I dropped a catch at midwicket off allrounder B Vijayakrishna mdash a swat to midwicket an instinctive snatch and thenhellip a drop Bombay had probably dropped the Ranji Trophy with my catch That said both sides had their share of dropped catchesA month later at a function Ashok came up to me and asked softly ldquoRaja are you able to sleep well Because I havenrsquot been able tordquo It said everything about him mdash how much he loved winning the Ranji Trophy and how much he lived for Bombay winning it The look in his light eyes told me a story I havenrsquot been able to forget to this dayOn his birth anniversary the other day we remembered Ashok mdash a cricketer of pedigree a hungry domestic ldquolangarrdquo anchor in English a raconteur by instinct and a man whose laughter outlasted his runsOne imagines him now chuckling still sipping his ale and breaking into his favourite Kishore Kumar tune Yeh Shaam Mastani A song picturised on Rajesh Khanna incidentally the very nickname his friends gave him KakaAnd just like that melody his memory lingers mdash timeless tuneful and touched with mischiefSomewhere surely there is a darbar of friends leaning in to hear your anecdotes as that wicked laughter echoes on mdash like the sound of sweet part of the willow on ball at the Wankhede StadiumShishir Hattangadi is a former Mumbai Ranji Trophy captain and opening batsman He tweetsshishhattangadiClayton Murzellorsquos Pavilion End will be backSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper