It’s 1983 once more!

It was a year when MCA decided that there would be no Kanga League promotions or relegations since the tournament was ravaged by rain just like they did in the first Apex Council meeting last week

The Mumbai Cricket Association’s recent decision to suspend the remainder of this year’s Dr HD Kanga Cricket League as the weather could only allow three rounds to be held, took me back to 1983. For a while —before 2006, 2010 and 2011 suffered the same fate, the year 1983 stood out as the only time since the league’s inception that teams were not promoted or demoted as only four rounds were possible due to a heavy monsoon.

This situation caused mixed feelings. Some outfits felt that they were on a roll to go all the way and win, and another set of teams across all seven divisions heaved a sigh of relief after ducking the axe of relegation. For those club cricket followers who go by the latest fixture book, there is no mention of what happened in 1983, while earlier fixture books had a long dash against the year on the page displaying the list of champions.

It was a special year, of course, with India winning the World Cup by beating the all-conquering West Indies at Lord’s on June 25 and it was hoped that some of the Mumbai-based World Cup stars would turn up for their clubs. But it was not to be, probably due to other commitments, but also because the India v Pakistan home Test series was set to begin in September. Ravi Shastri, though, turned up for Cricket Club of India’s (CCI) match against Young Maharashtra on August 28. He scored 38 in his side’s total of 158-8 declared with teammate Ghulam Parkar scoring the only half-century in the ‘A’ division. 
The opening round game was drawn with Young Maharashtra ending up with 84-4.

The first round of matches kicked off after seven washouts. Like it used to happen so very often in the 1980s, Dadar Union stood out with their performances. They clashed with arch-rivals Shivaji Park Gymkhana at Shivaji Park first up, a game ex-Railways wicketkeeper batsman Shrikant Kharge has vivid memories of. “It was the year I made it to the Mumbai probables. I got three catches in the game, scored around 12 coming into bat at No.8 and the best thing is that we beat Gymkhana,” Kharge told me on Tuesday.

He also remembered all his teammates rushing to him after he took his first catch: “They all came and congratulated me and one of the first people to wish me many more catches as a Dadar Union ’keeper was ‘Major’ Suresh Tigdi, who was at second slip.”

Dadar Union were restricted to 72 with pacer Nirmal Mhatre claiming three and off-spinner Sudhir Gadgil bagging a fifer, conceding only 10 runs. In response, Shivaji Park Gymkhana were bowled out for 58 thanks to Ramesh Rajde and Vikram Dutt, who bagged five apiece. The previous season, Dutt made it to Kanga League history section by claiming all 10 wickets in an innings against Rajasthan SC.

Chandrakant Pandit who had represented Cricket Club of India (CCI) the previous year, was roped in to lead Shivaji Park Youngsters while Suru Nayak, the India all-rounder, moved to CCI after a long stint with Rajasthan. Talking of big names, Jolly Cricketers, the 1980 premier division champions, were led by former India pacer Subroto Guha. His team included ex-India all-rounder Yajurvindra Singh, former Rajasthan pace bowler Kailash Gattani and of course, Madhav Apte, the Test man who was always ready to play the Kanga League.

September 2 was the second day when play was possible in the 1983 league, but morning showers ruined action at Shivaji Park, Matunga and Cross Maidan. Avinash Karnik, the former Mumbai Ranji Trophy batsman scored 35 just like in the first game as Dadar Union drew with hosts CCI. Promoted side Parsi Cyclists drew with Shivaji Park Youngsters while Jolly Cricketers were involved in an exciting draw against hosts Khar Gymkhana.

Another gap due to the Mumbai rains was witnessed before teams hoped for better conditions on September 25. But after a week full of sunshine, there were Saturday showers which made conditions tough the following day. Dadar Union claimed three points as they beat Rajasthan SC, who were bowled out for a mere 39. Their star was left-arm spinner Salil Shah, who claimed 4-10 and followed it up with 6-28. At the Brabourne Stadium, CCI needed eight off the last over to beat Shivaji Park Youngsters but failed in their victory bid. While Dadar Union led with seven points, Cross Maidan clubs Karnatak SA and MB Union were catching up with six each. Hosts Karnatak beat Young Maharashtra, who were troubled by Austin Coutinho (4-34). Suresh Shetty (36) and Vasudev Tumbe (33) helped Karnatak surpass Young Maharashtra’s 75 with four wickets to spare. At the nearby MB Union pitch, Rajdeep Sardesai stayed unbeaten with 66 to help beat promoted team Parsee Cyclists.

The last Sunday of the league was October 2. It would have been unfair to declare a champion after only four games (other sides arrived for games throughout the tournament and not a ball was bowled), but Karnatak took pride in the fact that they beat holders Dadar Union. Karnatak’s pacers Suresh Shetty (5-33) and Coutinho (5-25) shot out Dadar Union for 81 and the hosts reached their first innings victory target through Shetty’s punitive blade that reaped 41 unbeaten runs. Shetty was well supported by future captain Mangesh Adatrao, who scored 20. Karnatak ended the tournament with nine points, two more than Dadar Union.

Another person who’d recall 1983 with a smile would have been Leander Dias. He claimed 4-47 for National CC in a draw game against a formidable Shivaji Park Gymkhana. Dias passed away last week at the age of 65. Although better known for his insurance-related work with Oriental Insurance, Dias was an able pace bowler. Like the best years of the Kanga League, he too will be missed by the Mumbai 
cricket fraternity.

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
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
Mayank Shekhar’s MS Word will be back next week.

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