Passes, tickets, the thrill of it all

If there is a place Irsquod like to be a fly hopping from one wall to another in these times it would be the Mumbai Cricket Association office to write my own very version of Ticket TamashaThe first of the five Mumbai World Cup 2023 games will be held on Saturday when defending champions England combat South AfricaI have experienced a bit of what happens in the cricket association office as a nonjournalist and after I joined the profession My memories are vividThe first time was during the 1987 World Cup I worked at The Marine Sports the sports booksellers then They were allotted a stall for every game at the Wankhede For big events like the World Cup two were grantedmdashone at the Garware End and the other near the players endI was sent to collect our duty passes for the India v Zimbabwe game and then the India v England semifinal To say the office atmosphere in the build up to both these India games was chaotic would be an understatement The cabin for the then Honorary Joint Secretaries mdash former Test allrounder Bapu Nadkarni and exMumbai firstclass player Vilas Godbolemdashwas overly populated The one that was more frequented was the adjoining room where late journalist Sharad Kotnis the associationrsquos then Honorary Treasurer held sway Approaching Kotnis for even a duty pass was undertaken with much trepidation ldquoCome back laterrdquo he said When one returned in the evening he said ldquolaterrdquo Irsquom sure Kotnis did not extract any pleasure in giving me the runaround The duty passes may have not been ready for distribution But I could see a complete contrast in his temperament as compared to the calm and composed snuffsnorting veteran journalist visiting our bookstore in Dadar Here he was hotheaded hassled and highstrungIncidentally Kotnis and I went on to enjoy a good professional relationship with him as sports editor of The Afternoon Despatch and Courier and me a reporter for this newspaper Our common love was the Kanga league and we shared tent space when he mentored the Shivaji Park Youngsters Cricket Club while I managed Sunder Cricket Club Irsquove digressed I had to make my way to the MCA office again before the India v England semifinal in 1987 Again Kotnis had to be approached for duty passes Again there was a wait and a return journey to be madeI was happy to make several trips It was fascinating to see so many star cricketers coming in to get tickets and passes for the following dayrsquos gamemdashSandeep Patil Polly Umrigar and even Clive Lloyd most eager to meet Nadkarni who he had played against during his first Test tour to India in 196667It was Semifinal 1 day at Lahore where Australia tackled Pakistan Nadkarni happened to be in the Treasurerrsquos cabin while Imran Khanrsquos team were attempting to reach their stiff 268run target Saleem Yousuf and Abdul Qadir were putting on a little partnership and Nadkarni then the chairman of India selectors was confident of Saleem pulling it off for Pakistan But the wicketkeeper was dismissed caught behind by Greg Dyer off Craig McDermott for 21 Pakistan ended up losing by 18 runsSpare a thought for the departed Nadkarni He was buried in responsibility to ensure the smooth running of the Mumbai semifinal as an important office bearer of the association and also had his mind occupied about Indiarsquos chances as chief selectorThe next World Cup game the Wankhede Stadium hosted was the India v Australia one in 1996 It was the 2011 final venuersquos first ODI under floodlights Australiarsquos senior pro Steve Waugh noted in World Cup Diary that a riot broke out in Mumbai over only 7000 tickets being reserved for the general public ldquoThe rest of the tickets apparently have been made available to corporate clients and a very wealthy but very small part of the population Scalpers are already demanding up to 10000 rupees for 500rupee tickets and the match has become a bonanza for counterfeiters and scalpers alikerdquoAmidst the ticket fever a senior colleague came up to me with a requestmdashto get him a couple of expensive tickets for the following day I was about to attempt the nearimpossible In one of the MCA cabins I spotted Shripad Halbe the dynamic administrator who was in the thick of the action for the big World Cup game I asked him if I could buy two tickets for which the payment would be sent with an office boy the following morning To my great surprise Halbe obliged me on both counts When I bid him goodbye and promised to meet him the following week he asked me why wouldnrsquot I be at the IndiaAustralia game I had no press pass Halbe was aghast He found it unfair that reporters covering local cricket were not going to be around for big games at Wankhede Within minutes I was issued a press passHalbe met numerous important people in the lead up to the game One of them was celebrated British writer Ian Wooldridge who he had helped with a press passWooldridge mentioned Halbe in his Daily Mail piece ldquoI liked Shripad Halbe very much I had to I need my accreditation for Tuesdayrsquos match and this after taxi rides to three offices proved fruitless Each was occupied by about 20 men throwing their arms into the air and recommending the address from which I had just comerdquoAs for me I cannot thank Halbe enough I was able to soak in the electrifying atmosphere that February 27 evening produced in a historic game for a stadium close to my heartmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper