The engrossing 1991 Kanga League

Standing from left Dhiru Bhatia Hemant Kenkre Prasanna Shah Keki Kotwal Shishir Hattangadi captain Milind Rege Sandeep Patil Mayank Khandwala Abey Kuruvilla Salil Ankola and Uday Gharat scorer Squatting from left Iqbal Khan Amol Muzumdar Abhijit Kale Rohan Gavaskar Nasir Khan and Sameer Dighe PicSandeep Patilrsquos personal collectionCovid19 has yet again prevented the scheduling of the Dr HD Kanga Cricket League although teams from Mumbairsquos muchloved tournament will feature across two competitions subject to government clearance The Mumbai Cricket Association recently announced that the lsquoArsquo and lsquoBrsquo teams from the Kanga League will compete for the Padmakar Talim Shield while the rest of the sides lsquoCrsquo to lsquoGrsquo will be part of a tournament to be held to commemorate the birth centenary of former Mumbai captain and MCA president Madhav MantriWith Salil Ankola involved as chief selector and Amol Muzumdar as head coach I found it interesting to discover that the duo figured in the same Cricket Club of India CCI team which won the Kanga League lsquoArsquo division title 30 years ago on October 6 The day began with CCI and Dadar Union on eight points each so the title race was between the two giants with defending champions Sunder CC standing an outside chance with seven points But Dadar Union drew with New Hind SC and Sunder CCrsquos clash with Shivaji Park Youngsters ended in a stalemate while CCI overwhelmed National CC at the Brabourne Stadium where the hosts clinched the titleCCI led by Shishir Hattangadi had their full side Sandeep Patil was back from his club commitments in Nairobi and their pace attack comprised Ankola and Abey Kuruvilla who had debuted in the thrilling Ranji Trophy final against Haryana earlier in the year CCI batted first and profited from a 42run opening stand between Hattangadi and Abhijit Kale Patil struck lustily with a whirlwind 58 4x4 6x6 At 145 pm CCI declared at 1825 with young Muzumdar staying unbeaten on 28 ldquoI remember saying in the team meeting that we must put up a total for them to have a go and if they lose early wickets we have the bowling strength to do the finishing job We had a wellbalanced side and while we will all remember that final game we mustnrsquot forget the contribution of Hemant Kenkre and Mayank Khandwala our seasoned players who kept us afloat till our regulars returned from England or East Africardquo Hattangadi told me yesterdayNational lost their first two wickets to Kuruvilla 354 and Ankola tormented the opponents with four scalps One of Ankolarsquos deliveries hit middleorder batsman Rajesh Sutar on the head Sitting as a National CC reserve on the cane seats of the Brabourne Stadium was future Mumbai and India spinner Nilesh Kulkarni ldquoRajesh walked in to bat without a helmet and I saw him get hit on the head He was taken to hospital for attention came back and battedrdquo Kulkarni told me on Tuesday Sutar who went on to make the Mumbai oneday side four years later scored a fighting 40 CCI were also helped by leftarm spinner Khandwalarsquos 35 an effort which helped bowl out National CC for 114Despite pundits reckoning that the Kanga League was losing its significance with a plethora of matches being washed out the 1991 edition was an exciting and memorable one The tournament ought to have started on July 14 but only began on September 1 Former Pakistan batsman Mohsin Khan who had married Indian actress Reena Roy turned up for Khar Gymkhana this year Rohan Gavaskar Muzumdar and Kuruvilla played their first season in the premier divisionMohsin didnrsquot figure in all the matches and his Kanga League debut yielded only four runs as he was stumped by Jaideep Pal off Shivaji Park Gymkhanarsquos leftarm spinner Ashish Bhatt for four The following Sunday Mohsin slammed an unbeaten 61 in Khar Gymkhanarsquos sixwicket win over New Hindu Zubin Bharucha who is now one of the pillars of the Rajasthan Royals set up carved a flawless hundred for Dadar Union against New Hindu on the penultimate Sunday of the league Bharucha went on to play for Mumbai the following yearAs for Hattangadi who contributed with the bat and his offspin for the champions he was rewarded with the Mumbai captaincy for 199192 which turned out to be his farewell firstclass season The BCAMafatlal Fast Bowling Scheme driven by former pace terror Frank Tyson had gained momentum by 1991 and the seeds of Mumbairsquos return to domestic dominance were well and truly sown Quite a few who played way back then are now involved in the running of Mumbai cricket Hopefully the current scenario too will lead to better days for Mumbai Their last Ranji Trophy triumph in 201516 seems so far awaymiddayrsquos 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