Two deaths, too bad!

Friends of the late Milind Rege made a good fist of celebrating the life and times of the former Mumbai Ranji Trophy captain through a condolence meeting organised by the Cricket Club of India on Monday eveningWhen most from the gathering which included Regersquos wife Raj sons Siddharth and Aditya reached their respective homes they got the news of Padmakar Shivalkarrsquos death Rege 76 and Shivalkar 84 were teammates for Mumbai then Bombay and Tata Sports Club For a good part of their lives they lived in the same building at Prabhadevi and worked at the same Bombay House premises for Tatas at FortAlthough Shivalkar represented Shivaji Park Gymkhana while Rege was a Dadar Union man in the early stages of his career the CCI was close to their heartsIt was here where Shivalkar made his firstclass debut in 196162 while playing for the CCI Presidentrsquos XI against an International XI The same venue saw him make his debut for Mumbai in firstclass cricket a fixture against the touring Sri Lankans in 196465 And the game against Maharashtra the following season was his maiden Ranji Trophy appearanceIn 196768 Shivalkar played the first of his eight Ranji Trophywinning finals at the CCI where Madras later Tamil Nadu lost on the first innings to the Manohar Hardikarled Mumbai sideLeftarm spinner Shivalkar claimed 564 wickets in the Kanga League premier division but some were claimed for the CCI as wellShivalkar toured Australia with the CCI team in 196162 and according to the book CCI amp the Brabourne Stadium he claimed 100plus wickets in 325 overs on the tourWhen Bob Simpsonrsquos 196465 Test side came visiting some members of the team who had faced Shivalkar during the 196162 tour were amazed that he hadnrsquot been picked for India In fact he hadnrsquot played his first Ranji Trophy game when the Australians landedShivalkar had to deal with valleys in his early years as a Mumbai cricketer Bapu Nadkarni bowled leftarm spin as did Eknath Solkar But he overcame that competition and in 197071 in the Ranji Trophy knockout stage where five of Mumbairsquos stars were on duty in the West Indies he discovered his captain Sudhir Naik was only keen on wickets and did not want his spinner to worry about the runs conceded Rege was in that side too and both played their part in Mumbai beating Maharashtra in the final at Brabourne Stadium Rege didnrsquot claim a wicket in the game but he did make 33 which was the third highest score in Mumbairsquos second innings after Mahesh Sampatrsquos 60 and Vijay Bhosalersquos 55 to set Maharashtra 254 to win the finalBefore they fell short by 48 runs Rege took a headlinemaking catch to send back skipper Chandu Borde on the fourth day off Shivalkar for 51 And Shivalkarrsquos 656 contributed in no small measure to the archrivals being dismissed for 205Shivalkarrsquos domestic cricket career ended with Mumbairsquos 198081 Ranji Trophy win But he was recalled for the knockout rounds of the 198788 national championships played the prequarter against Karnataka at Wankhede Stadium where Gundappa Vishwanath bid farewell to firstclass cricket He played his last Ranji game of his career at the Kotla where Delhi beat Mumbai on the first innings to advance Another comeback of Shivalkarrsquos that is talked about in city cricketing circles is the return to the turf for Tata Sports Club in 1992One of the highlights of Shivalkarrsquos career was his 1334 match haul that fast tracked Tamil Nadursquos demise in the 197273 Ranji final at Chennai The match ended after two days and one ball on the third dayAmol Muzumdar the erstwhile Mumbai captain who now coaches the India womenrsquos team recalled a story he heard of Shivalkarrsquos Chennai 1973 exploitsldquoI heard a story of Paddy Sir waking up on the morning of Day Two wondering what approach to take as Mumbai were bowled out for 151 after which TN were 622 He decided to look into the mirror for an answer and the mirror image asked him lsquoGhabhartoys kay Paddy Flight kar ballrsquo Are you afraidPaddy Flight the ballrdquo Muzumdar told me at Shivalkarrsquos funeral on Wednesday morningShivalkar claimed 11 wickets that day April 20 1973 and got last man B Kalyanasundaram off his first ball on the third day to cap up a memorable win for MumbaiMeanwhile Regersquos interest in CCIrsquos cricket deepened in the 1970s albeit adorning the Dadar Union club when he was requiredIn 1968 he bagged a hattrick for CCI against Khar GymkhanaJust like he helped recruit players for Tata Sports Club on the interoffice circuit he got established names in the CCI ranks Sandeep Patil being a prime exampleSachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli were roped in by the club when Rege was part of the cricket committee and among the most cherished CCI cricketrelated memories must have been the Kanga League triumph in 1987 and 1991 The 1991 side had a fine blend of youth and experience the senior pros joining in at the fag end of the tournament which ended with a Sandeep Patilled side beating National CC for the lsquoArsquodivision pennantRege was known to be outspokenFor example he didnrsquot think a story on Mumbairsquos preparation in Alur Karnataka for their Ranji Trophywinning 202324 season ought to have been highlighted in this newspaper He took it up with meOften our conversations over the future of Mumbai cricket were heavy with refrain But the next day he would be there watching a gameMumbai has lost two leading lights of their cricket within a fortnight It will take extraordinary men to replace them and it shouldnrsquot come as a surprise if they donrsquotmiddayrsquos 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