Amar Vaidya’s fighting innings

While the cricketing world came together to celebrate Sunil Gavaskarrsquos 75th birthday on July 10 a lesser known teammate of the batting legend reached his lifersquos score of 75 on the same dayNot only Amar Ankush Vaidya is lesser known his health is a complete antithesis to that of GavaskarrsquosVaidya was Gavaskarrsquos teammate at Dadar Union Sporting ClubHe reached the highest echelons of the local cricket scene as a middle order lefthanded batsman And the attacking brand of batting he displayed caused fear among opposition bowlersAlso ReadHe will do well as he gets that experience Tushar Deshpandes father on his sons debutAmar Vaidya during his coaching days at Shivaji ParkVaidya has been bedridden for several years Diabetes has affected his vision but at the heart of his health issues is a kidney failure that has driven Vaidya miles away from the cricketheavy life he once loved to liveHis son Salil a former Mumbai age group batsman and Ranji Trophy probable tells us that his father enjoyed watching redball and limited overs cricket on the television at his Matunga home until three years ago Now even if cricket is on the screen Salil said his dad ldquopractically doesnrsquot understand anythingrdquoThe same Amar Vaidya took great care of his father Ankush in his old age Ankush was better known as Anna the famous coach who played a leading role in the emergence of Sandeep Patil Anna coached several cricketers at Balmohan Vidyamandir and son Amar continued his fatherrsquos good work at the Shivaji Park school He also guided cricketers at Mithibai College Amit Pagnis the former India U19 captain as well as Mumbai and Railways Ranji Trophy batsman was coached by Vaidya at school and collegePagnis credited Vaidyarsquos insistence on not being satisfied by a good innings amounting to a hundred ldquoI repeat his teachings to the players I coach now His advice was based on staying keen on more runs and thatrsquos what helped me in my career You can say Amar Sir taught me to be hungryrdquo Pagnis said on SaturdayAmar Vaidya batting in the 1960sSalil revealed that his fatherrsquos coaching efforts at Mithibai College resulted in five junior intercollegiate championships in the first part of the 1990s Apart from Pagnis Gaurav Jathar and Siddharth Chitnis were his students who played firstclass and List A cricketLast Wednesday two former Mumbai Cricket Association MCA officials mdash Nadim Memon and Jagdish Achrekar mdash visited Vaidyarsquos Mahim residence to present him a plaque on his landmark birthdayldquoI got emotional seeing Amar He was a big player for me and to play with him as well as Test player Ajit Pai in the Bank of Baroda team was an honourWhen I saw Amar on Wednesday I couldnrsquot help thinking about how he hit three sixes in an over off Padmakar Shivalkar in a Kanga League gamerdquo said Achrekar The exMCA Treasurer also remembered an interoffice game in which the glad tidings for a fast bowler named in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy squad was dampened by Vaidya who slammed him for a plethora of boundaries on the day of his selectionThe Dadar Union champion outfit of the 1970s Front row from left VS Patil Suresh Tigdi Vasoo Paranjape captain Sunil Gavaskar Urmikant Mody and Subhash Bandiwadekar Back row from left Lakhandar kit boy Sanjay Jaywant Jitendra Bhutta Ramesh Rajde Avinash Karnik Raju Babla and Amar Vaidya Pic courtesy The late VS Patil CollectionMeanwhile Memon had tears in his eyes at the Vaidya home ldquoDespite being my opponent in the interbank competitions he used to urge me to perform better in the heat of the battle He always encouraged us to look for singlesrdquo Memon who had played for IDBI revealedVaidyarsquos Bank of Barodarsquos teammate Ajit Pai the 196970 Test bowler remembered Vaidya as a ldquotremendous batsman who would square cut anything short outside offstumprdquo He even praised his leadership calling him ldquoa calm quiet and resultoriented captainrdquoRookies and thoroughbreds were treated in similar fashion by Vaidyarsquos punitive blade Indiarsquos 1983 World Cupwinning batsman Sandeep Patil no slouch when it came to bighitting himself called Vaidya a ldquodestructive batsman who could spoil the oppositionrsquos partyrdquoThe former India star was coached by Vaidya Sr at Balmohan and locked horns with the junior Vaidya in club cricket ldquoI have seen Amar destroy great Shivaji Park Gymkhana attacks which had Ajit Naik Abdul Ismail Baloo Gupte Vishoo Lele Padmakar Shivalkar VR Bondre and Mukund Satghare mdash limited footwork maximum resultrdquo Patil told middayIt was rare in those days that a Dadar Union player didnrsquot end up playing Ranji Trophy cricket Vaidya somehow didnrsquot get picked for Mumbai This fact amazed followers of city cricket including Patil ldquoHe was a quiet bloke I knew him well because of Anna my coach Even after playing for Dadar Union he didnrsquot play for Mumbai and that is unfortunate He should have represented Shivaji Park Gymkhana and Shivaji Park Youngsters then to find a place in the Mumbai teamrdquo added PatilExMumbai batsman Sanjay Jaywant recalled watching Vaidyarsquos brilliant batting before he joined the Dadar Union fold and became Vaidyarsquos teammateDadar Union were never short of tall deeds from three diminutive batsmen in their ranks in the 1970s mdash Gavaskar Ramnath Parkar and VaidyaAustin Coutinho well known for his work as an artist now was a fast bowler who played under Vaidya for Young Maharashtra ldquoAmar was my first lsquoArsquo division cricket captain mdash one of the nicest guys Irsquove met in cricket He would play shots that were out of this world He would hit sixes over cover and even third man like he did in one Talim Shield semifinal or final for Young Maharashtrardquo recalled CoutinhoVaidya proved to be a fine captain who didnrsquot believe in dressing downs but would express his displeasure in his own way ldquoHe would hand me the new ball and would just say lsquolet me know if you are tiredrsquoIn one game when Dilip Vengsarkar walked in to bat for Dadar Union against Young Maharashtra Vaidya stressed to Coutinho that he shouldnrsquot bowl short to the India batsman Coutinho did exactly the opposite and was hit for a six with the ball landing in the garden behind the tent ldquoI couldnrsquot look my skipper in the eye and Amar has real big eyes Next ball I bowled a bouncer and Dilip hit me for a 110yard six across the road I ran to the tent for a glass of water in an attempt to avoid Amar I will also remember him for his encouraging ways He would always say lsquoAustin you should be playing for Mumbairsquo He was a fine batsman and I think he didnrsquot play for Mumbai because he was Annarsquos son Amar paid the price for someone in Mumbai cricket not liking Annardquo said CoutinhoFormer Mumbai player Vilas Godbole wrote in his book on Mumbai cricket that Vaidya after his Dadar Union days played for the Gymkhana before Young Maharashtra CC the club he became a torchbearer forldquoAmar was a hardhitting batsman known for his consistency He scored many centuries in local tournaments His one innings on a rain affected pitch in a Kanga League match will not be forgotten by those who saw it The match started at 230 pm and Shivaji Park Gymkhana batting first scored 66 and declared giving Dadar Union about an hour to bat By the time the Dadar Union innings started the sun had come out and pitch started drying Those who have batted on a drying pitch will know how difficult it is to bat on such a pitch With runscoring next to impossible the only option left for Dadar Union was to somehow hold on to their wickets and settle for a draw Dadar Union lost four wickets for 30 odd runs with 15 minutes of play still remaining Sunil Gavaskar was not out at the other end Everyone at the ground thought that Sunil and Amar the next batsman would play out the remaining time But Amar had different ideas What happened in the next two overs was mindbogglingrdquo wrote Godbole who recalled Vaidya smashing Shivalkar for a six in an eightball over in which the reputed leftarm spinner was hit for a total of 20 runs Ramakant Desai bowled the next over which fetched Vaidya 10 runs And by the time he was caught on the longon boundary Shivaji Park Gymkhanarsquos fate was all but sealed Vaidya had helped convert an impossible situation into a memorable winVaidya is probably faced with a similar situation It could take a miracle to win this health battle Cricket is so much like life There is adversity There is recovery There is hope