Creative cricket writer ‘Pappu’ Sanzgiri’s dogged innings comes to an end

The passing away of freelance cricket writer Dwarkanath lsquoPappursquo Sanzgiri 19502025 not only meant that he ended his battle with cancer on Thursday in a determined and dogged fashion It also caused his admirers to exclaim that theyrsquove seen the last of his kindFor Sanzgirirsquos style of writing was unique to a point that he could come up with comparisons that would evoke a chuckle even as he made a good pointPatil Will miss PappuldquoEver smiling most sincere great memory and good cricketing knowledge Pappu was one of the most respected amongst printelectronic media and players too We will miss him badly His last interview was with me and Dilip Vengsarkar at a talk show last yearrdquo said former India batsman Sandeep Patil minutes after news of Sanzgirirsquos death started doing the rounds Patil worked closely with Sanzgiri as editor of Marathi fortnightly magazine Ekach Shatkar where Sanzgiri was executive editor after a debut stint with Dinank magazineAlso ReadSurya and Shivamrsquos mere participation in this quarterfinal game is not required Sanjay PatilSanzgiri was among the small group of Indian journalists to witness the 1983 World Cup triumph by Kapil Dev amp Co He toured most cricketing countries too entertaining readers with his creative writing and making friends Sanzgiri befriended many Sri Lankan cricketers especially those who were part of their 1996 World Cup team There was also a special place in his heart for cricketers from Shivaji Park Gymkhana mdash the late Ramakant Desai Ajit Wadekar and more recently Pravin AmreTo say Pappu Sanzgiri was a big hit among his readers would be as obvious as saying Kapil Dev was an outstanding striker of a cricket ball His body of work matched the most prolific of writersHosting cricketing talk shows was something he enjoyed too apart from writing Fans who followed the cricketing careers of EAS Prasanna BS Chandrasekhar and S Venkataraghavan knew of their engineering backgrounds The connection between the two fields holds true for Sanzgiri too ldquoMy engineering career was the quintessential partner that I knew would always be there for me providing stability and support while journalism was and still is that streetsmart companion who held my hand and led me on frequent and fantastic journeys in return for my professed loved for itrdquo he said in a message to me in May 2024 a few days before he was felicitated among other journalists by the Sports Journalistsrsquo Association of Mumbai And like all those great spinners he knew how to balance engineering and cricketWellfought inningsThe last few years of his life were confronting painful Long before cancer struck he stayed away from sugar and salt Irsquom toldldquoHis eversoloving and caring wife Kalpa took care of him and all his dietary needs on countless tours His commitment to not consuming salt went to the extent that he would pack yogurt and rice and carry it to the stadium and while other reporters would indulge in often sumptuous food he would pull out his yogurt and rice from his bag mdash such commitmentrdquo said Sanzgirirsquos USbased friend Dr Nilesh Mehta who visited him in Mumbai last weekAnd the only thing he lifted was spirits of those who wanted to talk and listen to his cricket stories not glasses of the hard stuffThe doyen of Marathi sports writers has exited when he had so much more to give His funeral will be held at Shivaji Park Crematorium at 1130 am today