Backward Point

Cricket in Bombay, at all levels, is tough and no quarter is given and none asked for. Bombay’s cricket is organised so efficiently that there is nothing to complain about. The schoolboy cricketer, who rubs shoulders with Test heroes while playing in the Kanga League and other tournaments, is seldom bothered about reputations.
— Sunil Gavaskar in Sunny Days, 1976

TWENTY-SIX years down the line, the Invincibles of domestic cricket have fallen on hard times. But for a Sachin Tendulkar, the halo around Mumbai has worn thin and the talent pools that provided a steady stream of finished products for the national team have dried up.

For all that, it’s undeniable that no state unit equals Mumbai’s phenomenal record, be it in winning the National Championship for the Ranji Trophy or providing regular applicants for the India cap. So, what led the rot to set in? The answer is as old as the hare-and-tortoise tale: Complacency.

While all other state units burnt the midnight oil to improve their cricket, Mumbai was content sleeping within the security of its glory. While Punjab, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh sent up numerous contenders for the National colours, only nine Mumbai players made it to the Indian team since Tendulkar first came out to bat for India; none could become regulars.

Myriad ills plague the cricketing set-up. If ill-scheduled tournaments, lack-lustre inter-collegiate cricket, saturation of the traditional bastions, uneven coaching methods, the big stars’ ‘boycott’ of local tournaments are the grey areas, club politics and administrative hassles provide the side-shows. Add to that the players’ inability to cash in on opportunities, the vulnerability of the Ranji team the basis of all judgements and Mumbai’s cup of woes is full to the brim.

PLAYER PROBLEMS

If the problems are varied, so are the opinions and views of the experts. Former Test stars, products of the halcyon days, are critical of Mumbai’s failure to keep pace with the changing nature of the game. ‘‘It is good for Indian cricket that other teams are doing well, but Mumbai should be able to maintain its status,’’ says Ajit Wadekar, former Indian captain. Adds Dilip Sardesai, who has the unique distinction of always being with a winning Mumbai team, ‘‘There is no point talking about the past, that glory is difficult to recreate. We have to address the present problems.’’

Former Indian captain Nari Contractor believes that rather than generic Mumbai cricket, it is the players who should be held accountable. “Consider the Mumbai team this season. They trounced every team in the zone and then lost tamely to Tamil Nadu. Three players reported unfit on the eve of the match. Didn’t they know this before they travelled to Chennai? I’m not saying the result could have been different had they been fit, but how can the team go into a crucial match with such a mindset?’’ he asks.

There are other instances of unprofessionalism. “Only four or five players attended the summer nets in April, when they could have all used the opportunity to iron out their problems. What can the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) do (in such circumstances)?’’ says Contractor.

The April nets had to be scrapped eventually, says MCA joint secretary Ratnakar Shetty. ‘‘But what upset coaches and administrators was the attitude of the 35-odd players asked to report to the nets. Four-five players reported unfit, but the rest didn’t even bother to reply,’’ says Shetty.

Contractor continues his tirade against the players: ‘‘If a Vinod Kambli is given a chance (in the National side) and doesn’t perform, the fault is not with Mumbai cricket, it is with the player. Ultimately, it is the horse that has to run.’’

While Sardesai feels players nowadays tend to think of playing for India without knowing what they are really capable of, Sanjay Manjrekar harks back to his experience with the Mumbai team to say, ‘‘There’s an idea that if you are in the Mumbai team, you are an automatic prospect for India. But the team is unable to win matches without a big player, say a Tendulkar. The players haven’t matured like we thought they would in the company of the big players. This season presented them a good opportunity to prove us wrong. But they lost to Tamil Nadu.’’

Present Mumbai vice-captain Paras Mhambrey, however, dismisses the charges against the Ranji side: ‘‘We have quite a committed bunch that knows what is expected of them. Even we are disappointed with the way things are. But the reality is that we don’t have bench strength. You can’t be dependent on four-five players all the time.’’

It is true that at least seven players — Kambli, Amol Muzumdar, Jatin Paranjpe, Mhambrey (who also coaches and assists his guru, former England pace bowler Frank Tyson, during his training sessions in India), Sairaj Bahutule, Sunil More, Manish Patel — have been regulars since the Ravi Shastri-led side ended a nine-year Ranji title drought in 1993-94. After that, the only sign of hope came during the 1996-97 session, when the Ajit Agarkar-led team won the under-19 Cooch Behar title. Besides Agarkar, the squad threw up two openers, Wasim Jaffer and Amit Pagnis, and left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar.

Mumbai repeated the U-19 feat this season, but it is noteworthy there was only one Mumbai player — opener Paul Valthaty — in the under-19 World Cup squad. U-19 Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit is well aware of the gravity of the situation: ‘‘These boys have a long way to go if they are to play a higher level of cricket.’’

UNIVERSITY U-TURN

Contractor, Wadekar and Sardesai — all products of inter-collegiate cricket — also plead the cause of University cricket. ‘‘I was selected for the Indian team because of my performances in the Rohinton Baria (inter-university) tournament,’’ points out Sardesai. But if Wadekar believes inter-collegiate cricket must be revived, Contractor says people nowadays don’t watch inter-school or inter-collegiate matches like they used to because ‘‘they don’t like what they see’’.

The interest levels in university cricket is evident from the fiasco the summit clash between Mumbai University and M S University of Baroda ended in last January. The Mumbai boys staged a walkout on the second day of the four-day match citing biased umpiring. But few remember the issue now.

Ironically, the number of colleges has increased dramatically since the days of the Contractors, Wadekars and Sardesais; Mumbai University itself has 140 colleges under it. There is little effort, however, to raise the standards of the inter-college event, which is now just a routine event in the university calendar.

LOCAL TALENT

Alongside, the Shivaji Parks, Dadar Maidans, Azad Maidans and Matungas have ceased to be the dependable supplies of talent they once were. ‘‘This is a socio-economic issue. The middle-class families — the biggest contributors to the talent pool — have shifted to the suburbs, but the MCA has done little to take coaching centres to their doorsteps,’’ observes Makarand Waingankar, a talent scout who, fed up with the MCA’s style of functioning, has switched loyalties to the Karnataka State Cricket Academy.

Manjrekar believes the dearth of open spaces in the traditional strongholds of cricket has also constricted the natural flair. ‘‘We all grew up in the gullies playing softball games. That is where the sense of competition, ball sense, instincts etc developed. But now, when I look down from my window, the open spaces have been swallowed up by cars,’’ laments Manjrekar. ‘‘The age group that’s currently between 8 and 14 now have no choice but to attend the academies straightaway, instead of being able to let their talent blossom naturally.’’

Echoing Manjrekar — who believes unassuming coaches like Anna Vaidya and Ramakant Achrekar who simply stuck to the basic tenets of the game — Sandhu, an Achrekar protege, says that it is surprising how the MCA has overlooked the coach all these years. ‘‘It is amazing how he picks the right players and trains them to be the best,’’ he says.

Adding to the mess is the elite clubs’ stranglehold over the best players; at the moment, 30 of the best players are shared by two or three clubs. While the players benefit in two ways — they get to play more matches and increase chances of selection, as the clubs are usually managed by influential MCA members — Sandhu thinks the transfer rules need to be addressed seriously. ‘‘There should be limit to the number of Ranji players a club can recruit,’’ says Kuruvilla, a junior selector and a bowling coach at the West Zone Academy.

TOURNAMENT TROUBLE

The MCA hosts 78 annual tournaments, making it one of the busiest associations in the country. However, only 10 qualify as selection tournaments. And even the high-profile Times Shield A Division tournament — featuring national stars in their respective employers’ teams — is just another entry in the MCA calendar; at one time, it served as a selection trial for the Indian team too.

Another notable ingredient missing from the Mumbai cricket of the day is the players’ unflinching loyalty towards their respective clubs. The maidan folklore is replete with instances of Test stars returning from foreign tours and heading right away for their Club matches. Nowadays, even the legendary Dadar Union and the Cricket Club of India struggle to field 11 players. There have even been instances of the club coach realising that a player had turned out for the opposite team on the morning of the match.

A NEW PRESCRIPTION

Former Test player Madhav Apte, who heads the newly formed Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC), recalls how as a young cricketer he benefited from interacting with the big players. ‘‘Playing the Kanga League with the likes of Vijay Merchant, Dattu Phadkar, Madhav Mantri was truly a learning experience’’, says the man who still plays for his club Jolly Cricketers in the Kanga League matches every year despite pushing 70.

Possibly it is this passion that led new MCA president Sharad Pawar to appoint Apte as the chairman of the CIC, which comprises former players Milind Rege, Sanjay Manjrekar, Chandrakant Pandit, Lalchand Rajput and Raju Kulkarni. Possibly, it was his vision for the future.

‘‘I’d like to provide a solid platform for school cricket, where the spirit of the game will be inculcated in the best possible manner. But before that, the MCA functioning itself needs a major re-haul. The MCA needs to look at its own administrative structure, because the tasks at hand are enormous. The concept of voluntary and honorary work should go. It should function like a corporate body with full-time professionals handling the day to day affairs. It would also mean more accountability,’’ he says.

In a country where cricket is governed by honorary members, Apte’s views seem revolutionary. But for now, that could be Mumbai cricket’s best option.