Sardesai146;s view from the pavilion

In Mumbai8217;s cricketing maidans, Dilip Sardesai8217;s weakness for an immaculate batsman was as famous as his hostility to dandy kinds. 8216;Immaculate8217; here means the elbow making a right angle, feet perfectly placed and a graceful follow through, not to be confused with sporting top-of-the-line flannels or gleaming willows. At the CCI nets, well-heeled members get carried away at times by the atmosphere, and try to masquerade as 8216;a cricketer8217;. Someone did, and Sardesai spotted the imposter. That saw his famously, and delightfully, vitriolic tongue getting unleashed. 8220;We played with a 80-rupee-bat and scored 8,000, you have a 8000-rupee bat and can8217;t even make 80,8221; he said. Glassy-eyed old timers, sitting next to the soggy outfields during a lazy monsoon cricket break in Mumbai, recall those archetypal Sardesai lines. News had just come in of Sardesai8217;s passing away.

But they are quick to add that Sardesai wasn8217;t that 8220;aamchya kaalat8221; type 8212; Marathi of those who moan about 8220;our times8221;, a common enough species in Wankhede8217;s players8217; section. You can spot them especially during the Ranji games, when the present-day boys aren8217;t doing well. Sardesai8217;s 80-8000 comparison wasn8217;t about his generation missing out on the financial cushion of present-day cricketers. It only reflected his intolerance of incompetence. Former test star, Sanjay Manjrekar, probably the most correct player of his generation, was Sardesai8217;s favourite, and just hours before his death he was discussing another copybook cricketer, Rahul Dravid. 8220;He should have just dropped his wrists and left the short ball,8221; he told a friend, who had gone to visit him on Sunday afternoon, as he spoke about India8217;s Friday game in which the Indian captain was out fending a rising ball.

Call it the pride of a man with measured footwork and an eye for judging the flight precisely, but spinners didn8217;t quite figure high on Sardesai8217;s list of favourites. He had a few basic principles about batting against spinners. Never ever be afraid to step out and, in case you are stumped, you should be halfway down the pitch and not caught in the crease. And he spoke passionately about his theory of facing the off-spinners 8212; 8220;move towards the off-stump and play between the bowler and the mid-wicket8221;. But these complicated theories were explained with an arm around the young shoulder and in a language he could associate with: a few four-letter words, a smile and a pat on the back. Pedestal or Ivory Tower were not places where Sardesai could be found. When he was part of the Mumbai selectors, any junior could walk up to him for a discussion. The biggest mystery that still rankles many is why Sardesai never considered long-term coaching assignments.

Perhaps he knew that his outspokenness and cricket activism may make things tough for him. In the mid-nineties, when Chandrakant Pandit was dropped from the Central Zone team, he, along with his wife, took part in a protest walk from Churchgate to Wankhede Stadium. Sardesai spoke to then BCCI president, Raj Singh Dungarpur, and Pandit was back.

Sardesai8217;s tongue may have been sharp but he only spoke when it mattered.