Sunil Gavaskar's emotional tribute to Milind Rege. (X/BCCI)Milind Rege was like my elder brother and yet, I won’t be at his funeral. I just won’t be able to bear the sight of his still body.
Even though I knew it was coming as I met him at the hospital yesterday before leaving for Dubai for the Champions Trophy. He kept offering his hand for me to shake as if he knew we weren’t going to do it again. I told him that I shall see him on the 22nd morning and he gave me a weak smile.
As I said, he was like my brother. We lived in a building across from each other, grew up together, played tennis-ball cricket in the compound; we even went to the same school and college.
He played Ranji Trophy cricket for his beloved Mumbai, ahead of me. He always came to the team’s rescue when we, the so-called top order, failed. Just like how Shardul Thakur, Tanish Kotian, and Shams Mulani have done it for Mumbai this season; Rege was our man for crisis. He was good enough to play for India but there was Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkatragavan around and he couldn’t break in.
Then, at the age of 24, he had his first heart attack. It speaks volumes of his love for Mumbai cricket and his determination that he made a comeback a few years later. He even captained Mumbai.
Last week, after he was first admitted to the hospital, I told him that Mumbai had taken a small lead against Haryana – you could see how he immediately perked up. Mumbai cricket was his life. Yes, he had strong opinions and that might have upset a few people but no one could question his love, commitment to Mumbai cricket.
We have known each other since we were a few months old. That’s why I won’t be able to bear the sight of his body at the funeral. It may sound selfish on my part but I genuinely won’t be able to take in the last rites of my elder brother.
AS TOLD TO DEVENDRA PANDEY
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