In the crowd was former India batsman Sandeep Patil, urging Mumbai spin stalwart Padmalkar Shivalkar to climb up the vehicle and say ‘goodbye’ to his former skipper for ever. The way Shivalkar described that moment, summed up the emotions running amongst the city’s cricketing fraternity, which bid a fitting farewell to one of the most celebrated Indian captains ever.
“It was difficult for me to control my emotions. He advised me not only throughout a game, but life in general. But Sandeep (Patil) was firm and pulled me up (on the truck carrying Wadekar’s body). I had a garland in my hand. I told Sandeep: ‘I don’t want to go. You never know, He might say: ‘Paddy, take this ball and bowl! C’mon!’” Shivalkar, holding back his tears, would say later.
Tears, though, rolled down the cheeks of Vinod Kambli, as he saw his former India manager’s cavalcade, aptly adorned by a picture of a smiling Wadekar acknowledging the massive crowd that had gathered to greet the Indian team in Mumbai after winning a Test series in England for the first time, in 1971, leave his Worli residence for the last rites.
A little earlier, Kambli’s childhood friend, batting legend Sachin Tendulkar too came to pay homage to a man who was his “captain, coach and friend” all rolled into one.
After a prolonged illness, Wadekar had passed away on August 15 at the age of 77. Sportsfield, the most famous cricketing address in India, considering the amount of Test cricketers that reside in it – wore a sombre look as the who’s who of Mumbai cricket paid their homage to Wadekar, whose body was wrapped in the tricolour, and cremated at Shivaji Park.
Before he was cremated with full state honours, at Shivaji Park on Friday, those who accompanied him on his last journey included former Mumbai & India cricketers Nilesh Kulkarni, Sameer Dighe and Jatin Paranjpe. Representing the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), in which he still headed the Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) were former Supreme Court judge HL Gokhale, currently heading the two-man Committee of Administrators (CoA), former president Ravi Savant, and jt secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar.
Paying a rich tribute to his captain for years in Mumbai and India, former opener Sudhir Naik, said: “The Indian captains before him would just look to draw the Test, and not winning it. Ajit was the first Indian captain who was offensive, always trying to out-maneuver his opponents. He started attacking the opposition with spinners by putting close-in fielders. He wasn’t afraid of the West Indian and English batsmen. That’s why he could put more pressure on them and win games. He made that difference.”
“He was reserved in the dressing room, but a very shrewd captain, who used his bowlers efficiently to put pressure on the opponents. He would make youngsters comfortable in the dressing room, and look to get the best out of them. He would consult his juniors freely before taking decisions, without any ego issues,” he recalled.
Many feel that Wadekar, a left-hander who played 37 Tests, scoring 2113 runs at an average of 31.07, was a much better batsman than the numbers showed. “He was an excellent batsman. It’s unfortunate that he couldn’t play more Tests which he deserved to. In spite of scoring plenty of runs for Mumbai, he got his India cap pretty late. He started playing for Mumbai in 1958-59, but got to play for India in 1966-67 – after eight years. A batsman tends to flourish. He was a brilliant fielder in the slips – the best I’ve seen in India. I haven’t seen him drop a single catch,” complimented Naik.
Shivalkar revealed what may have forced his former teammate into early retirement after a disastrous tour of England in 1974. “He was the best batsman I saw, till he changed his stance. After that, everything went wrong (for him). He opened himself like (Shivnaraine) Chanderpaul. He felt that the changed stance might give him more runs, but nothing of that sort happened. Immediately after that, his career was cut short,” recalled Shivalkar, before revealing a cruel irony of fate.
“As soon as he came back from England, where we lost, he said: ‘If I continue as a captain, you’ll be the first one to be taken in the side.’” Sacked as captain Wadekar never played a Test again.
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