Ashok Mankad, RIP

Last fortnight saw the passing away of Ashok Mankad. To understand the relevance of Kaka Mankad is to understand what it meant to be a cricket fan in the eighties.

For the cricket-loving Mumbaikars, growing up in the city in the eighties was something to be experienced. Mumbai dominated the sport, and the passion could be seen in every cricket fan. Every match, a Mumbai cricketer was involved, was followed with such gusto. We not only followed the Ranji Trophy and the Duleep Trophy, but also the scores in the Times Shield, Police Shield, and the Moin-ud-dawla Cup. The batting lineups were ready in every building compound, even before the Mumbai selectors met up to finalize the squads for the next match. It didn't matter whether a Ghulam Parkar was good enough to play for the country or his keeper brother Zulfikar Parkar would ever replace the great Kirmani. What every Mumbai cricket fan felt that the Mumbai team was good enough to play as an India X1. I remember an Irani Cup match in the eighties where Mumbai played Rest of India. The Mumbai eleven had Gavaskar, Ghulam Parkar, Vengsarkar, the two Mankads—Ashok and Rahul, Sandeep Patil, Shastri, Zulfikar Parkar, Sandhu & Ghavri. The Rest of India was a virtual Indian XI led by Vishy and had Chauhan, Surinder Amarnath, Ashok Malhotra, Kapil, Madan, Kirmani, Doshi, and Yadav. Mumbai won that match.

Another event one looked forward to was the Times Shield and the four biggies—Nirlon, Mafatlal, SBI, and Tatas. Nirlon was led by Gavaskar, Mafatlal by Mankad, SBI by Vishy, and Tatas by Vengsarkar. Some of the brightest cricketers of the land played in this extremely keen competition. The contests were so keen that a century in this A league or a five-for was considered good enough!

It is with this background, we will come back to Kaka. Kaka and Vasu Paranjape may mean nothing to people outside Mumbai but to an average cricket fan growing up in the eighties, these names meant a lot. Kaka those days held two records—the maximum runs and the number of centuries. More than that, it was the never-say-die spirit that he embodied. Mumbai 66/5 A.V.Mankad 5 n.o. This would unsettle any batting team but not as long as the natural predecessor to Steve Waugh was still batting. You could bet that this man would steer the team to safety. I remember a season when he guided the fortunes of the Mumbai team with the help of rookies like Pandit, Raju Kulkarni, Hattangadi, and Lalchand Rajput. Besides the on-field accomplishments, his views were most-sought after. In fact I remember few years later, I was listening to commentary on AIR, which had both Mankad and Paranjape in the panel. They would have embarrassed disasters like Arun Lal and Siva with their crisp analysis!

Alas, those days are gone! Kaka is no more! Paranjape is hardly heard! Mumbai cricketers no longer capture the public imagination! The Mumbai cricket following is on the wane! And these look irreversible!

Kaka—my memories of you will be that of the running catch you took at the Oval that famous summer to dismiss Underwood!

P.S. I have deliberately tried to exclude Vinoo Mankad from the post—Vinoo Mankad was Indian cricket's first superstar and deserves another post. This is for his son whom he would have been proud of and waiting to receive him at the doorsteps of Heaven, almost like the Captain acknowledging a batsman who has comeback to the pavilion after a fine innings!