Hobbies & Life – Matter of Fact

This is Not Cricket

A few days ago, Saurabh Ganguly switched off the India–Pakistan match after the 15th over and watched the Manchester Derby instead. I’m not surprised. As a medical student in the 70s and 80s, I grew up watching Pakistan at its peak—Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Sarfraz Nawaz, Abdul Qadir, Mudassar Nazar, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar… giants of …

Ravichandran Ashwin

“One should retire when people ask why, not when they ask why not.” These wise words from Vijay Merchant, a brilliant Test batsman and a keen reader of the game, still ring true today. Ravichandran Ashwin’s decision to hang up his boots suddenly and fly back to Chennai has left everyone in shock. Why did Ashwin take this drastic step? …

One should retire, when

𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝘀𝗵𝘄𝗶𝗻 has decided to hang up his boots today. It’s a bittersweet moment. I still vividly remember his debut Test against the West Indies. Wasn’t it in 2011? He got out for a duck in his first inning, but it didn’t take long for him to prove he was no ordinary cricketer. Six wickets in an innings—that was how …

Surprise and Sentiment: Mr. SR Halbe’s Memorable 76th Birthday

On May 10, an unknown number flashed on my phone. A few minutes earlier, I had received a message from the same number, introducing the sender as Mr. Halbe’s student and current colleague, requesting to speak with me about a surprise event for Mr. Halbe’s 76th birthday. The caller was Mr. Shrirang Padhye, a Mumbai-based chartered accountant. A former student …

England vs. Austrlia

I vividly remember 𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶 𝗦𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗸𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵’𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 match in 1981 against England in Mumbai. We saw the most unusual runout in a test match that day. Srikkanth ran himself out by performing an unexpected and nonchalant act. The ball was still in play when he casually strolled outside the crease, unaware of the consequences. John Emburey, the English fielder, seized …

Sportsmanship in Cricket

Australia could certainly benefit from emulating Courtney Walsh. In the 1987 World Cup, he had the opportunity to run out the Pakistan non-striker on the last ball. By doing so, he could’ve won the match for his team- the West Indies. He didn’t. He chose integrity over victory–a remarkable act of sportsman spirit. West Indies lost the match, but won …

The Mighty West Indies: A Tale of Glory and Decline

Clive Lloyd, Andy Roberts, Viv Richards and Michael Holding In the eighties, the West Indies was the emperor, the ultimate king In 1983, the slender David faced the mighty Goliath And West Indies lost, thanks to Mohinder Amarnath 1987 arrived, with Haynes, Best, and Carl Hooper’s flair, Yet the team’s decline began, sinking deeper in despair Then came Lara, Walsh, …

Dilip Vengsarkar arrives

In the winter of 1969, I was only a teenager, aged 13, and had just transferred from Craddock High School to Swavalambi Vidyalaya, Wardha. Television sets were as rare as a hat-trick in cricket back then, so my knowledge of cricket was limited to radio broadcasts and newspapers. However, I was a huge cricket fan, and the idea of attending …

Bevan Congdon

Bevan Congdon died today. I remember his two towering sixes in the 1969 Nagpur test (India vs. New Zealand) – incidentally, the first cricket match that I saw live at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground, Nagpur. A connoisseur’s dream, he scored match-winning sixty-plus in the first inning and had no problems reading the variations in flight, loop, spin and subtle …

Vidarbha wins Ranji trophy

Vidarbha did it! What a victory! This day reminds me of Kapil Dev lifting the 1983 World cup in England: the Vidarbha team was as much an underdog as the Indian team was in 1983. Thirty-five years ago, a bunch of Indian players took over the mighty West Indian team and made history by defeating the undefeatable. The underdog Team …