Dilip Vengsarkar leads Dadar Union to victory against Shivaji Park
Vengsarkar leads Dadar Union to win vs Shivaji Park
By Pramod Ananth
Dec 25, 2014
An old rivalry between Dadar Union and Shivaji Park was relived on Christmas at Major Veer Dadkar Udyaan in Mumbai. Dilip Vengsarkar, the brains behind having the veterans representing either club, led Dadar Union; Shivaji Park was led by Ajit Wadekar.
Dadar Union batted first in the 10-over match. Opening batting was Vengsarkar and Milind Rege. After a quiet single off the first ball,
Vengsarkar hit 24 runs of the remaining five balls. That set the tone for the rest of the innings. Avinash Karnik smashed a few lusty boundaries and ensured that Dadar Union carried on the momentum for the rest of the innings and set a target of 135.
Shivaji Park did not get things going as they managed only 10 runs in the first two overs. The biggest cheer came when Wadekar walked out to the centre in the final over of the match when Shivaji Park needed 36 to win. Though Wadekar did not score a run, he was given a standing ovation when he left the field.
Dadar Union won by 35 runs as Shivaji Park managed only 99 for two in their 10 overs. All the players looked extremely fit despite of not playing for some time and played the match in great spirits.
Sanjay Manjrekar, Dadar Union player himself, said that he was excited just to play alongside Sunil Gavaskar, in spite of stern opposition from his father: “I had no doubts where I wanted to play my cricket. It was always Dadar Union, purely because of Sunil Gavaskar and Dilip Vengsarkar, my heroes, who used to play for Dadar Union. My dad was not my hero, Gavaskar was and he played for Dadar Union, so I had to play for Dadar Union, simple,” said Manjrekar.
He also shared the tale of how he convinced his father. “Actually, Vasu Paranjpe solved that problem. My father got very upset that I had chosen to play for Dadar Union. Paranjpe had a two-minute conversation with him. ‘Don’t be childish,’ he told my father, and that was it. I was playing Dadar Union,” said the former India batsman.
Manjrekar admitted that playing for Dadar Union went a long way in realising his dream of representing India. “Whatever happens in life, I realised that little little things matter. Me playing for Dadar Union and Podar had a lot to do in me eventually playing for India.”
The afternoon turned nostalgic as Vengsarkar, Wadekar, and Gavaskar took stage after the match, where Vengsarkar thanked and appreciated all the players of taking an active part in this event.
“It’s my great privilege to be a part of this event, very nostalgic event I would say. When I bounced the idea to Ajit Wadekar and Vasu Paranjpe they were ready for it, so were all the players who played today. I want to thank everybody today. The spectators, the umpires and those who helped us in making the match a great success and of course the sponsors, without them this wouldn’t have been possible today. I know Ajit is very sad he lost this match,” said Vengsarkar.
Wadekar, who has played 37 Tests for India was in jovial mood and said that he did not play seriously as he thought it was a best-of-three contest. “It’s great to wear the pad and play against our greatest opponents on their ground. When Dilip [Vengsarkar] asked me to participate in this match I thought it would be best-of-three.
“That was why we didn’t take this match seriously. I don’t even see such crowd in Ranji Trophy. It was so nice of you to come and watch us and it’s really great on the part of Dilip that he organised this match, it’s good to see to see great old friends after a long time, if I start naming you’ll forget lunch, I suppose. Let’s hope we have such matches are played more often so that we can have get-together.
“It’s thanks to them Sunny, Sanjay, Dilip and all others that we were winning for long time when we were part of the Mumbai Cricket Association and I hope they too keep winning all the time,” Wadekar said.
Vasu Paranjpe then had the last word. He said, “It’s terrific to see all of you spending some time to watch old timers and with Ajit not in great form, it turned out to be a one-sided game.”
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)