Sudhir Naik, a former India opener and Mumbai’s 1970-71 Ranji Trophy-winning captain handed away at a metropolis hospital on Wednesday. He was 78.
Naik, who performed three Assessments and two ODIs for India between 1974-75, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital after struggling a fall at his residence in Dadar, a few weeks in the past.
Whereas he continued to be in ‘vital situation’, his buddies and former cricketers visited the hospital often. However in keeping with hospital sources, on Wednesday night, his situation deteriorated additional.
A doyen of Mumbai cricket, Naik amassed 4376 first-class runs in 85 matches, with seven hundred and 27 fifties. One among his largest achievements was main Bombay to an iconic Ranji Trophy victory in 1970-71.
Main a depleted Mumbai workforce – most of its superstars, together with Ajit Wadekar and Sunil Gavaskar, have been concerned in a historic sequence win towards the West Indies, Naik ensured that the workforce introduced the trophy residence.
Classical captain
“He was a powerful cricketer. I might name him the legend of Mumbai cricket as a result of he was all the time a frontrunner. He captained Bombay College, captained Mumbai… He was in a classical mode of captaincy like Wadekar and Manohar Hardikar, who was his coach at DG Ruparel Faculty. Sudhir’s temperament as a captain was in the same mould,” mentioned Milind Rege, former Mumbai captain and Naik’s outdated buddy.
In that iconic 1970-71 remaining towards Maharashtra, Rege was additionally a part of the Mumbai workforce. “He was extraordinarily sound tactically. That was his plus level. He knew his area placement, he knew the temperament of his gamers. Sudhir would by no means rebuke us on the sector. He by no means instructed us, “ Kya kar raha hai? Barabar se bowling nahi ho raha hai (What are you doing? You aren’t bowling correctly)… He would put his arm round us and be very cool and calm,” Rege instructed Sportstar.
“In that remaining of 1970-71, we have been all children – most of us have been in our early 20s – apart from Vijay Bhosale and Padmakar Shivalkar. We have been simply uncooked abilities and he captained the workforce marvellously. He was an important chief…”
Within the 1973-74 season, he scored a 200 not out towards Baroda in a Ranji Trophy fixture.
‘An ideal team-man’
The Mumbai opener made his Check debut at Edgbaston in 1974 and scored a gritty 77, although India suffered an innings defeat. Naik performed one other Check sequence towards the West Indies. He scored 60 runs in 4 innings and was not picked once more.
“It’s unhappy that two of my buddies handed away this week,” mentioned former India cricketer Farokh Engineer, referring to the demise of Naik and Salim Durani in a span of three days. Having performed with each Durani and Naik, Engineer solely has ‘comfortable reminiscences’ in regards to the latter.
“I’ve good reminiscences with Sudhir. He was an exquisite opening batter, an exquisite fielder and most significantly, an important team-man. He toured England with us and was an exquisite particular person, who can be remembered by all who knew him,” Engineer instructed Sportstar. “It’s unhappy that one after the other, we’re dropping our buddies…”
‘The perfect curator’
Submit-retirement, he was the chairman of the Mumbai choice committee and was additionally the curator of the Wankhede Stadium for a number of years. He was the curator of the long-lasting stadium when India gained the 2011 World Cup remaining, defeating Sri Lanka.
“He was the most effective curator. He knew easy methods to put together a very good wicket and he by no means made pitches to swimsuit any groups. He made honest pitches and was by no means pressured to arrange wickets as per calls for. That was his greatness and that’s why he was revered extremely,” Rege mentioned.
His membership – the Nationwide Cricket Membership – has been a champion aspect within the native Mumbai league and several other cricketers – together with Zaheer Khan and Wasim Jaffer – have performed for the membership.
Rege additionally remembers the time when he would share a taxi trip with Naik, Sunil Gavaskar and Sharad Hazare. “The 4 of us would journey in a single taxi for the Ranji Trophy video games with our kits. Again in these days, you didn’t get an enormous amount of cash. You’ll get about Rs 15 for 3 days as allowance, so we shared Rs 2.50 a aspect among the many 4 of us to take us to the bottom and convey us again as a result of we had kits with us. That was life. All of us stayed in the identical space and we might go collectively for apply, so it was a 24×7 relationship,” Rege reminisced.
Self-respect was final
Apparently, Naik, Rege and Hazare joined the Tata Group on the identical day. “One went to TOMCO, one went to Tata Textiles and I went to Tata Metal,” Rege reminisced.
“Sudhir was a really hardworking particular person and was very pleased with his achievements. He was an especially trustworthy human being. So, I’ll by no means ever settle for the tales and accusations of him shop-lifting on the Marks & Spencer’s (through the tour of England,” Rege mentioned. “I’ve seen Sudhir carrying torn gloves. His self-respect was a lot that he wouldn’t ask anyone for spare gloves. That was Sudhir Naik…”
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