Ever heard of five catches being dropped in the opening over of an innings? This is exactly what happened in the All Inter-University final for the Rohington Baria between Mumbai and Delhi at Bangalore in January 1953
Kishan Narsi, Khalid A-H Ansari, GK Menon, Nari Contractor, Ratnakar Shetty, Madhav Apte
International boxing referee Kishan Narsi (left), former journalist Khalid A-H Ansari, Mr and Mrs GK Menon (seated), Nari Contractor, Prof Ratnakar Shetty and Madhav Apte (extreme right) at the Mumbai Press Club on Monday. Pic/Clayton Murzello
Ever heard of five catches being dropped in the opening over of an innings? This is exactly what happened in the All Inter-University final for the Rohington Baria between Mumbai and Delhi at Bangalore in January 1953.
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Former India captain Nari Contractor, who played in that Bombay University side, captained by Mehli Irani and managed by GK Menon, a journalist whose 90th birthday was celebrated on Monday, recalled: "Behram Govadia was the bowler and I dropped the fourth catch, at gully. I burst out laughing and Govadia lost his cool. He couldn't beleive that the fielders were dropping catches and laughing," recalled Contractor.
After restricting Mumbai to 287, Delhi were shot out for 215 with Govadia claiming five wickets. Five from that Bombay University playing XI went on to play for India - Contractor, Chandu Patankar, Ramnath Kenny, Naren Tamhane and GR Sunderam. Captain Irani, a fine wicketkeeper and batsman ended up playing only one Ranji Trophy game for Mumbai.
The same Irani played the Kanga League for 50 years and takes pride in the fact that he stumped Sachin Tendulkar who playing for the BCA Colts in a tournament against Bombay Gymkhana in the early days of his career. Contractor paid a fine tribute to Menon's quality as a cricket writer when he said, "GK knew what he was writing about. He had a good knowledge of the game."
Madhav Apte, another India opening batsman, recalled meeting Menon for the first time when he was introduced to him by Subhash Gupte. The India leg-spinner and Vijay Manjrekar were great pals of Menon, who later played a key role in the emergence of Ramakant Desai at Shivaji Park Gymkhana.
Menon was praised for his deep interest in maidan cricket and was one of the founder members of the Shivaji Park Youngsters club. The function was also attended by BCCI's General Manager (Game Development) Prof Ratnakar Shetty.
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