Sunny’s bash is not just cricket

Cricketers who represented Nirlon pose for a group picture at Sunil Gavaskar’s annual party on Sunday. Balvinder Singh Sandhu (extreme left), Ravi Shastri, Avadhoot Zarapkar, Girindra Vasudeo, Suresh Shastri, Anil Joshi (on bended knees), Sunil Gavaskar, Suru Nayak, Vijay Mohan Raj, and Karsan Ghavri (extreme right). PIC/CLAYTON MURZELLO

Good fortune is often taken for granted. This struck me as I made my way back home after witnessing yet another congregation of Mumbai cricket stalwarts at cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar's annual get-together last Sunday.

The party area of Harish Thawani's Indus Club was flush with household names in Mumbai cricket across generations; many from that lot going on serving Indian cricket well.

I gathered between the 2025 and 2026 get-togethers, only one of Gavaskar's teammates had passed on - Jitendra Bhuta. There was a spate of deaths before the August 2025 party and all those teammates were honoured appropriately - Padmakar Shivalkar, Milind Rege, Dilip Doshi, Vijay Karkhanis, Ehsan Hakim, and Abdul Ismail in 2025.

Anil Joshi, who continues to help Gavaskar immensely in organising this annual affair, welcomed guests with a warm smile. Among the early check-ins was Sandeep Patil, who had no qualms in being first in, first out.
Ravi Shastri was a SMG party attendee this time, not very long after he hosted an evening to celebrate his recent Wankhede Stadium stand honour. He met friends and headed to the bar area in search of his old mate only to discover that Patil had already left the building. Everyone who knows Patil's penchant to turn in early wasn't surprised. Shastri then chatted a bit with ex-Podar, Mumbai and Tata teammate Shishir Hattangadi and a host of others under the dim lights.

On Centre Court as it were, there was Dr Chandrakant Patankar, at 95, India's oldest Test cricketer, soaking in the cricket-heavy atmosphere. Normally in that space, he'd have Nari Contractor and Chandu Borde for company, but the 90-plus former India captains couldn't make it. However, just like in 2024 (the 2025 edition of the party was at MCA-BKC Club), there was CG Joshi, the 94-year-old Rajasthan player, who came from Pune. And one couldn't miss Khalid A-H Ansari, whose association with Gavaskar dates back to 1971 and beyond sports journalism. The senior gang also included fraternity-favourite Prakash Kelkar (82), ex-Test player Ajit Pai (81), ex-Mumbai player Vilas Godbole (84), his brother Suryakant (78), Shankar More (84), and Daya Dudwadkar (88) among others like Subhash Patne (80), the Dadar Union and Rajasthan SC bowler, who played for Maharashtra and is a horticulturist.

Among the Bombay University players in and around the Gavaskar era were Kiran Adhikari, Dr Vishwas Raut, and Prakash Naik, nicknamed Dougie after Australian great Doug Walters. Talking of nicknames, there was Kolhapur-based Avadhoot ‘Alam' Zarapkar in attendance. Zarapkar caught up with Sachin Tendulkar briefly. He had played for Jolly Cricketers for whom Tendulkar's brother Ajit played too. Zarapkar had also encountered the master batsman in his early years in club cricket when the off-spinner represented Sunder CC. Zarapkar started getting called Alam in cricket circles because he resembled a character called Alam, played by Raza Murad in the 1973 hit movie, Namak Haram.

Bollywood's connection with cricket and vice versa was brought home yet again with the entry of Aamir Khan and Jackie Shroff; the surprise elements of the party, I was told. And one day later, Gavaskar revealed in a video that Nana Patekar had cooked the mutton curry that was dished out in the dining area. Till that point, I was merely curious about the ‘Nana's Special Mutton' dish tag.

In the midst of all this, I realised that there were enough players in the room to make up a Nirlon alumni group picture. Shastri trooped out of the bar area to join in and they all played true sports! A little later, I overheard Raju Parulkar, who missed being in the Nirlon group picture, narrating how Sandeep Patil had a blue with a Nirlon HR head and taught him a lesson. Talking of Nirlon, whose team that included several India players was disbanded in the late 1980s, the company's cricket torchbearer Rahul Sagar should be complimented for his efforts in getting Nirlon back in the senior division of the Times Shield. They lost the final to Bank of Baroda recently. Come to think of it, there could have been an across eras Tatas team group picture with Shastri, Raju Kulkarni, Kiran More, Hattangadi, Vijay Mohan Raj, Ajit Agarkar, Jatin Paranjape, Ravi Thakkar, and Hemant Kenkre. And Mafatlal Sports Club too since Mahesh Sampat, Kiran Adhikari, Ghulam Parkar, Zulfiqar Parkar, Chandrakant Pandit, and Raju Kulkarni were around. But back to the party lounge. At one table sat Trilok and Kailash Anand of Sanspariels Greenlands (SG). Gavaskar, who was wearing a SG T'shirt for the evening, ensured the Anands were well looked after just like the bat giants look after young cricketers with equipment all over India.

Gavaskar played a gracious host from start to end and one noticed how he was around when childhood friend Dilip Nabar said goodbye for the night. As usual, it was a night to remember and an apt time to savour one's good fortune.

mid-day's Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't represent those of the paper.