12 June,2025 07:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Clayton Murzello
Sanjay Gadgil and his late brother Ajay (inset) cherished the autograph of West Indies pace great Joel Garner who they met during the 1995 BSI World Masters tournament at the Cricket Club of India. Here, Garner is obliging Australian fans at the Sydney Show Ground during World Series Cricket on January 18, 1978. Pic/Getty Images
They kept in touch with me intermittently. After one brother finished greeting you in Marathi, the other one would come on the line - same tone, same words, same affection.
Around a fortnight ago, I got a call from Sanjay, 56, in Pune, informing me that Ajay was no more. A cardiac arrest at home took him away on March 16. Sanjay spoke about how the various cricket books and autographs they collected do not mean much to him now.
Sanjay Gadgil and Ajay Gadgil
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Me pointing to the importance of keeping everything they had collected over the years in the memory of Ajay didn't convince Sanjay, who has lost a brother and friend. This, after his cricket-loving dad, who served in the forest division in places like Nashik, Kolhapur, Latur and Thane, passed away in 2010. Their caring mother left them five years later, leaving the twins to pursue their agricultural farming activities. The mid-1980s and 1990s provided them with an opportunity to be at the peak of their cricket interest. Collecting autographs was only a part of their passion. Meeting well-known cricketers for just a handshake would make their day too.
Observing up-and-coming players, too. Sanjay recalled being very impressed seeing a young Shishir Hattangadi open the batting for Mumbai against Maharashtra at Kolhapur in 1982 during the future Mumbai captain's second first-class season.
The match in which they soaked in the international flavour was the West Indies versus West Zone game at the same venue in 1983.
Their list of autographs grew and so did signed copies of books. In the late 1980s, they managed to buy a copy of a Sir Don Bradman-signed Farewell to Cricket, the cricket legend's famous autobiography, for Rs 800. "Our passion for autographs was common. Ajay and I very seldom disagreed over what to buy. Our cricket heroes too were common - Imran Khan, Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards and of course Sir Garfield Sobers, whose signature we have in one of his books," said Sanjay, who admitted being the extrovert of the two. "Ajay was calm and cool. He spoke very little. Apart from cricket, he was keen on history and spiritual science," revealed Sanjay. Just like the West Indian tourists of 1983 fascinated the twins, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan's team visit to India for the 1986-87 Test series evoked huge interest for their hobby of collecting autographs. However, the 1995 BSI World Masters tournament for veterans provided ideal fodder for Ajay and Sanjay. "There were so many great players playing every day at the Brabourne Stadium. They willingly obliged us with autographs - Joel Garner, Clive Lloyd himself, Australians Graham Yallop and Jeff Thomson. Also, England's Bob Willis.
We treasured Imran Khan's signature. He achieved whatever he set out to do and also made cricket a better game by pressing for neutral umpires. He was a very honest man," Sanjay said.
Talk about honesty, the brothers' cricket interests dipped when the match fixing controversy surfaced in 2000. That controversy proved that something was seriously wrong with the game, but the spot fixing scandal involving Pakistan in 2010 moved them to pull the shutters down on their cricket following. "The Hansie Cronje issue affected us, but the 2010 incident convinced us that cricket was definitely not clean enough for us to follow. We wouldn't miss listening to commentary right from the time when India toured Australia in 1980-81. But no commentary/television watching for us since 2010," said Sanjay.
Zero-following of cricket doesn't mean Sanjay won't go back to peer over his autograph collection and touch the signed framed photographs of cricketers and other sporting legends like sprint king Carl Lewis, Jamaican champion athlete Merlene Ottey, boxing great Evander Holyfield, tennis greats Ivan Lendl and Steffi Graf. While those items bring back splendid memories, nothing would match the memories of the good times with his deceased brother Ajay, who apart from watching cricket matches and listening to radio commentary, was great company while flying kites. "Once, I fell into a small pond near our home while we were flying kites. Ajay rushed to call my father and I was pulled out of the pond," Sanjay recalled. There'll be no Ajay by his side if ever Sanjay wants to feel young again and fly kites, but who is to say he won't be up in the sky, smiling reassuringly at his grieving brother.
mid-day's Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello
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