25 January,2026 08:05 AM IST | Mumbai | Clayton Murzello
General Secretary Mangesh Bhalekar outside the DPZ CC pavilion on Thursday
Massa [mister] Compton..." said an old West Indian spectator to England's star batsman Denis Compton on the boundary during a tour game at Georgetown, Guyana, in 1954. "Massa Weekes, Massa Worrell, and Massa Walcott come first and the Lord above comes second." This anecdote concerning the three great W's, is yet another example how cricket-crazy fans in the Caribbean are.
In Mumbai cricket circles, the word Masa (albeit spelt differently) is associated with the late Jehangir Pithawala, who founded the Dadar Parsee Zorastrian Cricket Club (DPZ CC). The club also known as âZopdi', is celebrating its centenary this year and deserves accolades for the role it has played in the growth of Mumbai cricket. The term âZopdi' may have emerged because of the tent, a players' enclosure/dressing room for most maidan clubs before pavilions came about. The souvenir published for DPZ's centenary thus describes Masa's contribution: "Dadar Parsee Zoroastrian Cricket Club was established by Shri Jehangir Pithawala in 1926. A young Parsee, back then holding immense love and admiration for the game, conceived his idea of having a Cricket club for enthusiastic players."
Masa had Madhav Mantri and Naren Tamhane look after the affairs of his club after their playing days with Dadar Union Sporting Club. Masa established and nurtured the club, but the man who became synonymous with DPZ CC is Mangesh Bhalekar, 75, the straight-talking General Secretary of the club, who enjoyed the confidence of departed Mumbai cricket stalwarts Mantri and Tamhane. Bhalekar started to take keen interest in the club when Masa suffered an illness in 1975. "Masa had a few club rules - no membership, no drinking, no smoking, no card-playing and he didn't want any fees from players," said Bhalekar, a Shiv Chhatrapati award winner in 2002.
Bhalekar got recognised for his work towards the Ruia College team and threw in a trivia question to us during our Thursday afternoon conversation over tea at DP's hotel opposite the Dadkar Maidan, where DPZ is located: "Name two Mumbai cricketers to represent India after starting to play the game only at the college level?" We knew about Ajit Wadekar, but Bhalekar also mentioned Lalchand Rajput, both from Ruia. Rajput served DPZ well and was also part of the Rajasthan SC team. While discussing Matunga cricket or more specifically DPZ cricket, the name Lalchand Rajput has to be followed by Chandrakant Pandit or vice versa.
Anil Joshi, a wicketkeeper-batsman, who shifted to DPZ after a rewarding stint with the nearby New Hind SC, recalled how Mantri and Tamhane would be at the club for every game, select the team, and stay till lunchtime. It was in 1985 that DPZ made its âdebut' in the âA' division of the Kanga League. "We played Karnatak SA at Cross Maidan for our first âA' division game. They had a strong team that included Balvinder Singh Sandhu, but we beat them and didn't look back," remarked Joshi, who formed a reliable partnership with the late Hemant Waingankar in looking after teams like Nirlon and later SunGrace Mafatlal. A Bombay University player, Waingankar also played for DPZ. "All young cricketers who visited Hemant's home returned with gifted cricket equipment," said Bhalekar. DPZ managed to stay in the âA' division for quite a while (they are now in the âE' division). With due credit to DPZ's strength, aspiring Ranji Trophy players were only happy to play for them due to the presence of Tamhane, who was a Mumbai and national selector/chief selector in the late 1980s and early 1990s. While India's cricketing fraternity marvel at Pandit's expertise as coach of teams, there is good reason to believe that he displayed that nous at DPZ. "Chandu was a very proactive captain; stern and intense too. There was no late-coming with him in charge. You'd be dropped no matter how big a player you were. He was massively attached to the club," Bhalekar remarked, insisting that the former India stumper and present coach of Madhya Pradesh mostly played for DPZ although he was a member of the Shivaji Park Youngsters team too. "I remember Chandu coming for our Comrade Shield semi-final against Khar Gymkhana after arriving the same morning from Australia in 1992.
DPZ were fortunate to have some committed and quality players over the years. One of them was Deepak Khanolkar, a pace bowling all-rounder, who reckons he claimed 500-plus scalps for DPZ ever since he joined as a schoolboy in 1975. "Mr Mantri and Mr Tamhane played with us. Initially, we did get overawed by their presence, but things settled. They were very encouraging and were very particular about discipline. You had to be at the ground no later than 9.20 am and your equipment had to be spotless. At times, Sunil Gavaskar's dad [Manohar] used to come and watch us along with little Rohan. We enjoyed great camaraderie and we had some characters who kept us in good spirits like Pachkya [nickname for Marathi comedy actor Vinay Edekar] and Masa organised everything for us," Khanolkar recalled.
Just like that West Indian spectator at Guyana in 1954, Masa is remembered with reverence that is reserved for special men.
. âSunder Cricket Club took on DPZ on their home ground in the 1989 edition of the Kanga League. Sunder were dismissed for 88 with future Mumbai fast bowler Shashi Krishnan claiming 5-34. DPZ were reduced to 87 for six after Anil Joshi's attacking 35. The hosts had to get just two runs to clinch first innings points in the last over of the day, but Sunder skipper Sudhakar Chavan bowled a maiden eight-ball over for the game to end in a draw.
. âTwo of Mumbai's present selectors - chairman Sanjay Patil and Jitendra Thakre - played for DPZ. Classy batsman Thakre shifted to Dadar Union in 1985 after two seasons with DPZ. Left-arm spinner Patil was part of Sanjay Manjrekar's team in the 1990-91 Ranji Trophy final against Haryana.
. âDilip Vengsarkar turned out for DPZ in a Police Shield invitational tournament and helped the side win the title by beating PJ Hindu Gymkhana in the final. Vengsarkar played a few non-Kanga games for Bombay Gymkhana as well.
. âSameer Samant's hundred against Young Comrade CC was the first century of the 1989 Kanga League. Sure, Samant, who passed away a few years ago while travelling to America, was proud of his three-figure effort, but he would always remind his friends how he stood firm for his 30 as Sunder CC's Anoop Sabnis bagged a hat-trick and Ramesh Rajde claimed a fifer in the 1987 Kanga League.
