Let the honours be golden

The Mumbai Cricket Associationrsquos MCA decision to erect a life size statue to honour Sachin Tendulkar as a gift for his 50th birthday only underlines the fact that a halfcentury is auspicious and must be celebrated in a special wayThe MCA intends to unveil the statue during the ICC ODI World Cup later in the year and this will be great for spectators visiting the Wankhede Stadium Even if you canrsquot sit in the Sachin Tendulkar Stand to watch a game you can take a picture of yourself with the Tendulkar piece of art in the backgroundFans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia enjoy encountering the statues of Shane Warne and Dennis Lillee Likewise the Gabba in Brisbane now has an Allan Border statueSachinrsquos association with the Wankhede Stadium runs deep It was here where he made his debut in firstclass cricket and embellished it with a hundred against Gujarat in 1988 Less than a year later he lit up the ground with a hundred on his Irani Cup debut against Delhi It was this game that earned him selection for his maiden Test tourmdashto Pakistan in 1989Also Read Lifesize statue of Sachin Tendulkar to be sculpted at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai All you need to knowAlthough Tendulkar would have wished for more Test hundreds on his home ground one in 11 Wankhede Testsmdashagainst Sri Lanka in 199798 hersquod look back happily on some invaluable 50plus scores and leading India to victory in the 1996 Titan Cup beating the formidable South Africans in the final at Wankhede That triumph of course will not come near the fairy talelike World Cup triumph in 2011 when former champions Sri Lanka were conqueredThe Tendulkar statue will be a good addition to the honours dished out to the cityrsquos cricketing greats all over the ground the Vinoo Mankad and Polly Umrigar gates the Sunil Gavaskar Vijay Merchant Sachin Tendulkar and Dilip Vengsarkar stands and the Vijay Manjrekar dressing roomsHowever some kind of honour for Ajit Wadekar is long due Maybe the MCA administrators have something in mind but no official announcement has been made Why Wadekar Because he was a highly successful Mumbai and India batsman and captain Veteran statistician Sudhir Vaidyarsquos book on Mumbai in Ranji Trophy cricket reveals that Wadekar scored 4388 runs in 73 games at 5851 in the national championships and captained Mumbai to four Ranji Trophy titles across 196869 and 197273 he didnrsquot lead the team in the victorious 197071 final as he was in the West IndiesMumbai take great pride in the fact that they were Ranji Trophy champions for 15 years in a row and it mustnrsquot be forgotten that Wadekar played a huge part in that golden era He also led the kings of domestic cricket to three Irani Cup titlesThe MCA may be reminded that this is as good a year as any to honour Wadekar Itrsquos 50 years for his serieswinning captaincy against Tony Lewisrsquos English tourists It was a wellcontested series with Wadekarrsquos team coming back after losing the first Test at New Delhi The 21 series win completed a hattrick of victories for the Wadekarled Indian team after West Indies and England were beaten on their home turf in 1971 West Indies were in transition but England were the best side in the world having beaten Australia Down Under in 197071 And apart from the challenge of combating a fine side Wadekarrsquos task was to outwit a shrewd opposition captain in Ray IllingworthThe year 1973 was also when Mumbai under Wadekarrsquos leadership won the Ranji Trophy for the 15th time on the bounceDilip Sardesai too has contributed similarly although he didnrsquot get many opportunities as captain of Mumbai These two Mumbai heroes shouldnrsquot be forgotten Sardesai was outspoken but he always had great respect for players who didnrsquot get a chance to wear the lioncrested Mumbai cap Often he would stress that Mumbai had a great pool of players and the reserves were as good if not better than the playing XIMumbai has been blessed with good visionary administrators who were practical I remember the late Madhav Mantri telling me how he supported the decision to name the gates after Mankad and Umrigar while these two legendary cricketers were aliveMantri who passed away in 2014 deserves to be honoured in some way at the ground too He led Mumbai admirably in the Ranji Trophy and was a mentor to several players apart from his nephew Gavaskar He was also president of the MCA I have often wondered how Mumbai batsmen felt while playing at the Wankhede Stadium with Mantri watching from close range at his customary seat in the first row of the MCA Managing Committee box I asked Shishir Hattangadi who played many a fine innings for the city while opening the batting and he said he didnrsquot remember a game at Wankhede Stadium where Mantri wasnrsquot present ldquoIt was inspiring to bat in front of a person so important and respected in the Mumbai cricket ecosystem A pat on the back from him was a validation that you are on the right track and you couldnrsquot help noticing him applauding as the players walked back to the pavilionrdquo Hattangadi said It is important for the current administrators to find ways to keep honouring the greats The Tendulkar statue idea is good news Now letrsquos hear some more in the remainder of the yearmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper