Mumbai’s favourite cricket tournament, the Kanga League, has rarely witnessed an as-per-schedule commencement. Let’s hope this edition starting on Sunday ‘emulates’ 1979, 1980, 1989, and other years
A Dr HD Kanga Cricket League match in progress at Cross Maidan in 2023. PIC/SHADAB KHAN
It’s the season (monsoon) in which city cricketers used to be jolly. The whole congregation of city cricketers — young, old, accomplished, struggling — happily made their way to the various maidans and gymkhanas for a bite of the cricket pie that the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) laid out for 14 teams across seven divisions.
Over the years, the Dr HD Kanga Cricket League, initiated in 1948, has undergone changes in an effort to make it relevant. It has got to a point where city cricket pundits are wondering whether conducting the league serves any purpose. But this is not a new question. I first read about the league losing its sheen from Sharad Kotnis, who, apart from being a respected writer, was a former Bombay Cricket Association (BCA) treasurer, enjoying a long-standing association with Shivaji Park Youngsters as the club’s torchbearer. ‘BCA tourney losing its glamour,’ Kotnis wrote in an article for Afternoon Despatch & Courier in 1991. Ironically, it was a year when Mohsin Khan, the Pakistan opener, played the league for Khar Gymkhana to infuse glam quotient.
However, the preview article said the BCA “should examine the issue properly since he is a foreigner” despite Mohsin being “a bona fide resident of Bombay, the main requirements needed to play in the Kanga League.” Mohsin ended up playing.
The MCA has decided to start this year’s Kanga League on the coming Sunday and end it on October 5. In a social media post, they say, “The iconic Dr HD Kanga Cricket League 2025 is here — where legends rise on damp wickets and Sunday mornings are sacred.”
While one hopes most of the 13 rounds will be played, rarely has the tournament started on the designated kick-off date. In 1983, when promotions and relegations were not effected, the league started on August 28 after seven consecutive rounds were washed out. In 1991, action began on September 1, following the cancellation of the first eight rounds.
Nadim Memon, who has been associated with the league as a player and administrator for over five decades, says it’s been a while since the tournament began as per schedule. I discovered that the weather in 1979, 1980 and 1989 was good for an as-per-schedule start. Of course, there could be more editions like these.
Let’s start with 1989. On July 16, ‘A’ division holders Dadar Union couldn’t get off to the start they wanted to as their match against Sunder CC was abandoned. The then India captain Dilip Vengsarkar and Test batsman Sanjay Manjrekar turned up to play against Sunder CC, who lost three for 22 before the downpour. Nearby, Rajasthan state and club fast bowler Pradeep Sunderam was the performer of the day with 6-24 against National CC at Cross Maidan. Sunderam missed out on a hat-trick en route his three wickets in his sixth over.
In the suburbs, Khar Gymkhana and New Hind could get their game going. New Hind declared at 108-5 with veteran Ramesh Vajge scoring an unbeaten 50. The hosts ended the day with 37-1 in 10 overs, after a major rain interruption from 12.45 to 4.30 pm. Of the 49 matches across all divisions, only 14 were possible on that Kanga League opening Sunday.
The Shivaji Park Gymkhana vs CCI game at Shivaji Park, PJ Hindu Gymkhana vs Young Comrade CC and Shivaji Park Youngsters vs Parsee Cyclists games at Marine Drive were abandoned without a ball being bowled. For India’s then wicketkeeper Kiran More, who turned up for CCI after travelling from Baroda, it was a trip wasted.
Now to 1980. Defending champions Rajasthan started their campaign in style on July 13 with a win. At Cross Maidan against United Cricketers, Subhash Patne (5-28) helped dismiss the hosts for 73 after which Chintamani Vaidya’s top score of 49 figured prominently in Rajasthan’s 150-9 declared. United were reduced to 87-6 at stumps; three of them falling to future India bowler Balvinder Singh Sandhu.
Another future Test pacer, Raju Kulkarni of Shivaji Park Youngsters (SPY), had New Hind in a spot of bother with 4-12 as the Matunga side ended the day with 39-5 in response to SPY’s 202-7 declared in a drawn game.
But MB Union grabbed the headlines literally through an upset win over PJ Hindu Gymkhana, who had Ashok Mankad and Eknath Solkar playing for them. MB Union captain Dipak Pednekar told me on Wednesday that he used a five-paise square coin at the toss and when Mankad called heads, he told his rival skipper that he’ll lose the toss. Pednekar used to toss-train at home with a five-paise coin.
Helped by useful contributions from himself (25), Ashit Bhansali (28) and Kaluram Pagare (22), MB Union scored 96; their last six wickets falling for just two runs. The hosts did not allow the cluster of wickets bother them and dismissed PJ Hindu Gymkhana for 74 with seamer Anant Rane and left-arm spinner Vasant Dhanipkar accounting for eight batsmen. Pednekar recalled how Ranji Trophy wicketkeeper Sharad Hazare was proving dangerous but an airborne Subhash Ambiye plucked out a catch at gully that hit the final nail in Hindu Gymkhana’s coffin.
In 1979, eventual champions Rajasthan’s Balvinder Singh Sandhu (4-36) and Subhash Patne (5-47) bowled out United Cricketers for 90 and had the Cross Maidan club follow on after Rajasthan scored 170 for 7 declared with young gun Lalchand Rajput scoring a half-century on July 15.
The cricket was gripping way back then. There was no shortage of competitiveness. And all of them had a lot of fun. Let’s hope Mumbai’s favourite cricket tournament begins on time this Sunday.
mid-day’s Deputy Editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello
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The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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