Nice way to honour ‘Judge’

Indian cricket was blessed with splendid administrators who did a great job in running the daily affairs of the BCCI as Honorary SecretariesProf MV Chandgadkar 197071 to 197475 Ghulam Ahmed the late India offspinner 197576 to 197980 Jagmohan Dalmiya and Jaywant Lele in the 1990s early 2000s were known to be extraordinary at their work popular as wellThere was another who executed his duties with aplombmdashAW Kanmadikar better known as Judge in the cricketing fraternity because he was one Kanmadikarrsquos family celebrated his birth centenary in Indore on SundayInspiring stories are not restricted to practitioners of sport A 1980 clipping of The Sportstar magazine reproduced in a book released on the occasion says that Kanmadikar reached the heights of his legal profession despite obstacles ldquoHis early education was twice disrupted by deaths in the family He had to abandon his studies at the SP College in Pune on losing his father and quit Indore College after the intermediate examination due to the demise of his mother He finally passed out from the Law College Nagpur in 1949 So Kanmadikar is largely a selfmade man He has been a civil judge a labour court judge and is now a judge in the industrial court in IndorerdquoKanmadikar made the natural progression from being a leading administrator in the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association MPCA to the corridors of powers at the BCCI which he served as Secretary from 198081 to 198485 His last year in the post coincided with Indiarsquos loss to England in the home Test and oneday series followed by a stupendous titlewinning show at the 1985 World Championship of Cricket in AustraliaGavaskar was expected to be replaced as captain for the tournament held in Sydney and Melbourne and Ravi Shastri was poised to have a first crack at the job But the Chandu Bordeheaded panel decided to stick with Gavaskar and what a great move that wasDoubtless there was drama before the captain was announced for the tournament that featured all Test nations Journalist Debasish Datta revealed to me on Monday how he got the scoop on Gavaskar staying on as captain thanks to Kanmadikar ldquoThere was a party organised at Sunil Gavaskarrsquos hotel room in Chandigarh venue of the fifth and final India v England ODI before the final Test at Kanpur When I landed up Mrs Gavaskar told me that I was way too early and her husband had just left for a meeting with the selectors Board Secretary Kanmadikar and Jt Secretary Ranbir Singh Mahendra The meeting was at a nearby hotel I ran down jumped a wall to get there faster and the first person I see outside the meeting room was Judge I asked him whatrsquos happening and he said you know whatrsquos happening I then asked him if Gavaskar was made captain for Australia He nodded and I got my story Since the meeting took a while and the official announcement was made late at night it turned out to be a scooprdquo said Datta who ranked Kanmadikar as approachable and appreciative of the mediarsquos needs as LeleKanmadikar 82 passed away in Indore on Independence Day in 2006 He was one of the leading movers for India to cohost the 1987 World Cup after England hosted the first three editions in 1975 1979 and 1983 which were played on a 60 overspaerside basis Kanmadikar spoke about the possibility of a 50over World Cup in an interview to Sportsworld magazine ldquoYes 120 overs in a day could be a problem One solution could be to reduce the total overs per side from 60 to 55 or 50 overs This is of course subject to the approval from other member countriesrdquoThe 1987 World Cup turned out to be a grand success and Organising Committee Coordinator Kanmadikar along with IS Bindra could claim some credit for it In a preevent interview to The Sportstar Kanmadikar was not coy to display his nervousness ldquoA lot of hard work has been done a lot remains After all everything is on paper Until the last ball is bowled till the teams leave we have to keep our fingers crossedrdquoIn 1990 Kanmadikar was appointed administrative manager of the Indian team that toured New Zealand WV Raman who was a member of the touring party told me on Wednesday that Kanmadikar was very popular with the players great fun very accommodating supportive and tried his best to mix with the younger lot ldquoIn those days managers were a lot more empathetic and playeroriented I have good memories of himrdquo said RamanTo celebrate his birth anniversary was a nice touch The establishment and state associations should do the same for their cricketing stalwarts I donrsquot remember reading about anything done to mark the birth centenary of SK Wankhede in 2014 Nor was any function organised to celebrate the birth centenary of legendary cricketer Vinoo Mankad in 2017In fact when historian Ramachandra Guha who was part of the Supreme Courtappointed Committee of Administrators CoA to oversee the running of the Board wrote to the BCCI urging it to commemorate Mankadrsquos birth centenary in ldquosome proper and fitting way according to his book The Commonwealth of Cricketrdquo he got no replyCricket personalities like Kanmadikar deserve to be remembered recognised and revered even when the cricket stakeholders are jamming away at the IPL shindigmiddayrsquos 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