The other great 1971 cricket victory

The year 1971 was a watershed one for Indian cricket It was when Ajit Wadekarrsquos Indian team beat the West Indies and England on their soil for unprecedented series victoriesThat year was also significant for Mumbai cricket While India had one Test to go for their series win in the Caribbean a young Mumbai side led by Sudhir Naik overcame Maharashtra in the April 27 Ranji Trophy final at the Brabourne StadiumThe city team were without five players who were in the West Indies mdash Wadekar Dilip Sardesai Ashok Mankad Eknath Solkar and the find of the tour Sunil GavaskarChief selector Vijay Merchant had to decide on the standin Mumbai skipper once Wadekar amp Co left for the West Indies His fellow Mumbai selectors were Polly Umrigar Madhav Mantri and Sharad DiwadkarUmrigar and Mantri urged Merchant to give Naik the reigns At 26 Naik had the experience of successfully leading college teams Bombay University and his club National CC It took Merchant less time to be convinced about Naikrsquos captaincy than he took to agree with his new skipper about the inclusion of 33yearold Vijay Bhosle for the semifinal against Bengal ldquoMerchant explained to me that Bhosle had no chance of playing for India at that stage and I should opt for a younger man I responded by saying I needed a senior man in a young batting order He would be invaluable with his vast experience Merchant gave in I had the backing of Diwadkar and he agreed to support me at the selection meetingrdquo Naik told me on TuesdayBhosle responded with a half century against Bengal His 55 after a first innings duck in the final was worth its weight in gold More of that laterBengal were conquered on the basis of Mumbairsquos first innings lead The hosts followedon after being dismissed for 158 in response to Mumbairsquos 459 But Mumbai couldnrsquot achieve an innings victoryA strong Maharashtra travelled to Mumbai led by Chandu Borde They had emerged on top in the West Zone league stage with Mumbai emerging second best Had the BCCI not increased the number of teams that qualify for the knockout stage to two that year Mumbai wouldnrsquot have progressedNaik was impressive under the captainrsquos hat at the Eden Gardens Former Test star Dattu Phadkar who shifted base from Mumbai to Kolkata had praised his captaincy during his interactions with the Mumbai team manager SV Kadam Phadkarrsquos comments were conveyed to Naik ldquoI was happy that Phadkar had nice things to say of my captaincy It motivated me to be a better leaderrdquo Naik revealedIt was time to be assertive when it came to the selection of the playing XI for the final Naik wanted to include 1967 India Schools captain Ajit Naik his cousin in the XI The committee was wary of picking an uncapped player but Naik said he had seen enough of Ajit to be convinced that the team will profit from his allround skills The selectors agreed and Ajit didnrsquot let the captain downPadmakar Shivalkar was the sidersquos chief spinner with an abundance of ability but Naik believed he needed some assurances ldquoI told Paddy that he should bowl without any fear of giving away runsrdquo Naik saidThe Mumbai team were a tight fielding and catching unit and that according to Naik could be attributed to the voluntary work of PK lsquoJoersquo Kamath ldquoHe was not our coach but used to arrive at the Brabourne Stadium from his Bank of India office at 530 pm sharp to give us fielding practice which used to commence after nets Kamath made us better fielders and catchersrdquo recalled NaikNaik beat Borde to the toss in the final and Mumbai scored 287 built on Ramnath Parkarrsquos 108 Maharashtrarsquos legspinner Nicky Saldanha claimed 666 Saldanha also topscored with 50 in the visitorsrsquo total of 230 Armed with a 57run lead Mumbai were in early trouble just like in the first innings Naik was dismissed for five again Parkar and Ajit scored two apiece and it was left to Bhosle 55 and Mahesh Sampat 60 to steady the rocking boat Their 99 runs for the fourth wicket was followed by Milind Rege scoring a valuable 33 Maharashtrarsquos leftarm spinner Vithal Joshi claimed five wickets to restrict Mumbai to 196 ldquoIt was a turning pitch and I had to use all my ability and patience to score those runs Mahesh batted well too and I remember telling him he must only attack the loose ball Maharashtra knew that I was the main man to see off at that stage I was playing against my former team but here I was playing for Mumbai and couldnrsquot let my team down in a crisis I also knew how much Sudhir had fought for my inclusion and what Mr Merchant said about merdquo Bhosle remarked from New ZealandMaharashtra were set a 254run target and ended the fourth day on 144 for five Legend has it that they booked a room at The Taj Mahal hotel to celebrate a possible triumph but they fell short by 48 runs on the following day extending their Ranji Trophy drought to 31 years Shivalkarrsquos 656 gave him match figures of 8103 while tireless pacer Abdul Ismail claimed seven in the game Naik was hailed in the media for outwitting the astute Borde in the captaincy stakes He deserved every accolade as he studied the strengths and weaknesses of his opposition like the good student that he wasA few days later the Indian team drew the fifth and final Test at Trinidad which helped them end the series 10 in the West Indies The cricket authorities who organised a celebratory reception for Wadekarrsquos men also ensured the Mumbai team were felicitated at the very venue where Naik had led Mumbai to a memorable championship winNaik remembers sitting alongside Wadekar in the front row He deserved nothing lessmiddayrsquos 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