Tuning in to captain Kishore

Nari Contractor Rusi Surti Farokh Engineer Umesh Kulkarni Ramnath Parkar Sudhir Naik Vasu Paranjape Hoshi Amroliwala Sudhakar Adhikari Padmakar Shivalkar Milind Rege Ajit Naik Vishoo Lele and Kailash Gattani One had to be very skilled to play alongside these big names in the various Tata Sports Club cricket teams of the 1960s and early 1970sAnd one had to be rated very highly to captain a side that featured six Test players in Mumbairsquos ultracompetitive interoffice cricket circuit The cricketer who once led these stars is Bangalorebased 85yearold U Kishore Rao whom I met on a recent visit to the Garden CityRecall mode in BangaloreDespite being a fine middleorder batsman and a popular captain university cricket was the highest level Rao reached Sitting across a wellvarnished table at Bangalore Clubrsquos Polo Bar one could not detect any deep regret Yet Raorsquos memories spanning several years of topclass cricket indicate that he could have figured in the long list of nearly 300 Mumbai Ranji Trophy playersThe Tata Sports Club team after a Times Shield triumph Squatting Umesh Kulkarni and Padmakar Shivalkar Sitting left to right Hoshi Amroliwala Sudhir Naik NK Desai Secy Tata Sons head honcho JRD Tata U Kishore Rao Naren Tamhane and Vishoo Lele Standing left to right Milind Rege Ajit Naik TS Narayan Prakash Palekar N Maneckshaw AP Manohar Sudhakar Shetty Sharad Hazare and Sudhakar AdhikariFormer India pace bowler Umesh Kulkarni who played alongside Rao at Tata Sports Club certainly felt that his teammate should have worn Mumbairsquos Ranji Trophy colours but used this as a perfect example of how tough it was to break into a Mumbai team of that era ldquoKishore was a popular captain Above all he has a pleasing personalityrdquo said Kulkarni 84The knock that Kulkarni remembered was Raorsquos 150plus score for PJ Hindu Gymkhana against Dadar Union in a Purshottam Shield final in the 1960s ldquoHe hit the ball to all corners of the ground and made that victory possible It was simply fabulous to watchrdquo recalled KulkarniThe knock that matteredFormer Bombay University cricketer Vilas Godbole too remembered that innings from Rao He was in the Dadar Union team that was beaten ldquoThe knock was the talk of the town In the university team Kishore kept everyone in good spirits by singing and dancing and he enjoyed some success as captainrdquo remarked GodboleU Kishore Rao right gets a bat signed by his Tata Sports Club senior Nari ContractorRao said ldquoWe were trailing in that final but I donrsquot know what happened to me I just started striking the ball well at will I ended up scoring 166 not out It was a satisfying innings Every matchwinning knock is special but receiving the Man of the Final award from world billiards champion Wilson Jones was extra special The following morning journalist Sharad Kotnis who was also our university teamrsquos manager wrote an article on the match under the headline lsquoRao Turns Defeat into Victoryrsquo rdquo Rao recalled being picked in the Bombay squad to take on Rest of India in the 1965ndash66 Irani Cup match at Chennai ldquoIt rained before the match and our captain RG lsquoBapursquo Nadkarni had to play two pacers Umesh Kulkarni and Bharat Narvekar Hence I missed out I realised the importance of a balanced side but after I returned to Bombay I wasnrsquot considered for another gamerdquo Rao said with a smileFamous neighbourhoodRaorsquos first steps in the game were similar to those of Sunil Gavaskar in the sense that he lived in the same area as Indiarsquos batting legend at Grant Road ldquoSunil stayed at Bhagirathi Bai Buildings the same building as Milind Rege Subhash Ambiye lived nearby while I lived in Dharmakuti We also had a good tennisball team and our matches were highly competitiveU Kishore Rao driving and hooking during a local match in Mumbai All images courtesyU Kishore Raorsquos personal collection unless stated otherwiseldquoOne day I went to Cross Maidan and saw a person coaching by bowling from around 11 yards outside the off stump Actually he was just throwing the ball which I found unique I watched this for half an hour and returned homeldquoI returned the next day and asked him whether he would coach me I told him that I had been playing a lot of tennisball cricket He agreed to take me under his wing That person turned out to be AM Mamsa the famous Test umpire After I settled into his nets he would take me with his team to places like Navsari and Surat Mamsarsquos credo in 1962 was simple play play and play Soon I developed into a cricketer and excelled as captain of St Xavierrsquos College I am eternally grateful to the late Mr Mamsa for welcoming me into his coaching netsrdquoRao was selected for Bombay University and was happy giving off his best One day their regular captain Shiraz Dharsi was unavailable and the responsibility fell on RaoldquoShiraz was unavailable one day and they said lsquoKishore Rao you lead the sidersquo I think it was in the Police Shield My fulfilling innings as captain of the Bombay University team thus beganrdquo Rao soon had to find his feet in the starstudded Tata Sports Club side He attributes his early success at the interoffice level to divine interventionldquoI got off the train at Marine Lines and was walking towards the Parsi Cyclistsrsquo pitch at Azad Maidan where we were to play ACC I caught a glimpse of the many religious posters displayed for sale on a footpath near Dhobi Talao It was there that Sathya Sai Baba appeared to me and said lsquoPlay well todayrsquoldquoI told him that it was my first year and that I wouldnrsquot make the side with so many senior players around When I reached the ground I was told that Hoshi Amroliwala was out of action with a back injury I was in the side and put on 300plus runs with Rusi Surti with each of us scoring a century against an attack comprising Ramakant Desai Bapu Nadkarni and Polly UmrigarldquoRusi urged me not to throw away my wicket when the ACC bowlers were tired But I played a lofted shot off Bapu and was caught by Vishoo Bondre Rusi was livid as I passed him but by the end of the day he had forgotten all about my shot and hugged merdquo Rao saidMumbaikar at heartMost of the cricketers Rao played with and against have since departed for the Elysian Fields but they continue to live on in his memory Moving to Bangalore in the 1970s to become part of the airline industry did not mean that Raorsquos passion for cricket had diminished He closely follows Mumbairsquos progress on the domestic scene and is not coy about admitting that Mumbai is the team he supports whenever it takes on Karnataka never mind the fact that the lioncrested Mumbai cap eluded him Letrsquos say Rao was the lion that the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team never hadU Kishore Rao on playing in the Kanga LeagueI played in the Kanga League for National CC with my Tata SC teammate Sudhir Naik We had a good side which included a pace bowler called HS Anand He used to bowl sides out often When my father built a big home in Khar I played for Khar Gymkhana who made me a life member at a very nominal fee I played alongside Salim Durrani there Our team included Bharat Kundaran whose brother Budhi I played with at PJ Hindu Gymkhana Arun Wagh Nitin Shirodkar and Kandli Harendra Upadhyay Khar Gymkhana motto was to have fun no matter if you win or lose