If the scope of India's Competition Commission covered sports, there would be a serious case against Bombay for monopolising the Ranji Trophy, Indian cricket's national championship.
Bombay has dominated the Ranji, winning a record 41 times (15 times in a row from 1958) – with Karnataka a distant second with 8 titles. And such is its hold, that in 185 years since India started playing Test cricket (since 1832), 68 out of a total 289 players who represented the country, are from Bombay!
It was said that getting into the Indian team was easier than making the Bombay eleven.
Sunil Gavaskar narrates a story that illustrates just this. As a youngster, Gavaskar was picked for a Ranji final, where the champion duly made a hundred. But because he was unavailable for the first match next season, on duty in Sri Lanka with the Indian University team, Sudhir Naik played in his place – and promptly made a century.
Because of this, Gavaskar was in danger of losing his place in the team! However, he did eventually get to play, as Ajit Wadekar reported unfit on the morning of the game.
There was a time in Indian cricket when half the national team consisted of Bombay players. However, in the recent past, Indian cricket has changed, and so has Bombay. When India played England in 2016, it was the first time in 73 years the Indian team took the field without a Bombay player. Its glory days may have passed, but Bombay continues to supply talent to the Indian team – Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma carry forward the team’s reputation as the conveyer belt that throws up quality batsmen.
The success of Bombay cricket is not an accident or a result of good fortune. Cricket is in the city’s DNA, an integral part of its middle class ethos and is celebrated daily on maidaans like Dadar’s Shivaji Park.
Bombay cricket has a distinctive character – it is gritty, combative and effective. Reflecting the nature of the city, where day to day life is a battle for survival, Bombay cricket produced players who fought hard and refused to retreat. In life, and in cricket, being on the front foot is a fundamental principle.
Bombay cricket celebrated batting and it's players were genetically programmed to the 'khadoos ' style of resolute batting. Every kid holding a willow learnt the life lesson that his wicket was precious and must be guarded at all cost. The batsman's job is to occupy the crease and make the bowler toil. So, head down, left elbow up, left leg full stretch forward.
The technical purity of Bombay batting is best embodied by Sunil Gavaskar. Though brought up on flat wickets, he stood up to the fastest bowlers, always in line with the straightest of bats. He batted long hours and made runs, lots of runs, and in the process earned respect for Indian cricket.
After Gavaskar, Bombay’s batting evolved and went up a gear with the arrival of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who played with a flair and freedom that challenged tradition. With him, domination came before defence and unlike his illustrious predecessors he hit over the top and through the line – the message quite clear to the bowlers that he controlled the game and, literally, called the shots.
SRT was a self-made, natural genius who wrote his own destiny; but as cricket shrunk (to 50 overs, then 20), others too rebooted their batting technique to adopt aggressive methods. Modern day batsmen play more shots (slashed square cuts over point/lap shots to fine leg/reverse sweep to point) and current Bombay stars Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer are far removed from the 'safety first' school of batting.
Bombay cricket's Hall of Fame is led by Vijay Merchant, followed by Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, Ajit Wadekar, Nari Contracter, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar down to Ravi Shastri and Sachin Tendulkar – all of whom (except Vijay Manjrekar) went on to lead India.
The batting record of Bombay batsmen is truly staggering. Here are some statistical highlights :
- SRT played 200 Tests for India but only 31 for Bombay, averaging 91.20.
- Vijay Merchant did even better, he averaged an incredible 98.35 from 32 games.
- Ashok Mankad, Polly Umrigar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Russi Modi averaged 70 plus in Ranji for Bombay.
- Bombay's highest score in Ranji is 855/6, against Hyderabad in 1990.
Bombay’s Bowling
Compared to its extraordinary batting, Bombay's bowling was effective but never spectacular. Bombay had a rich spin tradition – with Vinoo Mankad, Subhash and Baloo Gupte and Bapu Nadkarni, the miserly left-arm spinner famous for bowling 21 maidens (131 consecutive dot balls) at a stretch in a Test match.
Padmakar Shivalkar is the standout performer, bagging 362 wickets at 17.74. Saurav Bahutule and Nilesh Kulkarni are other successful spinners, with 323 and 288 wickets. Among quicks, Ramakant Desai (239) and Karsan Ghavri (188) are prominent.
Bombay's best period is recorded in the scorebook of history, but they remain an organised unit that plays smart. Among current players, Shreyas Iyer is a precious talent and bowlers Shardul Thakur and Dhawal Kulkarni are honest foot soldiers –committed and focussed.
Since 2000, Bombay has won seven Ranji titles and it continues to drive India's domestic cricket. Cricket is about struggle, about finding a way to make runs and take the wicket. Bombay players, their skills honed in tough conditions, know how to win. And no team wears its colours with more pride than Bombay!
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(Amrit Mathur is a senior journalist, former GM of the BCCI and Manager of the Indian Cricket Team. He can be reached at @AmritMathur1)
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