BCCI Secretary AW Kanmadikar’s recent family-organised birth centenary celebration in Indore must move the establishment and state units to honour cricketing stalwarts in this fashion
The late AW Kanmadikar (right) with skipper Mohammed Azharuddin prior to India’s tour of New Zealand in 1990. Pic/mid-day archives
Indian cricket was blessed with splendid administrators who did a great job in running the daily affairs of the BCCI as Honorary Secretaries.
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Prof MV Chandgadkar (1970-71 to 1974-75), Ghulam Ahmed, the late India off-spinner (1975-76 to 1979-80), Jagmohan Dalmiya and Jaywant Lele (in the 1990s, early 2000s) were known to be extraordinary at their work; popular as well.
There was another who executed his duties with aplomb—AW Kanmadikar, better known as Judge in the cricketing fraternity, because he was one. Kanmadikar’s family celebrated his birth centenary in Indore on Sunday.
Inspiring 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: “His 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 self-made man. He has been a civil judge, a labour court judge, and is now a judge in the industrial court in Indore.”
Kanmadikar 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 1980-81 to 1984-85. His last year in the post coincided with India’s loss to England in the home Test and one-day series followed by a stupendous title-winning show at the 1985 World Championship of Cricket in Australia.
Gavaskar 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 Borde-headed panel decided to stick with Gavaskar and what a great move that was!
Doubtless, 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. “There was a party organised at Sunil Gavaskar’s 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 what’s happening and he said you know what’s 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 scoop,” said Datta, who ranked Kanmadikar as approachable and appreciative of the media’s needs as Lele.
Kanmadikar, 82, passed away in Indore on Independence Day in 2006. He was one of the leading movers for India to co-host the 1987 World Cup after England hosted the first three editions in 1975, 1979 and 1983, which were played on a 60 overs-paer-side basis. Kanmadikar spoke about the possibility of a 50-over World Cup in an interview to Sportsworld magazine: “Yes, 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 countries.”
The 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 pre-event interview to The Sportstar, Kanmadikar was not coy to display his nervousness: “A 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 crossed.”
In 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. “In those days, managers were a lot more empathetic and player-oriented. I have good memories of him,” said Raman.
To celebrate his birth anniversary was a nice touch. The establishment and state associations should do the same for their cricketing stalwarts. I don’t 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 2017.
In fact, when historian Ramachandra Guha, who was part of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA), to oversee the running of the Board, wrote to the BCCI, urging it to commemorate Mankad’s birth centenary in “some proper and fitting way [according to his book, The Commonwealth of Cricket],” he got no reply.
Cricket personalities like Kanmadikar deserve to be remembered, recognised and revered even when the cricket stakeholders are jamming away at the IPL shindig.
mid-day’s group sports 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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