When Dutt bowled the maidan over!

Kanga League was at its competitive best in 1982, the year in which Dadar Union’s pacer claimed all 10 wickets in an innings against Rajasthan SC at Cross Maidan 40 Septembers ago

A couple of weeks ago, I became a beneficiary of several old Dr HD Kanga Cricket League fixture books, thanks to the generosity of Smita Vijayakar, wife of the late versatile sports writer, Pradeep.

Along with bats and leg guards, gloves and other protective equipment, these fixture books find space in a Mumbai cricketer’s kit bag during this time of the year when the Kanga League is held. 

The bonus features as it were in these little books that Pradeep preserved come in the form of newspaper clippings for each day encompassing all divisions (A to G). It’s an old school way for journalists to keep track of Mumbai’s best-loved cricket league.

Among the many clippings was the one of Dadar Union pacer Vikram Dutt claiming all 10 wickets in an innings, achieved against Rajasthan SC at the Karnatak Sporting Association ground 40 years ago on September 5, 1982.

Vikram Dutt

The rare factor in Dutt’s feat is manifest in the fact that he became only the third bowler in the league’s then 34-year history to claim all 10 wickets after Sunder CC’s Aby Abraham in 1952 and Fort Vijay’s Bharat Dalal in 1956. In 2014, Payyade SC’s leg-spinner Pradeep Sahu claimed all 10 MIG CC wickets.

Dutt, a Mumbai probable, opted to play Ranji Trophy cricket for Uttar Pradesh. Suru Nayak, who played for Rajasthan SC that season, had returned from India’s 1982 tour of England. He was clean bowled by Dutt, who got his revenge after Nayak hooked and square cut him for runs. Dadar Union declared at 98 for three. Known also for their splendid fielding and catching, Dutt (10 for 20) had four batsmen caught in close positions. Three including Nayak had their furniture disturbed while three were trapped leg before wicket. Rajasthan, who folded up for 37 just 10 minutes before the 6 pm close, resisted through a fine innings from left-handed Arvind Vaidya.

Rajasthan SC’s Mobin Shaikh recalled the match starting in the afternoon and Dadar Union skipper Dilip Vengsarkar opting to bat on a wet surface. “We were caught on a drying surface. Vikram was just superb and bowled with fire. He was also mentioned in the Marathi news on television,” remarked Mobin.

Nayak told me on Tuesday evening that the strongly-built Dutt was sharp and troubled Dadar Union’s opponents a great deal throughout that season.

Goa-based Dutt came up with an example of what tough cricket actually is: “I had bowled 14 overs (eight-ball overs) non-stop. I had my rhythm going, but was tired. Dilip and Vasu Paranjape urged me to keep bowling and convinced me that I could run through our opponents. At Dadar Union, we were told that three to four early wickets from the pacers were a must no matter how strong the opposition team were and then you got a break. ‘Get them out fast. C’mon, you can do it’,” they said.

Dutt, then 21, was bowling well but he was not inducing the edges. Once his luck opened up, the Dadar Union fielding unit came into play.  Dutt recalled the catching efforts of Paranjape, Ramnath Parkar, Suresh Tigdi and Subhash Kshirsagar with Subhash Bandiwadekar behind the stumps.

Sitting with the scorebook in the Karnatak tent was a future Dadar Union regular Salil Shah, a collegian left-arm spinner. Shah told me on Tuesday that it was thrilling to get a close view of Dutt running into bowl from the Karnatak end of Cross Maidan with his long hair tossing up and down. “Vikram put the fear of God into the batsmen. He was fast and dangerous that day,” said Shah.

Dutt was in the news again the Sunday after his 10-wicket feat. This time, Young Maharashtra were Dadar Union’s opponents at their ground at Shivaji Park. The hosts bowled out Dadar Union for a mere 36 through pacers Sandeep Walawalkar (6-11) and Austin Coutinho (4-25). But like Dadar Union were so used to doing, they defended their low score and Young Maharashtra were dismissed for 34 with Dutt 
claiming 7-16.

Dutt had to miss the October 3 game against Shivaji Park Youngsters as he got picked in Central Zone’s Duleep Trophy team. But he was back in Dadar Union colours for the final day of the league at the Cross Maidan. 

Dadar Union and CCI led the pack with on 17 points each. Dadar Union had to beat hosts MB Union while Shivaji Park Gymkhana at Shivaji Park challenged CCI, armed with Sandeep Patil. CCI couldn’t get the better of Patil’s former team while Dutt’s 4–37 helped Dadar Union beat MB Union by 42 runs to regain the ‘A’ division title after four years. He ended the Kanga season with 44 wickets.

Earlier in the day, a 17-year-old Sanjay Manjrekar hit a priceless half-century for Dadar Union to put up a competitive 146. Many years ago, I asked Manjrekar about the best bowling performance he had seen in the Kanga League. “Vikram Dutt’s 10 wickets in an innings,” he said.

Dutt’s feat hasn’t been emulated by a pace bowler since. Pradeep Vijayakar, who took pride in his leg-spin, would have been happy to see a leg-spinner and namesake (Pradeep Sahu, who took all 10 for Payyade SC v MIG CC in 2014) as the last bowler to do it.

mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.

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