There is no myth about Lele helping cricketers. Be it mentoring Kiran More, motivating MNayan ongia, arranging a benefit match for Gaekwad or helping Irfan Pathan get his passport, he was always there.
Kiran More described him as a father figure while Aunshuman Gaekwad called him a dedicated administrator who lived and breathed cricket. As a sports journalist, I shall call JY Lele the darling of media, especially sports scribes. He was outspoken and spoke straight from the heart which made him a hit with journos.
There is no myth about Lele helping cricketers. Be it mentoring More, motivating Nayan Mongia, arranging a benefit match for Gaekwad or helping Irfan Pathan get his passport, he was always there. But, he was omni present for cricket writers as well.
Lele was outspoken. True. But he spoke from the heart. He never tried to hide or bluff. Above all, he had the guts to call a spade a spade. When sports reporters failed to get to the truth of any matter, one phone call to Lele was enough to get to the bottom of it.
By the time I entered journalism, Lele was out of cricket associations, but not out of the fraternity. He continued to remain a minefield of information pertaining to cricket politics. Having worked with biggies like Jagmohan Dalmiya, AC Muthiah and Raj Singh Dungarpur, Lele had extracted the best from stalwarts and it reflected in his working style. For four years, 1997-2001, he was synonymous with BCCI.
Not surprisingly, for all those sports journalists who wanted ‘inside’ information, they relied heavily on Lele who was ‘outside’.
Moreover, when he predicted a 3-0 loss Down Under in 1999 (which turned out to be true), Lele, then BCCI secretary, drew a lot of flak. But the BCCI did not dare remove him because the inside story was India went to Australia underprepared.
On the few occasions I called him to get inside information, he used to present me the manual of cricket administration. Three years ago, in 2010, I went to interview him. Sitting on his famous jhoola, Lele began chatting in a casual manner. Not belonging to his era of journalists, I did not expect the interview to last beyond 30 minutes. I entered around 3:30 pm and when I took his due permission to leave, it was 7:15 pm.
As a cricket follower from Baroda, I had just heard about him. Not met him. Before the famous encounter on a winter evening in November, I thought I was loaded with info on cricket politics. After the meeting, I realised I was a cub reporter. A humbling experience indeed as he took me back to the 1990s when BCCI became superpower in cricket and how cricketers behave abroad.
Gradually, the topic veered to the match-fixing saga that had rocked the nation in 1999. He defended the players accused of match-fixing and explained how he dealt with the situation then. At the same time, Lele never stopped to appreciate. During that meeting, he had said that Lalit Modi is very sharp and in a hurry.
Had he remained with BCCI, India would have played matches under a roof by 2020.
Lele knew the minute details of happenings in cricket, about a player, irrespective of the state thanks to his contacts. I doubt if any of the current administrators has that kind of ability. Had I missed that interview, I would never have understood today’s politics of the gentleman’s game. Don’t know about others. But we sports journos? We will certainly miss him.
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