Batman takes fresh guard

He is a man with many facets and even more talents. Unassuming and uncomplicated, 61-year-old Sudhir Naik is a former Indian test cricketer who has shared his days of glory with the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Sharad Hazare.

In a middle-class family of nine children, sports was the common thread that bound Naik to his family of athletes.

Naik’s talent was spotted by Vinoo Mankad who inducted him into active cricket. A Ranji Trophy player at the age of 19, Naik is probably the only cricketer to have a first class M.Sc degree.

Passionate about academics (he planned to become an engineer as cricket, in those days, was not a lucrative profession), Naik talks of days spent shuttling between classrooms and cricket fields.

He confesses that his ‘need for recognition’ made him slog and excel in whatever he did. He is married to journalist Vasundhara Pendse Naik, and says his family has been his biggest support.

After retiring in 1978, Naik became the junior and senior selector for the Bombay Ranji team.  He fondly remembers serving as a curator at Wankhede stadium, for 10 years from 1986.

Though pitches prepared by Naik were highly applauded by international teams and umpires, he believes he never got due credit from his peers.

Naik quit as curator, only to be brought back again by the managing committee in 2005. The pitches prepared by him for the recent South Africa and England series, were again appreciated by the visiting teams. 

Naik has been passionately and single-handedly running a cricket club since 1980, where he has coached some of the stars of the current Indian cricket team.

Zaheer Khan is one of them. Recalling his first meeting with Zaheer in 1996, Naik says, “Zaheer’s game was not organised and he did not have the right technique. What he had was fantastic speed. But over time, he has acquired the other skills.”

Naik’s need to be recognised has given him the strength to go the extra mile and do things to perfection. A stickler for discipline, he is particular about what he eats and how he lives.

He continues to arrive at the field every morning at 7am, jogging and stretching enthusiastically with his men.

Even during his stint at Tata Oil Mills, which gave recruitment preferences to top sportsmen, Naik’s punctuality and sincerity were appreciated. He jokes that he can still recall the formula of Hamam and Moti soaps and says, “If someone wants to make them, they can call me.”

Naik believes that while age does affect one’s stamina, a person can manage well with a disciplined lifestyle. “Simple food, timely meals and exercise go a long way in preserving one’s health,” he says. 

Along with veteran filmmaker Manmohan Desai, Naik mobilises his neighbourhood to keep the area clean and prevent unauthorised parking.

People should first be society-conscious, he says; family  and self come later. Aiming to take up social work full-time, Naik says, “If you have a goal, you are never tired in life.”