Mankad had a fine cricketing brain: Pataudi

MUMABI: Ashok Mankad loved his golf and his cricket. On Thursday, he played a round on the greens at the US Club in Colaba and had dinner with his wife Nirupama, a former tennis champ. He wanted to test his golfing skills against Kapil Dev one day.
That won’t be possible now.

Sometime past midnight, the former Test batsman passed away in his sleep at Sportsfield, his Worli residence.  Mankad didn’t have any known heart ailments.

The former Test batsman played 22 Tests, but it was his cricketing acumen and penchant for spotting talent, that left an impression. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, under whom Mankad made his debut, was upset that his teammate was no more. “Half of my team has seen the dream of immortality vanish. ML Jaisimha, Dilip Sardesai, Vijay Manjrekar, Polly Umrigar, Subhash Gupte … they have all gone and now Mankad,” Pataudi said.

“He didn’t play as many Tests as he would have wanted to but I believe that he had a very good cricketing brain and his contributions as a coach-cum-manager was immense,” said Pataudi. “He wasn’t the most talented cricketer to come along, but for me he was good enough to play for India,” Pataudi added.

Mankad’s father Vinoo was one of India’s finest all-rounders, while son Harsh has played Davis Cup for India. Harsh and his brother Mihir, who hosts a show on Zee Sports reached Mumbai by late afternoon. 

Wadekar, who also stays at Sportsfield, recalled how Mankad, though going through a lean patch, kept the dressing room in good humour during the 1971 series when Indian won against the West Indies and England.  Kapil Dev, who flew in from New Delhi for the cremation said, “He was someone who really enjoyed his cricket and life.”

BCCI’s Ratnakar Shetty added that Mankad probably felt left out as he wasn’t given the platform to pass on his knowledge. Mankad held the record for most runs (6,619) for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy till Amol Mazumdar went past in 2006-07. Among others who attended the cremation at Shivaji Park were Bapu Nadkarni,  Dilip Vengsarkar, Praveen Amre, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Kiran More, Chandrakant Pandit, Yajurvindra Singh and Wadekar.

Kambli, Irfan learnt from Kaka’s life stories Vinod Kambli believes that he was lucky that Ashok Mankad was India coach when he made his debut in the Sharjah Cup in 1991.

Kambli, then still wet behind the ears, remembers how Mankad cajoled him into opening the innings against Pakistan in only this fourth ODI. Kambli wasn’t sure if he should take the plunge. The experienced Navjot Singh Sidhu wasn’t fit and Kambli would have to take on the likes of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Aaqib Javed.

“Kaka and me go back a long way. He also coached Mumbai when I was the skipper. He would always motivate me. I made 40 as an opener against Pakistan. That was the only time I opened in an ODI but the confidence and motivation Kaka instilled always stayed with me,” Kambli recalled.

“He would teach us by telling stories about his playing days. He was always ready to pass on valuable tips to the next generation of players,” Kambli said. “The last time I met him was at a cricket clinic a few months ago. I will miss him,” Kambli added.
Irfan Pathan returned from South Africa to do the hard miles in the domestic circuit in 2006-07. Mankad was the Baroda coach and Irfan remembers how Mankad’s relaxed approach put him at ease.

“Against Uttar Pradesh, we were three down and I asked Mankad if I could go up the order instead of No.7. He seemed happy with my initiative as the team had lost three early wickets and we were chasing a target in the second innings. He let me play my natural game. I scored an unbeaten 82 and we won the game,” Irfan said from Baroda.
“He knew that I was trying to get back to my best and always motivated me by talking about his own experiences,”Irfan added.