Two deaths, too bad!

Milind Rege (left) and Padmakar Shivalkar. Pics/MID-DAY ARCHIVES

Friends of the late Milind Rege made a good fist of celebrating the life and times of the former Mumbai Ranji Trophy captain through a condolence meeting organised by the Cricket Club of India on Monday evening.

When most from the gathering (which included Rege's wife Raj, sons Siddharth and Aditya) reached their respective homes, they got the news of Padmakar Shivalkar's death. Rege (76) and Shivalkar (84) were teammates for Mumbai (then Bombay) and Tata Sports Club. For a good part of their lives, they lived in the same building at Prabhadevi and worked at the same Bombay House premises for Tatas at Fort.

Although Shivalkar represented Shivaji Park Gymkhana while Rege was a Dadar Union man in the early stages of his career, the CCI was close to their hearts.

It was here where Shivalkar made his first-class debut in 1961-62 while playing for the CCI President's XI against an International XI. The same venue saw him make his debut for Mumbai in first-class cricket, a fixture against the touring Sri Lankans in 1964-65. And the game against Maharashtra the following season was his maiden Ranji Trophy appearance.

In 1967-68, Shivalkar played the first of his eight Ranji Trophy-winning finals at the CCI, where Madras (later Tamil Nadu) lost on the first innings to the Manohar Hardikar-led Mumbai side.

Left-arm spinner Shivalkar claimed 564 wickets in the Kanga League premier division but some were claimed for the CCI as well.

Shivalkar toured Australia with the CCI team in 1961-62 and according to the book, CCI & the Brabourne Stadium, he claimed 100-plus wickets in 325 overs on the tour.

When Bob Simpson's 1964-65 Test side came visiting, some members of the team who had faced Shivalkar during the 1961-62 tour were amazed that he hadn't been picked for India. In fact, he hadn't played his first Ranji Trophy game when the Australians landed.

Shivalkar had to deal with valleys in his early years as a Mumbai cricketer. Bapu Nadkarni bowled left-arm spin as did Eknath Solkar. But he overcame that competition and in 1970-71 in the Ranji Trophy knockout stage, where five of Mumbai's stars were on duty in the West Indies, he discovered his captain Sudhir Naik was only keen on wickets and did not want his spinner to worry about the runs conceded. Rege was in that side too and both played their part in Mumbai beating Maharashtra in the final at Brabourne Stadium. Rege didn't claim a wicket in the game, but he did make 33 which was the third highest score in Mumbai's second innings after Mahesh Sampat's 60 and Vijay Bhosale's 55 to set Maharashtra 254 to win the final.

Before they fell short by 48 runs, Rege took a headline-making catch to send back skipper Chandu Borde on the fourth day off Shivalkar for 51. And Shivalkar's 6-56 contributed in no small measure to the arch-rivals being dismissed for 205.

Shivalkar's domestic cricket career ended with Mumbai's 1980-81 Ranji Trophy win. But he was recalled for the knockout rounds of the 1987-88 national championships, played the pre-quarter against Karnataka at Wankhede Stadium, where Gundappa Vishwanath bid farewell to first-class cricket. He played his last Ranji game of his career at the Kotla, where Delhi beat Mumbai on the first innings to advance. Another comeback of Shivalkar's that is talked about in city cricketing circles is the return to the turf for Tata Sports Club in 1992.

One of the highlights of Shivalkar's career was his 13-34 match haul that fast tracked Tamil Nadu's demise in the 1972-73 Ranji final at Chennai. The match ended after two days and one ball on the third day.
Amol Muzumdar, the erstwhile Mumbai captain, who now coaches the India women's team, recalled a story he heard of Shivalkar's Chennai 1973 exploits.

"I heard a story of Paddy Sir waking up on the morning of Day Two, wondering what approach to take as Mumbai were bowled out for 151 (after which TN were 62-2). He decided to look into the mirror for an answer and the mirror image asked him, ‘Ghabhartoys kay Paddy? Flight kar ball' [Are you afraid,

Paddy? Flight the ball]," Muzumdar told me at Shivalkar's funeral on Wednesday morning.

Shivalkar claimed 11 wickets that day (April 20, 1973) and got last man B Kalyanasundaram off his first ball on the third day to cap up a memorable win for Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Rege's interest in CCI's cricket deepened in the 1970s albeit adorning the Dadar Union club when he was required.

In 1968, he bagged a hat-trick for CCI against Khar Gymkhana.

Just like he helped recruit players for Tata Sports Club on the inter-office circuit, he got established names in the CCI ranks; Sandeep Patil being a prime example.

Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli were roped in by the club when Rege was part of the cricket committee and among the most cherished CCI cricket-related memories must have been the Kanga League triumph in 1987 and 1991. The 1991 side had a fine blend of youth and experience, the senior pros joining in at the fag end of the tournament which ended with a Sandeep Patil-led side beating National CC for the ‘A'
division pennant.

Rege was known to be outspoken.

For example, he didn't think a story on Mumbai's preparation in Alur, Karnataka, for their Ranji Trophy-winning 2023-24 season ought to have been highlighted in this newspaper. He took it up with me.

Often our conversations over the future of Mumbai cricket were heavy with refrain. But the next day, he would be there watching a game.

Mumbai has lost two leading lights of their cricket within a fortnight. It will take extraordinary men to replace them and it shouldn't come as a surprise if they don't.

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.