In 1992, I posted a book on India’s favored sport. One reviewer, a Mumbaikar named Rajdeep Sardesai, commented in exasperation that ”Guha’s now and again immoderate love for the cricketers of Karnataka can also result in another Cauvery dispute.” A decade later, in an article in a national newspaper, I wrote that “I do not care whether India wins or loses, as long as Dravid scores are run and Kumble gets wickets,” receiving a move of angry e-mails in response. In truth, the state of Karnataka has a secondary claim to my cricketing loyalty. My number one association is the Friends Union Cricket Club (FUCC) in Bengaluru. I joined the membership in 1966, when I was eight, and have remained a dedicated member ever since. Even now,
I move numerous times yearly to observe my club play in the Karnataka State Cricket Association’s (KSCA) First Division League. The FUCC was founded in 1936. The simplest cricket club in Bangalore is older than ours. This is the Bangalore United Cricket Club (BUCC), based precisely a century ago. Growing up, I was taught to treat BUCC and Swastic Union as bitter competitors. Our hostility to Swastic turned into undisguised and total.
On the other hand, our mindset toward BUCC turned into greater ambivalence. Of course, we always desired to overcome them in the sector; however, we retained a deep fondness for the membership’s shifting spirit, a man named Keki Tarapore. Our own family in Bengaluru became part of Jayamahal Extension.
Living within the same locality turned into a positive Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani. I grew up listening to testimonies of how Kiri learned to hold wickets in our colony’s park, using brick in both hands, and how it was Keki Tarapore who offered him his first gloves, took him to the BUCC, and made him a Test player. The different destiny Test cricketers Keki mentored included Roger Binny and Sadanand Vishwanath. Notably, Keki Tarapore’s mentees included many who had in no way played for BUCC.
In January 1994, Bengaluru hosted a test suit in India instead of Sri Lanka. It becomes extensively predicted that the young fast bowler, Javagal Srinath, could figure inside the gambling 11. Srinath had bowled beautifully in recent remote places, including tours of Australia and South Africa, so well that he and we were sure he would play on this, the first Test on his home ground because he had become a worldwide cricketer. The selectors, alas, notion in any other case.
Srinath turned into India’s best new-ball bowler now, without question; however, Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar were more capable batsmen. At home, it becomes thought sensible to move in with three spinners. So Srinath becomes made the twelfth guy. I watched that health from the Chinnaswamy Stadium’s P2 Stand, adjacent to the KSCA’s Diamond Box. On the first day, as India batted,
I witnessed Keki Tarapore talking as often as he ought to Srinath. Knowing the man, I may want to wager what he stated. The smart old instructor tells the teen to position this disappointment behind him. His time could come as it did. Some years later, Srinath gained a Test in Ahmedabad towards South Africa with the most devastating spell of fast bowling by an Indian on Indian soil. I wish Keki had seen that spell on the small screen of television.
