What is the ultimate or the best Bombay XI? With players from across generations upstaging each other on the national and international stages, selecting the best Bombay XI is a truly difficult task. It is never enough to look at the numbers when one is grappling with a legacy. Each player faced different challenges, so it is not only the players’ individual styles that need to be pitted against each other but the environment in which those styles proved to be successful. This is a near-impossible task but the chapter The Best Bombay XI attempts do exactly this. This would never satisfy every connoisseur but hopefully will provide a window to the readers to participate in recalling the collective greatness of Bombay cricket as the best of the best from across eras are juxtaposed and discussed together.
I must confess that my heart and fingers tremble at the prospect of proposing the Best Bombay XI. How, indeed, can I choose a mere eleven players from a plethora of geniuses? And more importantly, what will be the parameters, yardsticks and principles for selecting the Best Bombay XI? Will it be talent or performance, average or strike rate? Match-winning knocks or match-saving knocks? How can statistics describe the situation under which the player performed? How can numbers ever tell us what a win meant? Can the emotion, the faith that a player brought in the team and the viewer be ever felt by people who aren’t of that era?
However, since I have undertaken the task, let me put my cards on the table straightaway.
Firstly, we have a solid pair to open: Merchant and Gavaskar.
This is followed by the stylish Wadekar. Any discussion cannot rule out Tendulkar’s right to have the number four spot to his name. Because of his international commitments he may have played less for Bombay, but his average for Bombay is phenomenal. I did not discuss his name at length because for me this requires no debate whatsoever. I sincerely doubt any cricket lover would think otherwise. Sachin belongs in the Bombay team without reconsideration. He truly belongs to the team and at the number four spot that suits him best.
At number five, the great Bombay team will have Dilip Vengsarkar. Like Tendulkar, he was another person who hardly got to play for Bombay; he played less than fifty matches. But he has shown his value enough in these few outings to belong in the dressing room of the Bombay greats.
Though we can have one of the two prolific scorers, with Rusi Modi and Ashok Mankad competing for the number six slot, we need balance more than aggression here. The all-rounder Polly Umrigar would be the best person to bat at six. If either Modi or Ashok Mankad bats at that slot, there will be one less slot for an all-rounder.
We are halfway through the job.
At number seven, the great Vinoo Mankad will walk in, another all-rounder and a great left-arm spinner. He will be followed by wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer at number eight. At nine and ten, we have left-arm fast bowler Karsan Ghavri and Ramakant Desai. The last slot automatically goes to the great leggie Subhash Gupte.
Our team is complete; we have picked out eleven from a vast sea of cricketers who have worn the Bombay lion crest. I have considered every candidate in every era, shortlisted a select few among the rest and further handpicked players for each and every slot with much care and thought.
Any team remains incomplete without a cohesive factor. Often it is the captain who becomes this factor. We have chosen the team; put together a series of greats like a pack of cards. But the most important question that remains is who should lead the team? To whom do we bestow the mantle of the great legacy of Bombay? At such junctures, seniority will be a trivial issue for selection. Merchant led Bombay for more than a decade and won many matches; so did Ajit Wadekar. Should we give the mantle to one of them? However, I feel that there is something in Polly Umrigar that makes him the person for the job. His astute leadership skills and tactical acumen make him a natural leader. I will thus make the decision to bestow the captaincy on him.
So, here is my choice for The Best Bombay XI:
I am aware that the fate of the great team of Bombay XI that I have picked is being put to question and is being scrutinized. It will be subjected to immense scrutiny and perhaps criticism. There will be debate on the non-inclusions of Nadkarni, Sardesai, Rusi Modi, Ashok Mankad, Padmakar Shivalkar, Naren Tamhane, Dattu Phadkar, Baloo Gupte, Manohar Hardikar and Vinod Kambli. And indeed, all these players are the best of the best and all debates and dissatisfactions are valid. Debates only go on to show that Bombay has too many perfect XIs.
However, in my defence, it should be kept in mind that I have tried to forge together a team. As much as individual merits, I have paid close attention to the combination of the team. We should not forget that it is not just a collection of great individuals that make a great team but individuals that complement each other. I have tried to make a team of Bombay XI, a team that can truly play on the field and enchant the opposition.
Perhaps there is no need to make such a team, for teams and teams from Bombay have actually been doing this in reality. Bombay teams have achieved the zenith of success, reached where no team has. The Best Bombay XI is a reminder of all these teams of Bombay. It is a reminder of the rich legacy of Bombay cricket and the different variety of gems that this city has churned. Each of the eleven players of the team that I have picked has a story behind him. Each player is made by his circumstances, his friends and his hard work. In the stories of these eleven players are encompassed the stories of the thousands of aspirants and lovers of the Bombay cricket team. All of them form the perfect eleven in different ways.
Excerpted with permission from: A Million Broken Windows: The Magic and Mystique of Bombay Cricket, Makarand Waingankar, HarperCollins India.
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I must confess that my heart and fingers tremble at the prospect of proposing the Best Bombay XI. How, indeed, can I choose a mere eleven players from a plethora of geniuses? And more importantly, what will be the parameters, yardsticks and principles for selecting the Best Bombay XI? Will it be talent or performance, average or strike rate? Match-winning knocks or match-saving knocks? How can statistics describe the situation under which the player performed? How can numbers ever tell us what a win meant? Can the emotion, the faith that a player brought in the team and the viewer be ever felt by people who aren’t of that era?
However, since I have undertaken the task, let me put my cards on the table straightaway.
Firstly, we have a solid pair to open: Merchant and Gavaskar.
This is followed by the stylish Wadekar. Any discussion cannot rule out Tendulkar’s right to have the number four spot to his name. Because of his international commitments he may have played less for Bombay, but his average for Bombay is phenomenal. I did not discuss his name at length because for me this requires no debate whatsoever. I sincerely doubt any cricket lover would think otherwise. Sachin belongs in the Bombay team without reconsideration. He truly belongs to the team and at the number four spot that suits him best.
At number five, the great Bombay team will have Dilip Vengsarkar. Like Tendulkar, he was another person who hardly got to play for Bombay; he played less than fifty matches. But he has shown his value enough in these few outings to belong in the dressing room of the Bombay greats.
Though we can have one of the two prolific scorers, with Rusi Modi and Ashok Mankad competing for the number six slot, we need balance more than aggression here. The all-rounder Polly Umrigar would be the best person to bat at six. If either Modi or Ashok Mankad bats at that slot, there will be one less slot for an all-rounder.
We are halfway through the job.
At number seven, the great Vinoo Mankad will walk in, another all-rounder and a great left-arm spinner. He will be followed by wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer at number eight. At nine and ten, we have left-arm fast bowler Karsan Ghavri and Ramakant Desai. The last slot automatically goes to the great leggie Subhash Gupte.
Our team is complete; we have picked out eleven from a vast sea of cricketers who have worn the Bombay lion crest. I have considered every candidate in every era, shortlisted a select few among the rest and further handpicked players for each and every slot with much care and thought.
Any team remains incomplete without a cohesive factor. Often it is the captain who becomes this factor. We have chosen the team; put together a series of greats like a pack of cards. But the most important question that remains is who should lead the team? To whom do we bestow the mantle of the great legacy of Bombay? At such junctures, seniority will be a trivial issue for selection. Merchant led Bombay for more than a decade and won many matches; so did Ajit Wadekar. Should we give the mantle to one of them? However, I feel that there is something in Polly Umrigar that makes him the person for the job. His astute leadership skills and tactical acumen make him a natural leader. I will thus make the decision to bestow the captaincy on him.
So, here is my choice for The Best Bombay XI:
Vijay Merchant
Sunil Gavaskar
Ajit Wadekar
Sachin Tendulkar
Dilip Vengsarkar
Polly Umrigar (Captain)
Vinoo Mankad
Farokh Engineer
Karsan Ghavri
Ramakant Desai
Subhash Gupte
I am aware that the fate of the great team of Bombay XI that I have picked is being put to question and is being scrutinized. It will be subjected to immense scrutiny and perhaps criticism. There will be debate on the non-inclusions of Nadkarni, Sardesai, Rusi Modi, Ashok Mankad, Padmakar Shivalkar, Naren Tamhane, Dattu Phadkar, Baloo Gupte, Manohar Hardikar and Vinod Kambli. And indeed, all these players are the best of the best and all debates and dissatisfactions are valid. Debates only go on to show that Bombay has too many perfect XIs.
However, in my defence, it should be kept in mind that I have tried to forge together a team. As much as individual merits, I have paid close attention to the combination of the team. We should not forget that it is not just a collection of great individuals that make a great team but individuals that complement each other. I have tried to make a team of Bombay XI, a team that can truly play on the field and enchant the opposition.
Perhaps there is no need to make such a team, for teams and teams from Bombay have actually been doing this in reality. Bombay teams have achieved the zenith of success, reached where no team has. The Best Bombay XI is a reminder of all these teams of Bombay. It is a reminder of the rich legacy of Bombay cricket and the different variety of gems that this city has churned. Each of the eleven players of the team that I have picked has a story behind him. Each player is made by his circumstances, his friends and his hard work. In the stories of these eleven players are encompassed the stories of the thousands of aspirants and lovers of the Bombay cricket team. All of them form the perfect eleven in different ways.
Excerpted with permission from: A Million Broken Windows: The Magic and Mystique of Bombay Cricket, Makarand Waingankar, HarperCollins India.
