Former India opener Sudhir Naik no more

Former India opening batsman and Mumbairsquos 197071 Ranji Trophywinning captain Sudhir Naik passed away at a city hospital on Wednesday evening He was 78 Naik represented the country in three Testsmdashthe Edgbaston game of the 1974 tour of England and the Delhi and Kolkata games during the home series against Clive Lloydrsquos West Indians in 197475 Naik hit the first boundary for India in ODI cricketmdashin the first match of the 1974 oneday series in England On March 25 he was admitted to hospital after suffering a fall at his Dadar residenceFormer Mumbai captain and chief selector Milind Rege who played under Naikrsquos captaincy felt Naikrsquos death is a huge loss for Mumbai cricket ldquoSudhir Naik was a real legend in Mumbai cricket Having served the game in different capacitiesmdashcricketer coach selector administrator and curatormdashhe contributed so much Itrsquos a huge loss for usrdquo Rege told middayAlso Read Indiarsquos first boundaryhitter Sudhir Naik recalls ODI No1lsquoSound tacticianrsquoRecalling their playing days Rege said ldquoSudhir was my University Tata and Bombay captain He and I joined Tata on the same daymdashAugust 2 1968 He was a very good and solid opening batsman technically very strong back foot player who had topclass temperament He was a magnificent cricketer and a shrewd captain He was a captain in the Ajit Wadekar and Manohar Hardikar mould tactically extremely soundMilind Rege Balvinder Sandhu Ajinkya Naik and Ravi SawantHe never used to get excited or agitated He was quite a cool captain and never admonished usrdquo Naik led a young Mumbai team to a Ranji Trophy win in 197071 when their star players Ajit Wadekar Dilip Sardesai Eknath Solkar Ashok Mankad and Sunil Gavaskar were in the West Indies They beat Maharashtra led by the shrewd Chandu Borde in the final at the Brabourne StadiumNaik and his association with the National Cricket Club at Cross Maidan was significant ldquoSudhir helped everyone including Test players Zaheer Khan Wasim Jaffer Nilesh Kulkarni and many others He built the National CC team by grooming players not by poaching players from other clubsrdquo Rege addedMeanwhile MCA Secretary Ajinkya Naik said ldquoThe passing of former Mumbai Ranjiwinning captain and India Test player Sudhir Naik sir is a huge loss He was chairman of the selection committee and MCArsquos managing committee member Above all he was a great curator without whom the Wankhede Stadium would not have been ready for the 2011 World CuprdquoTopclass curatorFormer MCA President Ravi Sawant who saw Naik in hospital on Tuesday evening said ldquoHis contribution in preparing new pitches at the renovated Wankhede Stadium ahead of the 2011 World Cup was immense It was a challenging task because of a small timeframe but he made it possible through his continuous hard work those days I think he was not given due recognition and rewards for his work ldquoWe lost an educated player as well as a topclass curator He did his MSC in agriculture and secured a firstclass He was the only qualified and knowledgeable curator in Indiardquo Sawant remarked Indiarsquos 1983 World Cupwinning seamer Balvinder Singh Sandhu paid tribute to Naik on Facebook ldquoVery sad news a gentleman cricketer and a honest server of Mumbai cricketrdquo wrote Sandhu The funeral will be held today at Shivaji Park Crematorium at 1030 am