It’s rare to find Sandeep Patil awake beyond 9 pm. But the early-to-bed-early-to-rise former India cricketer has been forced to stay up on some recent nights due to the Mumbai Cricket Association elections.
Thursday was one such night. He was at the Wankhede Stadium, where he had delighted crowds from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. His night ended in dejection as he lost the president’s post to Amol Kale.
He is known to take blows well. When Patil was replaced by S Madan Lal six months into his India coach job in 1996, he didn’t bare his hurting self. Instead, he wished his fellow 1983 World Cup winner Madan the very best.
A tough coach
Years later, it came to light that he was a tough coach and that didn’t go down well with some players.
Patil took up other assignments and enjoyed some level of success. After Kenya fared poorly in the 1999 World Cup, they appointed Patil to coach them. The result: The East Africans entered their one and only World Cup semi-finals, pitted against the same team he coached in 1996—India. Of course, Kenya lost, but they received unprecedented plaudits for their overall show.
Patil has always taken the highs and lows with equanimity. One will never see him up on a high or down on a low. Very often he has stressed to this writer that to select and drop is the choice of the establishment and that must be respected. It will come as no surprise if he replaced the word ‘establishment’ with ‘voters’ in his latest disappointment.
That he has taken the loss in his stride was evident through his post elections utterances. In fact, he told reporters that he is willing to help Mumbai cricket. If this is not sportsman spirit, then what is? It reminded me of what Raj Singh Dungarpur, his manager on India’s 1982 and 1986 tours of England told me about Patil on the former tour. Patil was to be dropped for the opening Test at Lord’s. At the pre-match team meeting, it was announced that Ghulam Parkar, his Mumbai teammate would take his place in the XI. Sure, Patil was expecting the exclusion since he was in no mental state to play, but he got up from his seat, went to Parkar and gave the to-be debutant a warm hug.
Patil moves on
I spoke with Patil on Friday morning and he was in no mood to dwell on his election result. He was on his way to New Delhi to be a television expert for the ongoing T20 World Cup.
The majority of voters have seen the back of him. It is hoped that they don’t live to regret it. That politicians of different parties had to come together to ensure he didn’t get voted into power is a tribute to the kind of threat Patil posed. Yes, he enjoys popularity but one shouldn’t discount his credentials.
Life goes on for Patil and don’t be surprised if he has already well and truly put the last few days behind him.
And yes, he won’t have to be up on most nights now.
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