Warmup doesn’t warm fans up like it did in 1998

In that match between Mumbai and the Australians, Sachin took Warne apart en route to his maiden first-class double. It also set the tone for the series. (Express File photo)

“I just heard that bearded men are more prone to cheat on their wives than clean-shaven men. I think I’m going to grow a beard.” It’s mid-morning at CCI and seated on the cane chairs, four cackly seniors members are pulling each other’s legs. Behind them, AB de Villiers is walking out to bat in the nets to face Dale Steyn. But the old boys’ club doesn’t really seem too bothered by it. They are aware though that South Africa will take on Board President’s XI over the next couple of days. They remain immersed in their banter when one of them asks, “Why aren’t the Indians practising?” when another quips, “Why does a president’s team need to practice anyway?” And the easily-amused CCI member’s lounge echoes with laughter.

The atmosphere was a lot different 17 years ago when the Brabourne Stadium was preparing to play host to Australia’s warm-up match against a power-packed Mumbai outfit. It was February 1998, and CCI was agog with anticipation. Unlike now it wasn’t a pointless two-day affair, lacking in intensity and relevance, considering that it will see all 15 members from both squads getting involved at some point. It was instead an epic encounter that set up the series, not to forget the tantalising duel between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne.

You ask Nilesh Kulkarni, who had just broken into the India Test team back then, about ‘that’ match and his first response is, “Oh wow!” before he recalls the buzz to have been akin to an international match despite the focus being on the Tendulkar v Warne battle.

“We were put up at the CCI itself, and whether we went for lunch or dinner, all the members would talk about is the Mumbai-Australia match. They would keep telling us, ‘this is a big match for Mumbai and India’ and you have to win it for the country’s sake. Even the practice sessions used to be witnessed by packed stands,” he says. “The Australian team was living in a hotel, so there wasn’t much interaction. Sachin and Warne actually met during practice once, and we all just stood watching the two in awe,” adds Kulkarni.

It was a period when under Mark Taylor Australia had commenced their journey towards becoming an indomitable force and they looked armed to pull off a major coup in defeating India on their own soil. That is, before Tendulkar destroyed Warne at CCI with a breath-taking 204 not out off 192 balls — his maiden first-class double ton — to establish the precedent for India pummelling the men from Down Under in the three-match Test series. But Mumbai had taken the fight to the Aussies much before Tendulkar even walked out to the crease.

Taking the Aussies head-on

“It was a power-packed Mumbai team with Sachin, Sanjay Manjrekar (in his last first-class match) and a bunch of us seasoned guys. Before we walked out to field on Day One, Sachin and Sanjay kept insisting that we have to take them head-on and never let them get on top. Our fast bowlers made that happen before Amit Pagnis jumped out his crease at Warne in his first spell,” recalls Kulkarni.

Pagnis, a pugnacious young opener still earning his grade for Mumbai, went after the Australian leg-spinning genius from the word go, smashing him for two fours over mid-on during his aggressive 50.

“He was sensational and by the time Sachin walked out to the crease, Brabourne was completely packed and the noise was crazy. He just took Warne apart, and we were just awe-struck. He never bowled around the wicket—like he would in the Tests—but still Sachin hit him for two slog-sweep sixes. It was a knock where he really started using that shot,” says Kulkarni.

The beanpole left-arm spinner would then all but seal the match by spinning out Australia for 135 in their second innings with figures of 5/23, despite finding out that he had been dropped from the Indian Test squad the same day. But it’s the scene at the ground that Kulkarni remembers most vividly.

“Even after Sachin left, the crowd stayed back and I don’t remember being cheered so wildly while playing for Mumbai. Every wicket created a din, especially after I got Ricky Ponting out for a second time in the match, and the Aussies were feeling the heat,” says Kulkarni.

Amid all these big names, there was the unassuming Rajesh Suttar, who was experiencing his most memorable day at cricket. His is a charming story of a boy who would leave home at 3.30 am from a small village to catch a train and travel 100 kms to Azad Maidan in Mumbai to play cricket. And if it was not for Sachin Tendulkar, he would not have played in that game. He was dropped from the Ranji team before that but two days before the start the Mumbai captain called Suttar aside for a chat. “Raju, aap na khulke maarna. Australia are No.1 team and they will try to show it, you don’t panic. Play your own game, if you want to hit the first ball, then hit, don’t think about it. Mein sambhal lega.”

And that’s exactly what Suttar did. By the time he walked out to the middle to meet Tendulkar, Mumbai were whistling along at 313 for 5. Suttar recalls Tendulkar not only putting him at ease but also remembers how he was awed by the legend’s predictions. “Almost every ball, he would say it would be a top-spinner, or this and that. He just knew what they were going to bowl. I started to go for my shots.”

‘Will kill you with gaze’

“The great memory from that game was that I hit Warne for five of my six fours. I also hit the offspinner Gavin Robertson for a six (seedha, sar ke upar!) but it was the fours against Warne that I am proud to recall even now. And best thing was Tendulkar had told me, ‘Khunnus dikhayega vo, aur ball aisa ghirayega, you just keep playing.’”

At one point Tendulkar had told him to watch out for the flipper and when it happened next ball as predicted, Suttar carved it away to the boundary. And just as Tendulkar had warned, Warne had started walking towards him. “He pushed up his left-sleeve with his right hand and said something like f***ing mate! And started staring. Tendulkar had told me that, “aankh mey aankh dalega and gaali dega, tum nazar hata dena, otherwise nazar sey hi maar dega! (He will fix his glare on you and abuse you, you avert his gaze, else he will kill you with his gaze only!) I was curious after all that and started to watch Warne — and his eyes did start to drill into mine, and I quickly turned my eyes away and walked away!”

Suttar also took three wickets in that game — two in the first innings in eight overs and one in the second. It’s the second-innings dismissal of Darren Lehmann that he recalls with a hearty chuckle. “Look, all my career people used to say I never really spun my deliveries much. And I still joke, in my lifetime I only spun one ball and that was the one I got Lehmann with! And he was stumped, jumping out at me.”

Like Kulkarni, Suttar recalls the full house in the stadium and the champagne that flowed in the dressing room after the victory.

“I’d come from a village called Chinchani in Tarapur which no-one had heard of, but I got to experience that great day in my cricketing life when I hit Warne for five fours, and batted with Tendulkar. I might not have played for India but that day was the closest I ever got to feeling what it could be like playing for India. What more can I ask for?”

Hopefully one of the 15 who turn up for BP XI, will have a Suttar story to tell in years to come, even if the two-day affair is not designed to be competitive or see the CCI reverberate with excitement.