Sudhir Naik (1945-2023) was an Indian cricketer who played Ranji Trophy for Bombay in the 70s.
Wiki/Biography
Sudhir Sakharam Naik was born on Wednesday, 21 February 1945 (age 78 years; at death) in Tardeo, Bombay Presidency, British India. His zodiac sign is Pisces. He pursued his MSc in Organic Chemistry at Ruparel College, Mumbai. When he was a child, he used to play with children from Tardeo’s Chikkalwadi with a table tennis ball. He also used to harass animals with his friends. When he was in class 10, his brother told him to start taking coaching under Vinoo Mankad. While at school, he was always studying when he wasn’t playing cricket. During the visit, he always brought his books and studied when he had time. He studies at 5 in the morning and practices during the day. His first dream was not to become a cricketer but to become the boss of a company. In an interview, he said that at that time there was no money in cricket because of this he also applied for an engineering degree and got admission in VJTI (Veermata Jeejabai Institute of Technology) in Mumbai before deciding to become a chemist. He dropped the idea of becoming an engineer after former cricketer Madhav Apte told him that he would not get time to play cricket if he chose to become an engineer.
Sudhir Naik when he was young
Physical appearance
Height (approx): 5′ 9″
Hair Color: Gray (Half Bald)
Eye Color: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Not much information is available about his parents. He has nine siblings.
Wife & Children
Sudhir is married to Vasundhara Pendse Naik, who is an author. He died a few years before Sudhir’s death. Their daughter’s name is Radhika Deshpande who lives in Melbourne.
Career
Domestic Cricket
Sudhir used to play for the Mumbai cricket team. After taking admission in Bombay University, he became the captain of the team. He is also the captain of the Tata Oil Mills team where he used to work. In 1967 and 1968, he was the only captain to win the Police Shield Championship and the Mahindra Shield Championship for two consecutive years at Bombay University. During his graduation, he was selected for the Mumbai junior squad and the senior team. According to Sudhir, in 1970, only one team was allowed to play in the knockout round. Before 1970, Bombay won against Maharashtra after which Maharashtra proposed to BCCI to allow two teams from each group to play in the knockout. The BCCI agreed to the offer and in 1971, Maharashtra was number 1 and Bombay was number two in the West Zone. In 1970-71, his performance in that match led Bombay to win the Ranji Trophy despite the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Ajit Wadekar not being part of the squad. In the 1972 Ranji season, he was not included in the playing squad. In an interview, he talked about this and said,
I was dropped for a knockout. I have good marks and it’s really not fair. It is politics played by some of our own senior players. They fear that if Sudhir plays in the knockouts, he may be selected for India and we may be eliminated. That’s dirty politics. But this is part of the game.”
In the 1973-94 Ranji Trophy season, he scored 2687 runs (40.10) against Baroda. The score becomes the highest score which is 200 not out. He scored 4376 runs in 85 First Class matches with seven hundreds and 27 fifties in his domestic career.
Sudhir Naik in batting action
International Cricket
Sudhir made his ODI debut on 13 July 1974 against England at Leeds. He made his test debut on 4 July- 8 July 1974 against England in Birmingham. In 1974, he played three Test matches and two One Day Internationals for the Indian cricket team. In 1974, he was part of India’s tour of England and was the opening batsman. He did not play in the first and second test matches although he was the top scorer in all the tour matches. In the match he played, he scored 77 runs in the second innings, but India did not win the match. His score became the highest score, and he became man of the match. In 1974, he was part of the Indian team and played the last Test at Edgbaston. In that match, he scored 730 runs (40.55). In the One Day International in England, he scored 18 runs off 29 balls including the first four for the team.
Curator
In 1984-85, he was part of the Mumbai selection committee and worked as chief selector and member of the management committee. In 2005, he started working as a groundskeeper at the Wankhede Cricket Stadium and used to look after the wickets and the outfield before matches. In 2011, before the World Cup at the Wankhede Cricket Ground in Mumbai, he prepared the pitch for the tournament. He used to prepare the west zone pitches and pitches in the capacity of West Zone Custodian for the BCCI Grounds and Fields Committee. In 2016, he retired as curator and in-charge of the Wankhede Cricket Stadium after he was criticized by Ravi Shastri for the pitch not being batsman-friendly. In an interview, he said that he could not accept what Shastri said to him because he was 70 years old and had little pride.
Sudhir Naik as ground in charge discussed about the field
Death
Sudhir was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai on March 24, 2023 when he sustained a head injury after he fell at his residence in Dadar. He died on March 5, 2023, unable to recover from his injuries. After his death, Zaheer Khan condoled his death and said,
The day after he was admitted to the hospital, I went and saw him. He responded to the treatment. He recognized me and tried to talk to me. I had a little conversation with him. Knowing the personality I’ve seen over the years, I hope he’ll fight through this. But it didn’t happen. On Sunday night, he became critical, and we were told that the next 72 hours would be critical. As we hope for his recovery, all this time, I have been recalling the countless conversations I had with him once I moved to Mumbai.”
Facts/Trivia
- He is a right batsman.
- Apart from cricket, he used to work as an organic chemist.
- After 1974, he stopped playing cricket but started coaching at his own National Cricket Club, Mumbai. He coached cricketers like Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, Rajesh Pawar, Raju Sutar and Paras Mhambrey.
Sudhir Naik with Zaheer Khan
- In 1975, he played his last Test at the Eden Gardens against the West Indies.
- His students at the club refer to him as James after James Bond.
- In an interview, former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar said that Sudhir is a straightforward person.
- In the 1970s, during his visit to England, he was accused of stealing two pairs of socks in a London department store. In an interview, he said BCCI did not support him at all because at that time BCCI was not very strong. He suffered greatly because of the incident. In the book ‘Sunny Days’, Sunil Gavaskar spoke about the incident and said that Naik would not have felt the humiliation if he had been given a better lawyer to prove his innocence. However, after that happened to him, he scored a half-century in test matches. In an interview, former Mumbai captain Milind Rege spoke about the incident and said that Sudhir’s self-respect was so great that he would wear a torn glove but would not ask anyone for a spare glove.
- In another interview, Milind Rege recalled the time spent with Sudhir and said when they were playing, they went together to Ranji Trophy games with their kits in a taxi. They used to spend half the day together because they lived close to each other’s houses and trained together. He also said that Sudhir is a great captain. In the interview, he said again,
He is very good tactically. That is the added value. He knows his field placement, he knows his players’ temperament. Sudhir will not scold us on the field. He never told us, “ Kya kar raha hai? Barabar se bowling nahi ho raha hai (What are you doing? You are not bowling properly)… He would hug us and be very cool and calm. In that 1970-71 final, we were all youngsters – most of us in our early 20s – except for Vijay Bhosale and Padmakar Shivalkar. We’re just raw talent and he’s leading the team tremendously. He is a great leader.”
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
