In Feb 2017, I had posted an article on him based on ESPN
report, the man is in news today for wrong reasons !!
Pune situated 560 metres
(1,837 feet) above sea level on the Deccan plateau on the right bank of the
Mutha river, is the administrative headquarters of Pune district and was once
the centre of power of the Maratha Empire established by Shivaji. In the 18th
century, Pune was the political centre
of the Indian subcontinent, as the seat of the Peshwas who were the prime
ministers of the Maratha Empire.
Gutkha baron Rasiklal
Manikchand hariwal (80) died on Tuesday
night in Pune. He was suffering from throat cancer. He was facing trial under
the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) in a 2004
case registered in Mumbai. New Zealand
won the first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium courtesy their preparedness against
India's spinners, and the success of a key tactical move - swapping the batting
positions of Colin Munro and Tom Latham. Three days later, following a trip
down the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, India turned the tables with their own
counter-tactics, on a pitch with just enough grass on it to allow their fast
bowlers to bowl a traditional good length.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished with three wickets and Jasprit Bumrah with
two, the pair conceding only 83 in their 20 overs as New Zealand set India a
target of 231 to level the series. The chase proved straightforward, with
Shikhar Dhawanand Dinesh Karthik scoring half-centuries to lead India home with
four overs remaining.
In a serious note, the BCCI has
"dismissed" Pandurang Salgaoncar, the Maharashtra Cricket Association
(MCA) curator, for "malpractice" that was captured on camera by
undercover reporters. The controversy did not affect the start of the second
ODI between India and New Zealand, which began as scheduled after a routine
pre-match pitch inspection by ICC match officials. Ramesh Mhamunkar, a member
of the BCCI's grounds and pitches committee, was put in charge of the pitch. The
nature of what the BCCI called "malpractice" emerged in a sting
operation video carried out by reporters from India Today TV. In the released
footage, which has been edited, Salgaoncar is shown interacting with the
reporters and talking to them about the pitch for the ODI - the voiceover says
the reporters are posing as bookies though the released footage does not show
them introducing themselves to Salgaoncar as such.
The conversations in the released video are centred on the
pitch. Shot over Monday and Tuesday, Salgaoncar said in the video that the
pitch - No. 8 of the 15 strips - would have runs. "It is very good. It
will garner 337 runs. And 337 will be chaseable." The ground is a new one
and before Wednesday's game had only hosted two ODIs. First innings scores in
those two were 304-8 and 350-7 (an average of 327); the latter score was chased
down. In a different clip, at the stadium, Salgaoncar alerts the reporters to
the presence of Mhamunkar at the ground. He tells them that as per regulations
no outsider is allowed to be at the pitch. Nonetheless one of the reporters is
shown tapping a pitch. In another exchange, in a car, the reporter asks whether
two fast bowlers could be given some help from the match's pitch. Salgaoncar
replies that the pitch always helps fast bowlers.
In response to the video, BCCI immediately "dismissed"
Salgaoncar. As the incident concerns an international match the ICC will also
be involved. "We are investigating the allegations from Pune this morning,
as with all international cricket, the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit has an ICC ACU
Manager on the ground in India and we are in close contact with him," an
ICC spokesperson told ESPNcricinfo. Salgaoncar, a long-time curator and former
fast bowler, was involved in another pitch controversy earlier this year, after
the surface for the first Test between India and Australia in March was rated
poor by the ICC match referee Chris Broad.
In feb 2017 ESPN Cricinfo
had an interesting article that this man
would make debut at 67 ! - it was about Pandurang Salgaoncar, who made Test debut as a curator. Those who have
watched Salgaoncar, (67 now), bowl in the 1970s swear by his pace. Salgaoncar
himself never tires of telling you how he made batsmen run away in fear. He
once hit Sunil Gavaskar on the hand, forcing him to miss the next Test. That
was enough to spread the word in the whole country but the selectors. He came
close to playing for India on three occasions, all in the two years leading to
first World Cup.
In Nov. 1972, in the Duleep Trophy semi-final between South
and West Zone in mid-November featured many of the stars of those recent Test
victories. Farokh Engineer (by then a rarity on the domestic circuit, as he
lived most of the year in Lancashire) was West Zone's keeper. More
enticingly, Nawab Mansur Ali Khan of Pataudi was returning to cricket
after a self-imposed exile from the game. He joined Gundappa Viswanath in
the middle order of South Zone's batting line-up. Still others (Ramnath Parkar
and Michael Dalvi, for instance) were knocking on Test cricket's doors.
In those days, Chepauk was a square turner of a pitch, where
nearly all the wickets accrued to spinners and most matches were low-scoring
thrillers. In South's first innings, Salgaoncar finished with 5 for 55
off about 18 overs, but it was in the second innings that he really lit up the
place. When South began their second innings 83 runs in arrears, a draw loomed
as the most likely outcome. As the shocked Chepauk crowd dispersed, our
partisan disappointment at losing the match was greatly tempered by the thought
that maybe, just maybe, we had finally unearthed a genuine fast bowler.
Yet barely 38 overs later (17 of which were bowled by Salgaoncar), South had
been skittled for 97 runs and West won the match outright by ten wickets
shortly after tea. Salgaoncar ran through South's line-up like a freight train
crashing through a picket fence, timber flying all over the place. He picked up
another five-for, this time for 56 runs, to make it ten for the match.
Less than a week later,
Salgaoncar was at it again. In the Duleep final he grabbed 7 for 72 in the
first innings as Central Zone careened to an innings defeat. Yet, he
could not break into the Indian team. Month later, India's new-ball
"attack" plumbed the depths by the third Test, at Chepauk, when
Eknath Solkar and Sunil Gavaskar took the shining cherry in the first innings,
and (dispensing any pretense at all) Bishan Bedi joined Solkar to open the
bowling in the second.
Though Salgaoncar was strongly tipped to catch the flight to
England as India's tour got underway in May of 1974, he again, inexplicably,
did not make the cut. In fact, Salgaoncar never played for India. Salgaoncar
went to Sri Lanka to play unofficial Tests in 1974, and fondly remembers a
match in which he bowled 24 overs out of 55.4 to help enforce a follow-on. He
then bowled 38 overs in the follow-on. In 1975, Salgaoncar says, he bowled 12
overs for 11 runs in a trial match for World Cup team selection, but wasn't
chosen.
He missed playing for India, but people now would rue for allowing
him to be around the playing arena. Sad
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
25th Oct 2017.