CCI’s breakfast table mourns Sardesai

Dilip Sardesai knew a thing or two about the city’s rains, and about India’s cricket heroes.

Dilip Sardesai knew a thing or two about the city’s rains, and about India’s cricket heroes. K D Kotwal, former chairman of the Cricket Club of India’s cricket sub-committee recalled how Sardesai, his breakfast-buddy, had persisted with yet another prediction. “”Dilip was a huge fan of Sachin Tendulkar, and through the entire last year had kept insisting—this is just a dry spell, he will come back thundering.”

The mint tea at CCI lost a loyalist within a year of bidding adieu to Hanumant Singh, another member of the informally formed, but religiously attended, ‘morning table’.

And Francis, Sardesai’s favourite attendant at the club for the last 32 years, was not around to bring him his scrambled egg-on-biscuits breakfast.

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Rajsingh Dungarpur and Nari Contractor were other members of the early-rising bunch who got together at 7 am, dispersed at 8 am, and packed the hour thread baring assorted issues. Sardesai was known to return in the evenings too, to share pani-puri with his club-mates. And discuss cricket yet again.

“Besides being a life-member here, Dilip was also known as someone who would go out of his way to help youngsters,” says Chandrakant T Patankar, former team-mate and club official.

Erring CCI players were censured too, and harsher words awaited those not displaying application—which was central to Sardesai’s own cricket. But words of praise were generous as well.

As Sardesai’s renal-ailments worsened, he had been advised against early-morning walks and wasn’t as regular at the ‘morning table’. Sardesai enjoyed inspecting practice sessions as much as he liked watching the real action during matches, adds Kotwal, who often witnessed heightened enthusiasm in Sardesai’s voice when he spoke of new talent.

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“He had this habit of going to camps at Oval and Azad Maidan where the juniors nets were held. Dilip had spoken very highly of the Sharma lad (Rohit) much before he was picked for Mumbai.”