Sudhir Naik

One of the most recognised and well-known names in Indian and Mumbai cricket, Sudhir Naik is a former Test and Ranji player. Born in Mumbai, Naik has been around the cricketing arena for several years and has played a major role with different aspects of the sport.

From being an international cricketer to a member of the selection panel, a coach and a pitch curator now, the man has seen it all in the cricketing world.

Sudhir Naik was brilliant at academics during his teenage days as he obtained an MSc degree in Organic Chemistry from Ruparel College in Mumbai. He complemented his studies well with his cricket by playing for Mumbai University. ‘Suru’, as he is fondly called in cricketing circles, was then elected the skipper of the Tata Oil Mills team, where he was an employee too.

The right-hander was a brave opening batsman who preferred playing the ball on its merit. He had a distinct versatility in him, which helped Naik to adapt quickly in different playing conditions. His hunger for runs was massive as he used to capitalize on his starts to convert them into big innings.

Sudhir was a prolific run-scorer at the grassroots level. He used to score heavily at the Times Shield matches, the inter-college and University games. His stupendous performances saw the gutsy cricketer being drafted into the Mumbai Ranji side during the 1966-67 season.

The Mumbai cricketer’s claim to fame started at the Ranji Trophy matches, where he displayed an excellent class and temperament as an opener. Runs kept flowing off Naik’s bat and he became one of the pioneer players in Mumbai cricket during the late 1960s.

He piled up over 2500 runs in Ranji matches at a healthy average of 40.10 within a few seasons. His best innings came against the Baroda team during the 1973-74 season, where the gritty batsman played a humongous knock of 200 not out.

Naik enjoyed plenty of triumphant moments as a player and captain of the Mumbai Ranji team. He was part of many successful Ranji campaigns and was a key element of the side too. He was appointed as the skipper of Bombay during the 1970-71 season. His value was known to the world when his efforts bore the fruits for a famous Ranji Trophy victory for Mumbai in his maiden season as captain. He proved his mettle as an astute leader even as Bombay were without their star players who were sent off for international duties to West Indies.

Mumbai retained the Ranji Trophy in the following two seasons as well, making it three out of three in a row under Naik’s reign.

Naik rates the 1972-73 season victory very highly as the win in the final against Tamil Nadu was achieved in the most trying conditions. It was a slow and deadly Chepauk track and all the Mumbai batsmen, especially Sudhir Naik himself, batted like true champions to bail his side home for a 12th consecutive Ranji Trophy title.

Sudhir’s perseverance in the domestic circuit paid off finally, as he was called up for national duties on the 1974 tour of England, as an eligible opening batsman for India. He made his Test debut in the third and final match of the series at Edgbaston in Birmingham. Naik didn’t have a good outing in the first innings as he scored only four runs. But he impressed everybody in the second innings with a spirited 77 runs.

On the same tour, ‘Suru’ made his one-day debut too but poor scores of 18 and 20 runs against England didn’t justify his calibre as a limited-overs player. Naik was retained in the side for the home Test series against the West Indies but a string of poor scores in the two Test matches meant that the right-hander failed to live upto the expectations. He was immediately dropped from the national squad.

He returned to domestic cricket after being axed from the Indian team. Sudhir worked hard in the first-class matches but a second call to play for his national team never came. He retired from cricket after the 1977-78 season. Naik’s first-class career spanned over 10 years and he tallied 4000 plus runs in 85 matches at an average of 35.29. He had seven first-class hundreds to his credit.

After retirement, Naik continued to be part of the game as a much-felicitated coach of his own National Cricket Club in the south of Mumbai. His coaching centre has engendered famous cricketers like Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, Paras Mhambrey, Rajesh Pawar and Rajun Sutar, etc. Zaheer has been one of best pupils to come out and play for India from Naik’s coaching academy. The fast bowler came to Mumbai from Srirampur at a very tender age. Naik gave the left-armer proper shelter and guidance which helped Zaheer grow into a remarkable cricketer.

Praising his coach, Zaheer Khan said, “He (Sudhir Naik) advised me to play cricket seriously. Suru Sir told me it was common for people from small towns to stay in Mumbai, and after they put an effort to develop them, they again went back. He did not want that to happen with me.”

During the late 1980s, Naik was also a part of the Bombay Ranji Trophy selection panel. In fact, he was the one who announced a very young Sachin Tendulkar’s name in the Ranji probables for the 1987-88 season.

In 2005, he was appointed for the duties of the Ground Incharge and Chief Curator at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. His job was to look after the wicket and the outfield, and readying it for the future cricket matches. During the 2004-05 Australia’s tour of India, Sudhir Naik and the Wankhede pitch came under severe criticism. Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting lashed out at the curator for preparing an unsporting wicket which resulted in the Test match coming to an end within two and a half days. But Naik stood his guard and replied that he had prepared a sporting track which could produce a result rather than a tame draw.

It is obvious that not only fans of Sudhir Naik, but also cricket specialists have found the 63-year-old a persevering and diligent individual, who is bound to give back cricket abundantly.