Mumbai: During his playing days, cricketer Chandrakant Patankar largely lived in the shadow of more accomplished players. Because his career coincided with that of the late Naren Tamhane, it was tough for the wicket-keeper to break into the India and Mumbai set-ups.
When he finally got a chance in the national Test side, Patankar proved his worth.
In the solitary Test he played, in December 1955 against New Zealand at Eden Gardens, he walked in after seven wickets had tumbled for just 88 runs on the opening morning. Scoring 13 runs, he helped JM Ghorpade add 37 runs for the eighth wicket. Patankar backed it up with three catches and effected a stumping.
After the death of CD Gopinath on Thursday, Patankar is now India’s oldest living Test cricketer. He is currently 95 years and 137 days old.
Due to his hearing loss, he requests you to speak to him loudly, or write down the question. Other than that, though, the Mumbai resident has aged gracefully and maintained good health into his nineties. “It is God’s grace,” said Patankar.
“My memories of the Test match (against New Zealand) are of my four victims behind the stumps. But I missed one catch, which cost me my Test career. I had a 37-run partnership with Mr Ghorpade. So, overall my performance was not bad. The cricket pundits used to tell me that I should have played more Tests,” Patankar recounted.
A well-qualified man who held a MSc (Master of Science) degree from Bombay University, lack of international opportunities did not affect Patankar too much.
“In our days, cricket was not a commercial affair. We used to play for recreation,” said the genial ex-cricketer whose first-class career stretched for more than two decades. He was more famous in Mumbai as the star-studded Shivaji Park Gymkhana’s wicket-keeper, where he kept to the likes of legendary leg-spinner Subhash Gupte and Ramakant Desai. Gupte’s googly bamboozled many batters but Patankar could spot it well.
A cricket aficionado, Patankar has followed the sport right from the 1930s. Asked about his all-time favourite Indian wicket-keeper, pat came the reply: “Farokh Engineer”.
On the modern game and its players, the oldest living Test cricketer in the country said: “The game has changed considerably. Today’s players are far more physically fit.”
