The other Parkars of Mumbai

As soon as news spread about Suved Parkarrsquos century for Mumbai on his Ranji Trophy debut in the quarterfinals against Uttarakhand at Alur near Bangalore cricket enthusiasts started wondering if he was related to the famous Parkars who served Mumbai cricket in the 1970s and 1980smdashRamnath Zulfiqar and Ghulam incidentally a current Mumbai senior selectorSuved is not related to them but itrsquos probably a good time to remember the exploits of this trioThe late Ramnath and Ghulam played Test cricket for India in 197273 and 1982 respectively while Zulfiqar who is Ghulamrsquos younger brother came close to an India capA memorable game for Zulfiqar would have to be the 198081 Ranji Trophy final against Bishan Singh Bedirsquos Delhi whom Mumbai beat by an innings and 46 runs at the Wankhede Stadium Zulfiqar had eight victims behind the stumps in that final and Balvinder Singh Sandhu who enjoyed a successful season as well told me on Tuesday how Zulfiqar his room partner that season kept telling him to bowl outswingers It later dawned on the future India bowler that Zulfiqarrsquos insistence on outswing was because he could gobble up all those snicks unlike inswing which trap batsmen leg before wicket or have them bowledSandhu also recalled that his mate topped the list for most number of victims by a wicketkeeper in the 198081 Ranji Trophy seasonmdash31 in seven games 27 caught and four stumped At the start of the following season he claimed 10 victims against MaharashtraZulfiqar ceased to be the first choice of the Mumbai selectors when he was not taken on Indiarsquos tour to the West Indies in 198283 The selectors felt it was better to give the promising Chandrakant Pandit a go as the regular Mumbai keeper who could soon play for IndiaGhulam elder to Zulfiqar by two years made his Ranji Trophy debut in 197879 when stalwarts like Gavaskar Dilip Vengsarkar and Karsan Ghavri were in PakistanWhen the Pakistanis came visiting these shores the following season Ghulam took a hundred off them while representing West Zone at PuneLike brother Zulfiqar the 198081 Ranji season was an important one for Ghulam After scoring consecutive Ranji hundreds against Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu Ghulam helped himself to another one in the final against DelhiThis performance provided enough evidence that he could partner Gavaskar in the 198182 home series against England but it was not to be He was picked for the 1982 tour of England and was not considered after his failures in the opening Test at LordrsquosHe played two ODIs on that trip and eight more in later years without great success One of the highlights of Ghulamrsquos domestic career was his 421run opening partnership with Gavaskar against Bengal in the 198182 Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in Mumbai Gavaskar carved a careerbest firstclass score of 340 while Ghulam got 156Apart from his deeds with his broad Symonds bat he was known for his quicksilver fieldingAnd now Ramnath the first Parkar to take Mumbai cricket by storm He made his Ranji Trophy debut against Delhi in 197071 when Wadekar amp Co were in the West Indies and scored a crucial matchimpacting hundred against Maharashtra in the finalldquoIf Gavaskar grew in stature abroad Parkar did so concurrently at homerdquo wrote Raju Bharatan in his piece that announced Parkar as one of the four cricketers of the year in the 1972 Indian Cricket Annual Parkar made his Test debut the same year against the touring MCC side under Tony Lewis Scores of 4 35 26 and 15 were not enough for him to avail of more Test opportunitiesHis strokeplay was audacious to the point that he was unafraid to employ the Rohan Kanhailike falling sweep When he did so in the 197475 Ranji Trophy final against Karnataka Cricket Quarterly magazine decided to lsquocoverrsquo the stroke captured by ace lensman Gopal BhatConsidered at one time the best coverpoint fielder in the land Ramnathrsquos last game for Mumbai was the victorious 198081 Ranji final against DelhiSuved 21 was not even born whenRamnath died in 1999 following a road accident But there are more than enough people in Mumbai cricket who would fill him in on the exploits of Ramnath and the brilliance of Ghulam and Zulfiqar Connected not by blood but certainly by cricket Suved now looks on track to become the fourth famous Parkar of Mumbai cricketmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stanceHe tweets ClaytonMurzello Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper