MUMBAI: Former Mumbai wicketkeeper-batter Vijay alias 'Papa' Karkhanis passed away on Sunday morning at his residence in Borivali. He was 86. Pappa played for the famed Shivaji Park Gymkhana and Central Bank in local cricket. As per old-timers, he was a dashing batter and good wicketkeeper. Karkhanis played seven first-class matches for Mumbai in the late 60s. He played for two decades for Shivaji Park Gymkhana in a team which had numerous Mumbai greats.
Karkhanis was a close friend of batting legend Sunil Gavaskar. "He was the most loved guy in the team. He used to keep everyone in splits. I was supposed to meet him at (my) annual get-together on the 14th (May) which is postponed for now," Gavaskar told TOI.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Karkhanis was amongst the first few coaches who saw potential in India's ODI captain Rohit Sharma. "When Rohit was just 14, he was selected for the Mumbai Cricket Association's summer camp for the Borivali Centre. At that time, Papa was the coach there. He told me that Rohit has a great future for Mumbai. He was such a lovely human being. So sad that he is no more," said Rohit's childhood coach Dinesh Lad.
Who's that IPL player?Interestingly, in Oct 2020, Karkhanis survived covid despite being hospitalised for 45 days after being struck by the deadly virus at the age of 80
"He was a good 'keeper-bat, and kept everyone in the dressing room in good spirits. He was a good team-man. He was the No 1 wicketkeeper of a strong SPG team in those days," former Mumbai captain Milind Rege, who passed away in Feb this year, had once told this paper about Karkhanis.
Karkhanis played two sterling knocks of 52 & 43 to help Bombay beat Madras on the basis of first innings lead in the 1967-68 Ranji Trophy final at the Brabourne Stadium. Papa along with Bombay skipper Manohar Hardikar (73 & 65 not out) tackled Madras' ace spinners S Venkataraghavan and Vaman Kumar. Hardikar and Eknath Solkar defied the Madras attack in the post-tea session on the last day, which helped Bombay retain the Ranji Trophy for the tenth successive season.
“He was swift behind the wickets to the likes of Ramakant Desai, Baloo Gupte and others,” said veteran cricket commentator Milind Wagle.
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