Saurashtra mourns loss of top coach

MUMBAI: The Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) has mourned the death of Saurashtra's noted coach Akabarkhan Babi. "Everyone at the SCA is saddened on the sad demise of Akabarkhan Babi, popularly known as AU Babi and 'Babi Saheb.' He left for heavenly abode yesterday," said an SCA release on Thursday.
Hailing from the Babi Family of Junagadh, he had settled in Rajkot in 1960.He started his cricketing career under Velji Master at the Gymkhana Ground in Rajkot. He received training to be a coach from Velji Master. Fondly known as 'Babi Saheb,' he was one of the pioneers of cricket coaching in Rajkot and Rajkot district. He was known as one of the best coaches in Saurashtra. Babi was a coach for more than four decades, and trained three generations in the game.
Babi was a close friend of India all-round great Vinoo Mankad and many other prominent cricketers. Many top cricketers of Saurashtra like former India player Dhiraj Parsana, Uday Joshi, Niranjan Mehta, Mahendra Rajdev, Bhupendra Mandaviya, Atul Mehta, Jyotindra Baxi, Arvind Panchasara, Jaswant Bakraniya, Bipin Pujara, Bimal Jadeja, Mahesh Chauhan, Hitesh Parsana, Imtiaz Babi, Rajesh Gorsandiya, Sudhir Tanna, Brij Dutta, Harshad Joshi, Chetan Mankad, Vandit Jivrajani and Kishan Parmar received coaching from Babi. Former India batsman Vinod Kambli's father Ganpat also briefly trained under him. He was known for having coach several top cricketers of Saurashtra at the school level. "He contributed to the game selflessly and honestly. He helped many cricketers build their career. Even after he crossed 80, Babi was active in coaching. He was probably one of first coaches to adopt the Australian method of coaching in India. He also served as coach with the BCCI. He was a true cricket lover and a coaching guru," praised the SCA release.
Conveying his "heartfelt sympathies" to Babi's family, former BCCI and SCA secretary Niranjan Shah paid a rich tribute to him. "Babi Saheb was a man with quality, ethics and great cricketing capabilities. His dedication and contribution to cricket coaching will be remembered forever."
Former Saurashtra player Mahendra Rajdev said: "Babi was like a father-figure to me. He helped me to build cricket career. He was a very noble and humble human-being."
"Everyone at SCA conveys their heartfelt condolences to the family members on the sad demise of Shri Babi Saheb and pray to the almighty to grant his noble soul eternal peace," concluded the release.