I joined the Pre University course at Vijaya College, I befriended Cavale Sundar Raja Rao who was my class mate. He was selected as a wicket keeper in the college cricket team. The college team comprised of stalwarts like M.R. Sridhar (who represented Mysore University with distinction and later played Ranji Trophy for three states – Madras, Orissa and Maharashtra), Geeka, H.R. Venkatesh, M.S. Madwesh, Pachu, L. Nagabhushana and A. Jagannath. The last named was a forceful wicket keeper opening batsman and was selected for the All India Universities which toured Shri Lanka. Sunil Gavaskar was also a member of this All India Universities team. M.R. Sridhar led State Juniors Team. He represented Mysore/Bangalore University Team for three years in different capacities – as batsman in one year, as bowler in one year and as wicket keeper in one year. It’s a pity that this talented cricketer did not play for Mysore State in Ranji Trophy.
After completion of my Degree Examination in the same college with Physics and Chemistry as Major Subjects in April 1965, I joined the R.V. College of Engineering to pursue the Engineering course.
When I was doing my Degree course in Vijaya College, Cavale completed his Diploma Course and there was not much of a friendship between us as we did not meet very often.
I was a regular scorer for my R.V.C.E. College team. I wish to recall an incident to show how much I was accurate in scoring. R.V.C.E. was playing in Sub Metro League Competition of Mysore State Cricket Association League matches. There was one such match at Binny Grounds. The match went to wire and the opponent team’s scorer declared his team as winner. I was confident that our college team had won. Opponent team went on appeal. K.S.C.A. Authorities called for the score sheets of both the teams for adjudication.
Cavale was the adjudicator and the result was ruled in favour of R.V.C.E. Cavale counted the number of fours scored by the batsmen and also the number of boundary fours conceded by the bowler. My score book tallied, while the opponent score book showed a boundary four more in the batsman’s tally and a boundary four less in the bowler’s tally. Later on Cavale congratulated me for my accurate scoring in a pressure tight situation.
One of my close friends, Sarvottama Rao, a leg spinner, was to tell thus, “R.V.C.E. should get the credit for your upbringing in the field of scoring. Had we not made you to score the matches, you would not have come this far in this field.” He breathed his last a few years back and I recollected his words in an Alumni meet recently.
Cavale and me used to meet occasionally, in the evenings and walk down to Vokkaligara Sangha field – near City Market, where Bangalore Cricketers used to practice. This team had many cricketers who represented Mysore in Ranji Trophy. G. Kasturirangan, K. Rajagopal, L.T. Subbu, C.M. Varadaraj. I and Cavale used to watch the practice from the sidelines. Cavale identified the names for me.
Cavale had already made his mark in the field of scoring with his impeccable handwriting and had scored many Ranji Trophy matches and was familiar with many of the cricketers.
I failed in third year B.E. Examination which consisted of eleven theory papers and five practicals in April 1967. I took the examination in September and came out successfully. From October 1967 to June 1968, it was all Cavale and me. We became inseparables and spent time together during the day and also late up to 11.00 PM in the night. At home, people were not worried. If I was late, they knew that I was with Cavale. Sometimes at the corner of our house – culvert used to be the chatting place or sometimes in front of his house on Kanakapura Road. There are several occasion when both of us went to a second show Cinema. Cavale has an advice for me always – to preserve the half ticket of the second show cinema to show it to the beat Policeman who use to intercept me on my way back home from Kanakapura Road to my home in Jayanagar Seventh Block.
In a retrospect, I opine that Cavale’s friendship was the best thing happened to me in furthering my cricket career – both scoring and umpiring.
