My friend Parag Hede put up an interesting piece of trivia on his Facebook wall, that Namdev Fadte, Goa's former ace cricketer had turned 60. Revived a few nostalgic memories of one of my childhood heroes. I remember those years when Goa had just made its debut in the Ranji trophy and Namdev was one of the team's star players. A stylish batsman from the first batch who performed consistently well for the team. That team had quite a few decent players. Subhash Kangralkar, Sharad Pednekar, Suresh Mahadevan, few others. Dayanand Bangera, if I'm not mistaken, came sometime later. He too was a good wicket keeper batsman who served Goa well during those times.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give Namdev Fadte a high 6+ rating. He was a batsman with an extremely aggresive and positive frame of mind. I can recall him playing some of the most difficult shots from the cricketing books with utmost ease. He could hook, he could pull and could equally play those delightful drives piercing the fielders on the offside with poetic grace. He was easily Goa's best. From the first Goan to score a century in the Ranji trophy to being the first to get into the South Zone, Duleep and Board XI squads, he had many firsts. As a batsman, he was in complete contrast to Subhash Kangralkar who too was quite a decent batsman but more in the defensive mould. In comparative terms, Namdev was to Goa what Virat is to India now. He had the ability to score fast runs against good bowling attacks and above all, he was quite a crowd favourite. Much like how fans used to switch off their TV sets when Sachin used to get out, many of his Goan fans used to do quite the same, walk out every time the prolific scorer made his walk back to the pavilion. There were times when the local fans wanted to see him as the team captain and were not too happy with the selectors for choosing Kangralkar over him. They would come in large numbers and shout slogans like "Aamcho Captain Namdev", they would rejoice his success and would get dejected when he got out. No doubt a player with his talent definitely deserved to be the team captain. Those were the formative years of Goan cricket and though the team did not win much, it was players like Namdev who managed to pull in large crowds and fill up the stands. Fond and nostalgic memories of one of my childhood heroes. Happy Birthday Namdev. You entertained us with your cricket and gave us many bright moments to celebrate. Wishing you happiness and continued success. Warm regards Sandeep Heble
