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The most popular ex-official of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Raj Singh Dungarpur, is no more and it is a sad day for every media person who had come to know the great man during his 40 years as administrator of BCCI and the Cricket Club of India (CCI).
I should say I was blessed to be associated with a man who always had a kind word to any journalists - young or old - and never said no to discuss his pet subject cricket and will surely be missed by one and all. Continue reading below
A fantastic orator, Raj Bhai, was probably the only BCCI official, who commanded respect from every cricket player. In fact many of the Mumbai cricketers, who have made it big have been helped by Mr Dungarpur at some time or the other in their career.
Though his stub-born streaks were quite evident at times, he would respect his adversaries as well and would listen patiently to the youngest members of the fourth estate never putting them off.
He hated the word 'arch rivals' whenever a scribe used that word while describing India's relations with their immediate neighbours and would argue that such a word should never be used as cricket was a gentlemen's game.
Though the Alzheimer's disease had hampered his memory in the last couple of years, he could remember the conversations between former captains like M A K Pataudi or Lala Amarnath and his players on the field and in the dressing room and narrate them verbatim.
Even during his era as the BCCI president during the late 1990s, Dungarpur, always had an ear for the fourth estate and during his days as the CCI president he has helped out number of visiting journalists, who would go to Mumbai during national and international tournaments.
Such was his charisma that even his opponents would want to be seen with him during the board functions and press conferences and even a man like Jagmohan Dalmiya, who was first his friend and than a deadly foe, respected his forethought and the knowledge of the game even though the Kolkata business man was ousted from the Indian cricket board later.
Dungarpur, who was also a former first class cricketer who opened the bowling for Rajasthan, was also a former Indian team manager and ex-chairman of the senior selection panel.
He was instrumental in making a relatively unknown player like Mohammad Azharuddin the captain of Indian team and the rest as they say is history. Azhar went on to become one of India's most successful captains.
Dungarpur, a former President of the Cricket Club of India for 13 years, relinquished the post after he fell ill last year, but would still make his personal assistants call up his friends from the media just to keep in touch with the world of cricket.
Such was his commitment to the game that despite being ill, he made it a point to come to the Brabourne Stadium during the first edition of the Indian Premier League and people close to him would rightly say that Rajbhai would breath and eat cricket for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We were very lucky to have come to know a man called Raj Singh Dungarpur and will deeply miss him and his guidance forever.
He not only lived his life king size (being from a noble family) but also helped people around him feel like one.
May his soul rest in peace!
