Ajit Wadekar, one of the finest batsmen to come out of India and captain par excellence bade goodbye to this world on August 15, 2018, at the age of 77 years. He was awarded the Arjuna Award (1967) and Padmashri (1972) by the Indian government.

His peak as captain of India and as a batsman came in 1971 when he led India to away series win over England and the West Indies. He led a team of players like Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Farokh Engineer, and the Indian spin quartet that included Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan.

Out of these players, former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer has paid a tearful and heartfelt tribute to his captain Ajit Wadekar in his column in Mid-day.com.

Engineer writes, “I played under three permanent skippers in my Test career — Nari Contractor before Tiger Pataudi and Ajit Wadekar. The last two mentioned were like chalk and cheese, but both grand men. Ajit, or Jitya as I used to call him, was far less flamboyant than Tiger; more serious you could say.”

He further mentions, “I was not part of the team in the West Indies but after the Oval Test win over Ray Illingworth's England which I played a role in, he insisted that I come to India with the rest of the team for whom a big welcome was planned.”

About Ajit Wadekar, Engineer said, “Ajit and me used to often exchange notes and he always consulted me on moves that he made as captain. We go back a long way —right from the time we played against each other in inter-collegiate cricket on the maidans of Mumbai.”

Talking about him as a captain Engineer remarked, “He was a shrewd captain, but he was such an underestimated batsman for some reason. Basically, a front foot player, his crisp play was beautiful to watch. Surely, he had the game to score more than just one Test century (v NZ in 1967-68).”

Engineer also shared an interesting tidbit, “I deputized for him against the MCC in the Kolkata Test of the 1972-73 series and it was an honor for me — not only to lead my country but to stand in for a successful captain.”

On a final note, Engineer bid an emotional goodbye to his captain ‘Jitya’ by saying, “He had a dry sense of humor and while I miss his presence at parties, I will also miss his jokes sent from his cell phone. Goodbye Jitya, you played a fine innings, but you could have gone on for a longer one.”

(With inputs from Mid-day.com)