Cricketers make their presence felt at MCA elections

Paras Mhambrey arrives to cast his vote. Photo/Atul Kamble

Ex-Indian season opener and former Mumbai Voter Ghulam Parkar wants new MCA chairman Ajinkya Naik to prioritise local cricket.

“He should give importance to tournaments like Police, Talim and Purshottam Shields and also increase the prize money to encourage cricketers. They should also focus on maintaining standards in inter-school and inter-college tournaments and give priority to cricket matters,” said Parkar, who played for Mumbai in the 1970s and 1980s.

Meanwhile, former all-rounder and former head of the MCA Cricket Improvement Committee, Karsan Ghavri, felt that both candidates (Ajinkya and Sanjay Naik) were worthy of winning.

“Both are great servants of Mumbai cricket,” said Ghavri.

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Former India pacers – current national chief selector Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan – came in together and were among the first voters. Ex-India pacer Umesh Kulkarni, India’s 1983 World Cup-winning cricketer Balvinder Singh Sandhu, national selector Salil Ankola, BCCI General Manager Abey Kuruvilla, Nilesh Kulkarni, Sanjay Manjrekar, Paras Mhambrey, Suru Nayak, Kenya Jayantilal and Ghulam Parkar and ex-Olympian Dhanraj Pillay also voted.

Former India women’s team captain and current MCA women’s cricket advisor Diana Edulji, who supported Ajinkya, went to the main gate of the Wankhede Stadium to receive ex-India cricketer and her former teammate Shobha Mundkar. Late MCA president Amol Kale’s wife Minal and daughter Arpita also cast their votes.