Mumbai tour diary – 8 : Visiting the ground where Rohit Sharma played as a boy and meeting Dr P.V. Shetty who helped cricket flourish in the suburbs of Mumbai

By K.R. Nayar

A visit to a ground where Team India captain Rohit Sharma played and practiced  as a boy was an interesting experience. What followed was a journey into the past. Mumbai cricketers are often lucky to have passionate patrons of the game like Dr P. V. Shetty. The sixth match of G Force Cricket Academy's Mumbai tour was held at the Payyade Sports Club located near Borivali, and Dr. P.V Shetty is the president of this club.

Dr P.V. Shetty

Although he has been responsible for setting the stage for many youngsters like Rohit Sharma, he prefers not to bask in that glory. He is on a mission to provide maximum facilities for every cricketer to blossom and become one of the greats of the game. He candidly admits that his desire did get the right backing as well. “I was keen to develop cricket in this area. Fortunately I got support from Sharad Pawar (former BCCI and ICC President). Whenever I have approached him with a request to develop cricket in this region, he has supported me. So the man behind the scene responsible for all that you see here is Pawar sir. Now we have players from Mumbai and other parts of the country playing here unlike in the past,” remarked P. V. Shetty.

Dr P.V. Shetty presents a framed souvenir of Sachin Tendulkar to Gopal Jasapara, the Head Coach of G Force Cricket Academy  

“Though I have managed to create all these facilities and support cricketers, whenever I address them I always speak about the importance of education. I believe that our career depends on our education, and one must play because we love the game. Why I say this is because cricket is such an obsessive game that many give up their studies in the process. And these days parents are more ambitious than children. Through their children they want to realise a dream that they could not achieve. I insist on learning how to manage time between academics and cricket,” he added.

Shetty then narrated the example of a cricketer who had risen from the Payyade Club. “Saurabh Netravalkar, who used to play here, went on to play for India Under-19 and for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy. However, he never discarded his academics and also went on to become an engineer. All this was possible because he took the right decisions at the right time. During examination days, he would not come to the ground for nearly a month. After his graduation, he went to the USA, took up a job there and went on to become the captain of the USA Cricket team.” This entrepreneur also spoke about his young days in Bangalore. “Anil Kumble and I are of the same age.While I was doing my third year Medicine in Bangalore, Kumble who was doing his Engineering in our neighbouring college, but he went to play for India. After the series, he came back, appeared for his exams and passed with distinction,” noted Shetty who has played in Bangalore’s A division league representing Bangalore YMCA.

From left: Gaurav Payyade, Gopal Jasapara, Dr P.V. Shetty, Coach Sachin Jagtap and yours truly 

About Rohit Sharma, Shetty remarked that  “Rohit was very good and was destined to be a great player." 

Talking about deciding to set up cricket facilities in the suburbs, Shetty said, "There was a time when cricketers from the suburbs had to travel long distances to play the game. What I could do was to enable cricketers to play here and exhibit their skills. I bought out nearly 15 clubs that were debunked. Pawar sir sanctioned a ground and thus we had a place to play the matches.Today nearly 600 to 700 players play here. My son Gaurav Payyade looks after all the facilities. He is now an elected member of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) apex body.” Incidentally, Gaurav is the youngest elected member of the MCA apex body.

The two team before the match

P.V Shetty is a happy man today having facilitated the flourishing of cricket in the suburbs. Cricketers fondly call him ‘Payyade Shetty’. Youngsters living in and around Borivali and Kandivali no longer need to travel to Khar Gymkhana or Azad Maidan in Churchgate to play the game. Many of the winners and runners-up of the prestigious Kanga leagues are from this club.

 After the meeting with him, Shetty presented Gopal Jaspara, Head Coach of the G Force Academy, and myself with a framed souvenir of Sachin Tendulkar.

G Force players warm up for the match

In the first Under-12 match held at the Payyade Sports Club, G Force posted 111 runs with Kartik Krishnan top scoring with 18 runs followed by Gautam Bhatia scoring 14 and Aryansh Pandit with eight runs. Parth Gadekar took three wickets for six runs for Payyade Sports Club.

In the second match, G Force produced a spirited performance posting 232 for 1 through Neil Siddharth’s unbeaten 51 and Saiyyam Kaul’s 32 not out. Arnav Pathak too chipped in with an unbeaten 26. Payyade Sports Club got bowled out for 31 through Aarnav Pathak’s spell of four wickets for five runs backed by Ayush Agrwal’s two wickets for six runs.