Mumbai tour diary – 9: A encounter with 81-year-old VR Iyer who promotes cricket with One Rupee and a specially designed tennis ball

By K.R. Nayar

While at the Khar Gymkhana, an elderly man was seen seated close by wearing Team India's Panama cap and watching G Force boys play against Khar Gymkhana Bayside Sports Club. Although the cap looked very old, it was clear that he was wearing it proudly. In many cricket venues in Mumbai, I have often met people who have an interesting story to tell. It is not cricketers alone who visit these venues but other lovers of the game too.

V R Iyer with  India's Panama cap  

When I asked him about the Panama cap, he revealed that it was gifted to him by former Indian wicket keeper Farokh Engineer many years ago. This gentleman is is V R Iyer and is 81 years old. The conversation that followed revealed that I was indeed fortunate to be able to spend time with a special person whose life has always revolved around the game - as a many player years ago and now as a person who encourages cricketers in innovative ways. He watches almost all games at the Khar Gymkhana, thinks cricket all the time, and that resulted in him even designing a ball that can improve one’s game. He has also formed a club known as One Rupee Sports Club.

V R Iyer with the tennis ball he has designed for cricket coaching 

“I want everyone to play the game. I have a club in Santa Cruz. Anyone can come and play. All they need to do is pay one rupee, use the kit and all facilities there, and play. The club is called One Rupee Sports Club,’’ revealed Iyer, who incidentally is a lover of all sports. He is also a lawn tennis coach and has trained national champions like Asif Ismail and Gaurav Natekar.

Iyer transformed a defunct municipal dispensary into a sports club. Games like table tennis, badminton, carrom, lawn tennis and cricket are played there. He made sure that the club would be open for everyone and hence is not membership based. Iyer had captained the Khar Gymkhana cricket team between 1967 and 1972.

A mechanical engineer by profession, Iyer presented me with his special ball - a tennis ball fitted with an elastic band. “This ball can be tied to a cricket bat to practice drives. Every time one hits the ball, it will come back to be hit again. With this ball one can also do fielding practice throwing it against a wall,” said Iyer while demonstrating it all, and he then asked me to hand over the ball to Gopal Jasapara, Head Coach of the G Force Cricket Academy.

In fact, this ball had even attracted the attention of Sachin Tendulakar. “A journalist from The Times of India, Pradeep Vijayakar, had once taken this ball from me and was demonstrating it on the field during a match. Sachin Tendulkar, who was seated in the pavilion, saw this, came to Vijayakar and told him he wanted these balls. So I gave him two of these balls,” recalls Iyer, who has been a member of Khar Gymkhana for over 60 years.

Arnav Kambli with G Force Head Coach Gopal Jasapara 

Arnav Kambli,  a youngster who lived in Dubai had from the age of 5, had trained under Gopal Jasapara and played many match winning knocks for G Force Academy. He  now lives in Baroda and trains at the Kiran More Cricket Academy.  Arnav is now seventeen years old and a promising cricketer in India. On hearing that his coach Gopal, who had taught him the basics of the game, has come to Mumbai, he came and met him at the Khar Gymkhana.

As the conversation with Iyer went on, G Force was playing against a strong Khar Gymkhana Bayside Sports Club Cricket Academy. Batting first, KG Bayside Sports Club Cricket Academy posted 261 for 5 in 35 overs through Raza Mizra’s knock of 103 runs.

The other scorers were Durai Boothathtan (36), Pritish Chatwani (23) and  Hemchudeshan Jaganathan 51. Skipper Ishaan Desphande too chipped in with 25 runs.  G Force chased the total through their skipper Shane Saldana (33) and Manoj Kapil (47) but they could muster only 149 in 24.5 overs.