Brilliant series by @nassercricket & @SkySports featuring cricket in Bombay. What makes the city a cricketing powerhouse and in the pantheon of cricketing cities? Lot of it has to do with Maidan cricket. Azad, Oval & Cross Maida s are historic spaces (1)

The legacy of the original Little Master Sunil Gavaskar to the same sobriquet in Sachin Tendulkar began on these dusty turfs. For too long, Bombay, the undisputed champions of the Ranji Trophy produced #India’s finest cricketers- theSurrey & NSW (2)

Bombay, like #NYC is the media capital, the finance & commercial capital and the city of dreams, where the city doesn’t sleep. This is where the dreams of many a young cricketer is made. The chaos of the city transcends to the chaos on the Maidan with multiple matches going on.

I’ve hardly played competitive, but the few enjoyable memories were when I played in college at Oval Maidan. You could see the Stock Exchange, the Clock Tower & a flurry of RED BEST busses go by, just in time to see a red ball hurtling towards you, reminding you where you are.

From my college balcony in Churchgate, I could see Oval Maidan, but more importantly in the distance the floodlights to both Wankhede & Brabourne Stadium. So close to each other, that I often wondered that if they were football clubs in England, it would be an intense derby.

Last but not least, I remember @SurajBala, a member of the Cricket Club of India, taking me to Polly’s restaurant at the club, named after the famed Polly Umrigar. I wasn’t a member, but I had to pretend like I was, just so I could eat there. It was my first meal at CCI, worth it