da dobrowin： Keki Tarapore, who passed away in Bangalore on Thursday, was theperfect example of the adage that one need not be a good player to bea good coach
Staff Reporter13-Jul-2001Keki Tarapore, who passed away in Bangalore on Thursday, was theperfect example of the adage that one need not be a good player to bea good coach. His playing credentials were modest. He played in onlyone Ranji Trophy game, against Madras at Bangalore in 1945-46, scoring2 and 6. A right hand batsman and a right arm medium pace bowler, hewent in at No 9. That remained the extent of his first class career.But Tarapore was obviously a thinking man’s cricketer, more interestedin the game’s technical and cerebral qualities. If he was not goodenough to be a long term player, Tarapore made sure that he would helpproduce a number of outstanding cricketers. Over a period of 30 years,and more, there were few cricketers in Karnataka – or for that matterIndia – who did not benefit from Tarapore’s sage advice.Joining the Rajkumari Sports Coaching Scheme in 1959 at the BrabourneStadium, Tarapore’s first stint as a coach was in Jaipur. He coachedvarious Rajasthan teams for six months before coming to Bangalore towork under the Karnataka (then Mysore) State Cricket Association. Andthus commenced his greatest period as a coach, which also led in turnto the State enjoying their golden period. From 1960 to 1983, he wasthe NIS coach for the state and from 1983 to 1991 he also worked asthe BCCI coach. For thirty one years, 1960 to 1991, he was the personwho guided innumerable talented players. And quite a few went on tobecome outstanding cricketers. The list of players who had the goodfortune of benefiting from his benign advice read like a Who’s Who ofKarnataka – and Indian – cricket. Erapalli Prasanna, BhagwatChandrasekhar, Syed Kirmani, Gundappa Viswanath, Roger Binny, BrijeshPatel, Raghuram Bhat, Sadanand Viswanath, Rahul Dravid, JavagalSrinath, Anil Kumble. The list is endless – and outstanding. Itcertainly wasn’t a coincidence that Karnataka won the Ranji Trophythree times – in 1973-74, 1977-78 and 1982-83 – when he was the coach.During the annual summer coaching camps, Tarapore was a permanentfixture at various grounds where he worked tirelessly for many years.Along with the chief coach of the BCCI, Hemu Adhikari and in recentyears Hanumant Singh, Tarapore guided the fortunes of youngcricketers, many of whom went on to play for their states. It is wellknown that many prominent Indian stars like Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri,Kiran More, Shivlal Yadav and Arshad Ayub came over frequently duringtheir playing days and were willing listeners to Tarapore’s pearls ofwisdom.Tarapore received the Rajyotsava award in 1991 from the then KarnatakaChief Minister S Bangarappa for notable achievements in the field ofcoaching. The Dronacharya award, the highest award in the country fora coach, however eluded him.A steady stream of Test cricketers, past and present, paid their lastrespects to the coach whose devotion to the game was matchless.Tarapore is survived by his wife, daughter and son, Shavir, whobesides playing six Ranji games for Karnataka in the eighties, is nowan international umpire who has officiated in ODIs since 1999.