Mehli Dinshaw Irani (26 June 1930 – 3 April 2021) was an Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, who played as a left-handed batsman and

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

. Irani played in the

Kanga Cricket League The Kanga Cricket League (officially the Dr. H. D. Kanga Memorial Cricket League) is a cricket competition in Mumbai, India, inaugurated in 1948. It is named after Hormasji Kanga, who played 43 First class cricket matches as an all-rounder, a ...

for over 50 years. He made one appearance for

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

, and also played

club cricket Club cricket is a mainly amateur, but still formal, form of the sport of cricket, usually involving teams playing in competitions at weekends or in the evening. There is a great deal of variation in game format although the Laws of Cricket are obs ...

for

Bombay University The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

and Parsee Cyclists.

Career

Irani was a left-handed batsman and

. He captained the St. Xavier's College cricket team, and later played

for

Bombay Gymkhana The Bombay Gymkhana, established in 1875, is one of the premiere gentlemen clubs in the city of Mumbai, India. Bombay Gymkhana Rugby Club (rugby union) are tenants. It is located in the Fort area of South Mumbai area and was originally built a ...

and Parsee Cyclists. At Bombay Gymkhana, Irani played alongside

Rohan Gavaskar Rohan Sunil Gavaskar (born 20 February 1976) is an Indian former cricketer. He played in 11 One Day Internationals. He was a middle-order left-handed batsman and an occasional slow left arm orthodox bowler. Rohan is the son of Indian cricke ...

, the son of

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...

. In December 1951, Irani played for

in a match against the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

. In the match, he played alongside Madhusudan Patil, the father of Test cricketer

Sandeep Patil Sandeep Patil ( ; born 18 August 1956) is a former Indian cricketer, Indian national age group cricket manager and former Kenya national team coach, who guided the underdogs to the semi-finals of the 2003 World Cup. He was a hard-hitting midd ...

. In the 1952–53 season, Irani captained a Bombay University team that included five future

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

players: (

Nari Contractor Nariman Jamshedji "Nari" Contractor (born 7 March 1934) is a former Indian cricket player, who was a left-handed opening batsman. His professional career ended after a serious injury. Cricket career Contractor began his first-class career, p ...

Naren Tamhane Narendra Shankar Tamhane (4 August 1931 – 19 March 2002) was an Indian cricketer who played in 21 Test matches from 1955 to 1960. He was a wicket-keeper-batsman. His first-class career extended from 1951–52 to 1968–69. He played in th ...

Chandrakant Patankar Chandrakant Trimbak Patankar (born 24 November 1930) is a former Indian cricketer who played in one Test in 1955. Life and career Born in Pen in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, Patankar attended Bombay University, gaining an MSc. He pla ...

Gundibail Sunderam Gundibail Rama Sunderam (29 March 1930 – 20 June 2010) was an Indian cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1955. Sunderam was a right-arm fast-medium bowler and a right-handed batsman. He underwent training in the cricket school run ...

and

Ramnath Kenny Ramnath Baburao Kenny (29 September 1930 – 21 November 1985) was an Indian cricketer who played in five Test matches between 1958 and 1960. He was an elegant right handed middle order batsman, "a front foot player with a sound defense" and ...

). In one match captained by Irani, five catches were dropped in the opening over. The Bombay University team won that year's Rohinta Barion Trophy, after defeating Delhi in the final. In 1953, Irani made his only appearance in the

, playing for

in a match against

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

. He was out lbw to

Vijay Hazare Vijay Samuel Hazare (11 March 1915 – 18 December 2004) was an Indian cricketer. He captained India in 14 matches between 1951 and 1953. In India's 25th Test match, nearly 20 years after India achieved Test status, he led India to its first ...

for 17. Irani's team-mate

Shishir Hattangadi Shishir Shantaram Hattangadi (born 30 July 1961) is a former Indian first-class cricket, first-class cricketer who played for Bombay cricket team from 1981/82 to 1991/92. He worked as a selector for the Mumbai Cricket Association after retiremen ...

said that Irani was disappointed to have only ever played one Ranji Trophy match. Irani played in the

, a monsoon season cricket tournament, for 57 years, starting in 1949. He described the difficulty of batting in the tournament: "A person who gets 30 or 40 runs is as good as getting a 50 or a 100 when you play on a dry wicket, the uncertainty of the wicket added to Kanga League’s beauty." He played for Parsee Cyclists, and took over the captaincy of the side from Nari Contractor. In 1991, Irani

stumped Stumped is a method of dismissing a batsman in cricket, which involves the wicket-keeper putting down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground. (The batsman leaves his ground when he has moved down the pitch beyond the popping crease ...

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-scor ...

in a Kanga League match. Irani played as a

even in his 60s, before retiring from cricket at the age of 69.

Personal life and death

At Bombay Cricket Club, Irani was nicknamed the "centre table man". Irani was married to Dhanu, and they had two daughters. He continued to attend Bombay Gymkhana cricket matches even after his retirement, until he moved to

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

in December 2020 to be near one of his daughters. Irani died on 3 April 2021 in Dubai, and his death was announced by the

Mumbai Cricket Association The Mumbai Cricket Association (formerly Bombay Cricket Association) is the governing body for cricket in Mumbai and surrounding regions such as Thane and Navi Mumbai. Its headquarter is situated at Cricket centre in Churchgate, Mumbai. It go ...

. His funeral was held the next day.

References

External links

ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irani, Mehli 1930 births Indian cricketers Cricketers from Mumbai 2021 deaths St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni University of Mumbai people Deaths in the United Arab Emirates Irani people