Anshuman Gaekwad turns 70: Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Roger Binny join celebrations in Vadodara

Former India batter and coach Anshuman Gaekwad had a memorable 70th birthday as six of his contemporaries flew down to celebrate the occasion at his Vadodara residence on September 23.
Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Karsan Ghavri, Yajurvindra Singh, Bharath Reddy and Roger Binny took part in the two-day celebrations and reminisced nostalgic tales from the past.
Gaekwad told The Indian Express: “It was wonderful to meet them all I keep meeting Karsan and Dilip as they are closer, in Mumbai, but I met the others after eight years or more ,We stayed at home over lunch and dinner and lunch and dinner. It was so special that they all planned this visit and flew down from different cities.”
Gaekwad added that two other friends Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri could not make it due to personal and professional events. “We missed Sunny (Gavaskar) and Ravi. It was Gavaskars’ anniversary on the same day and Ravi was busy with commentary in a match. The rest of us conversed about cricket and life It was indeed a very special celebration,” said Gaekwad.
Anshuman Gaekwad played 40 Tests and 15 ODIs for India in a career spanning from 1971 to 1987.
He was an obdurate opener known for his patience. He has two Test centuries to his name, including a famous 201 against Pakan for which he batted 671 minutes. It was then the slowest first-class double century. He played for Baroda in the domestic circuit and has over 12,000 first-class runs to his name, including 34 centuries.
Gaekwad coached the Indian men’s team over two stints, the first a successful period between October 1997 and September 1999 when India beat Australia at home in Tests and won several ODI tournaments.