Mumbai: There were few former cricketers including Little Master Sunil Gavaskar and Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Narendra Modi's oath ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.
However, the history of Delhi's Rashtrapati Bhavan has seen the entire Mumbai's Ranji Trophy team assembled together once, according to India's renowned cricket statistician, Sudhir Vaidya.
Speaking from Pune over telephone, Sudhir Vaidya says, "Over five decades ago, Mumbai captain then Madhav Mantri, at a special prize distribution ceremony received the coveted Ranji Trophy and its replica, at the hands of the President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi for winning the championship of the season 1956-57, by defeating Services at the Roshana Club in Delhi.”
"This was the first time in the history of the Tournament that the head of the state had made the presentation. Rashtrapati called the winning team to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on 1st April, 1957 to hand over the Trophy to the winning captain."
Sadly, Madhav Mantri is no more to revive his memory of Rashtrapati Bhavan. India's oldest wicket-keeper died last week.
