Vengsarkar played 10 of his 116 Tests at Wankhede while 125-Test legend Gavaskar played 11 at the D Road, Churchgate venue. The former remembered watching his first Wankhede Test as a teenager from the very North Stand which will be embellished with his name - the fifth and final Test of that epic 1974-75 series which Clive Lloyd & Co triumphed in, the very first held at Wankhede.

Gavaskar was making a comeback in the series after missing the New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai games due to a finger injury suffered in a Ranji Trophy game against Maharashtra at Nashik; hit on the glove by a Pandurang Salgaonkar delivery.

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Against the West Indies, Gavaskar cracked 86 with 15 firm hits from his Duncan Fearnley blade crossing the boundary ropes and I remember his mentor Vasoo Paranjape telling me that it was one of his favourite Gavaskar innings. The home boy took the aggressive route in his quest to make a mark in his comeback Test with the series in the balance. “A straight drive off [Bernard] Julien early on was enough to allay one’s fears. It sped past the bowler even as he was completing his follow through,” wrote Sunder Rajan in a book on the eventful series.

Gavaskar missed his century by 14 runs then, but he got his maiden home Test hundred when the New Zealanders came visiting in 1976-77 and followed it up with a three-figure effort against Tony Greig’s MCC team the same season. The string didn’t end there. A splendid 205 against the West Indies in 1978-79 and 123 off the Australians in the 1979-80 Test meant that Gavaskar had led from the front commendably. “There are several memorable moments at this ground [Wankhede], but the win against Pakistan in the Test here in 1979-80 would rank as the finest,” he replied when I asked him about his best moment at Wankhede Stadium across all levels of cricket.

He had every reason to be filled with pride as India’s 131-run victory was their first against Pakistan after 17 Tests and 27 years.

Vengsarkar played two knocks in this game that he will undoubtedly cherish — 58 and 45 — on a turner, which opposition captain Asif Iqbal deemed a poor track. “Even at the risk of sounding like a scratched gramophone record, I would like to say once again that it was a team effort all the way which enabled us to win. Every single member of the side had chipped in somehow or the other,” Gavaskar told Sportsweek magazine at the end of the Test which ended inside four days.

Vengsarkar scored two centuries in Wankhede Tests - 100 against the West Indies in 1983-84 and 164 not out against Australia in 1986-87. The knock against the West Indies was his second consecutive three-figure score since he carved a century in the second Test at Delhi and missed the third Test at Ahmedabad through injury. That Gunn & Moore blade was blazing away. Lala Amarnath, who covered that Test as an expert, had no doubts that it was the best knock from the India side in the drawn Test. “Vengsarkar played the next best innings [after Viv Richards’s 120], full of strokes of rare vintage. He started his career as a forceful player, but later somehow became a plodder, and now again he has blossomed into a very fine stroke player,” wrote the stormy petrel of Indian cricket in Sportsweek. 

“I have seldom seen Dilip bat better anywhere, even in a first-class match. Here he was superb. Right from the moment he took stance, he was the master, drives, flicks, cuts and glides flowed from his bat like water.  It was exhilarating stuff and we all sat enthralled by his strokeplay,” Gavaskar wrote of his Dadar Union teammate in his book, Runs ’n Ruins.

Vengsarkar, the other day, had no hesitation in saying that this was his best Test innings at Wankhede, but he also remembered the many victorious matches as part of the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team.

Sure, his gem in the 1990-91 final against Haryana went in vain, a result which caused him many a sleepless night, but he took pride in his double centuries against Madhya Pradesh in 1991-92 (284 in his penultimate match for Mumbai) and 258 not out against Gujarat the previous season.

The two Mumbai stalwarts have also had their share of lows at the Wankhede. For Vengsarkar it could well be the Ranji Trophy loss to Haryana, while I can still remember the silence at the ground when Gavaskar was bowled by Phil DeFreitas for 4 in the 1987 World Cup semi-finals.

Battle-hardened professionals like Sunil Manohar Gavaskar and Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar are not prone to get emotional at the drop of a hat, but it’s probably safe to assume that some Wankhede memories would occupy a portion of their mind space tomorrow evening.

This is a ground where they deserve every honour. For, they made you feel rich even from the cheap seats of the Wankhede. 

mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

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