Moving from Vidarbha to Mumbai in the early 1970s, leg-spinning all-rounder Rakesh Tandon quickly became a part of the city's cricketing ecosystem and Ranji Trophy team. His acumen was good enough for him to become the first captain of the formidable Nirlon team in 1977 before Sunil Gavaskar joined them the following year. Tandon was part of four Mumbai Ranji Trophy teams in 1972-73, 1974-75, 1975-76 and 1976-77.

Sachin Tendulkar's first senior division Kanga League captain, Hemant Kenkre, who represented Sassanian CC and Cricket Club of India (CCI) on the club scene, shares the story of his cricket journey which involved several seasons of the Kanga League, a tournament which is played in the monsoon months. Kenkre rubbed shoulders with the cream of Mumbai cricket in his premier division club cricket days with the CCI from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

Starting his club cricket at Rajasthan Sports Club, for whom he got a hundred in the Kanga League, and graduating to Dadar Union Sporting Club, Sunil Gavaskar's local cricket journey was nothing short of memorable. Throw in his school and college cricket at the St Xavier's institutions and you'll get a feel of Mumbai cricket's tapestry. The tough, ruthless and at times, not-so-fair world of city cricket is displayed in the form of a two-year gap between his two first-class games for Mumbai (1967-68 to 1969-70). But runs mattered finally, runs which became the main act in the Sunil Gavaskar story. This special episode of the Mumbai Cricket Podcast with Clayton Murzello, to coincide with Sunil Gavaskar turning 75 on July 10, is not to be missed.