India Connect, It's Official Too

With growing popularity of cricket among Indians, officials like Rao are getting prominence as administrators

- GOMESH S @Sydney

ARISH Rao remembers vividly the first time he was introduced to Indian cricket. Son of late T Janardhan Rao, a doctor, who moved to Australia from Chennai in 1968, Harish was not even a teenager when he met the likes of Bishan Singh Bedi, EAS Prasanna, S Venkataraghavan in the late 1970s when the Indian team toured Down Under. Things were different back then.

The Indian population was not as big as it is right now. The players used to oblige invitations from Indian families who they knew or were of some kind of influence. Players and fans used to mingle much more freely. Harish still remembers when his father used to invite players to his house. He used to double up as a doctor for the team as well.

"My father was a doctor and in those times, the Indian team did not have one travelling with them. So he ended up helping them if they had any problem," Harish tells this daily. "Those days there were foreign exchange restrictions. My father used to organise dinners, the team used to go to different people's houses, even arrange transportation. I've been involved with the Indian cricket team, at least, from those early days right through till about when Sachin Tendulkar came and played in Australia."

Harish was there when the Indian team featuring Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, L Sivaramakrishnan and others won the World Championship of Cricket Down Under in 1985. He remembers interacting with almost every single squad member who helped India beat Pakistan to win the final. That was almost four decades ago.