Dubai: In a development that sent Mumbai cricket into a deep pall of gloom, former Mumbai captain and the closest friend of cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, Milind Rege, passed away on Wednesday morning in Mumbai due to cardiac arrest and renal failure. He was 76. He is survived by his wife Raj and two sons.
Rege, who suffered a heart attack at the age of 26, that effectively ended a promising cricket career, had turned 76 last Sunday (Feb 16). Presently, he was the cricket advisor of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
For around three decades, Rege, who was deeply passionate about Mumbai cricket, served as the Mumbai chief selector/selector, and was a part of the MCA’s Cricket Improvement Committee. In fact, he was a part of the selection committee which first picked the legendary Sachin Tendulkar for Mumbai back in the 1988-89 season.
An off-spinning allrounder who played for Mumbai in a ‘golden era’ of their cricketing dominance when they clinched 13 successive Ranji Trophy titles, Rege played 52 first-class matches from 1967-68 to 1977-78, in which he took 126 wickets at an average of 29.23, with two five-wicket hauls, and scored 1532 runs @ 23.56, with a top score of 67 not out.