Bapoo Mama was India’s foremost cricket statistician. Bapoo Mama (BBM as he was known) passed away on March 18, 1995, in Bombay, following intestinal and lung complications at the age of 71. Bapoo Mama, who completed his education in Bombay, decided to settle down at the Panchgani resort in Mahabaleshwar, Maharashtra, in 1948, primarily for health reasons. Although it was during this period that his interest in cricket records developed,.
He used to listen to BBC cricket commentaries. He was fascinated by the record-breaking deeds of Donald Bradman’s all-conquering Australian team in 1948. Starved of cricket material, he used to make regular visits to Bombay to start his reference library. It was during one of his visits that he located the 1948 edition of the Playfair Cricket Annual, and since then, his collection has grown to over a thousand books on cricket.
Many of his books were presented to him by Bill Frindall (the BBC scorer and statistician), with whom he used to correspond regularly. From the early 1970s, he had his column in the weekly sports magazine from Bombay, Sportsweek (defunct in January 1989). His columns, with BBM and statistically speaking, were very popular, especially among the younger readers.
From 1989 on, he started contributing to The Sportstar, the weekly sports magazine of The Hindu group, until his death. He was also a regular contributor to the Pakistan Cricketer Monthly for the last 15 years. He was associated with the Bombay Doordarshan as the statistician for their team of commentators for all Tests played in Bombay from 1973 up to 1988, before ill health and other commitments forced him to give up this assignment.
This writer used to visit him during his frequent visits to Bombay and used to spend at least an hour or two with him, discussing the various controversies in cricket, especially the ones that affect statisticians. His last trip to Bombay was in mid-February, when he came to buy a new television set since his old, imported TV was failing. He jocularly remarked, “Just like me.
Bapoo Mama was a TV addict and used to closely follow various English soap operas. He was an avid listener of the radio. He used to record the BBC sports news and later updated his records based on these reports. He was simply the most meticulous person one could ever meet. Bapoo Mama was on the Statistical Committee of the BCCI in 1977–78 and is survived by his wife, Mani.
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