Keki Tarapore, who passed away in Bangalore on Thursday, was the perfect example of the adage that one need not be a good player to be a good coach. His playing credentials were modest. He played in only one Ranji Trophy game, against Madras at Bangalore in 1945-46, scoring 2 and 6. A right hand batsman and a right arm medium pace bowler, he went in at No 9. That remained the extent of his first class career.

But Tarapore was obviously a thinking man's cricketer, more interested in the game's technical and cerebral qualities. If he was not good enough to be a long term player, Tarapore made sure that he would help produce a number of outstanding cricketers. Over a period of 30 years, and more, there were few cricketers in Karnataka - or for that matter India - who did not benefit from Tarapore's sage advice.

Joining the Rajkumari Sports Coaching Scheme in 1959 at the Brabourne Stadium, Tarapore's first stint as a coach was in Jaipur. He coached various Rajasthan teams for six months before coming to Bangalore to work under the Karnataka (then Mysore) State Cricket Association. And thus commenced his greatest period as a coach, which also led in turn to the State enjoying their golden period. From 1960 to 1983, he was the NIS coach for the state and from 1983 to 1991 he also worked as the BCCI coach. For thirty one years, 1960 to 1991, he was the person who guided innumerable talented players. And quite a few went on to become outstanding cricketers. The list of players who had the good fortune of benefiting from his benign advice read like a Who's Who of Karnataka - and Indian - cricket. Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Syed Kirmani, Gundappa Viswanath, Roger Binny, Brijesh Patel, Raghuram Bhat, Sadanand Viswanath, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble. The list is endless - and outstanding. It certainly wasn't a coincidence that Karnataka won the Ranji Trophy three times - in 1973-74, 1977-78 and 1982-83 - when he was the coach.

During the annual summer coaching camps, Tarapore was a permanent fixture at various grounds where he worked tirelessly for many years. Along with the chief coach of the BCCI, Hemu Adhikari and in recent years Hanumant Singh, Tarapore guided the fortunes of young cricketers, many of whom went on to play for their states. It is well known that many prominent Indian stars like Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Kiran More, Shivlal Yadav and Arshad Ayub came over frequently during their playing days and were willing listeners to Tarapore's pearls of wisdom.

Tarapore received the Rajyotsava award in 1991 from the then Karnataka Chief Minister S Bangarappa for notable achievements in the field of coaching. The Dronacharya award, the highest award in the country for a coach, however eluded him.

A steady stream of Test cricketers, past and present, paid their last respects to the coach whose devotion to the game was matchless. Tarapore is survived by his wife, daughter and son, Shavir, who besides playing six Ranji games for Karnataka in the eighties, is now an international umpire who has officiated in ODIs since 1999.

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