Farokh Engineer is a former international wicketkeeper batter who played for India in the 1960s and 70s. He was a flamboyant player widely recognized as being agile behind the stumps and helped India to win many historic matches. Farokh Engineer.Farokh loved sports mainly due to his family where his father was a club cricketer and also a tennis player. His brother was a club cricketer and was the one who inspired Farokh to take up cricket as his sport. Farokh Engineer childhood photo.Since childhood, he wanted to be a pilot. In fact, he had qualified for the private pilot license at Bombay Flying Club. However, his mother doesnt want Farokh to be a pilot as she was afraid of losing her child. So, Farokh started concentrating on cricket. Farokh Engineer younger days photo.Once during a class, he was seen talking to his classmate and famous Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor. The teacher named Mr. Lobo then threw a duster at him and to everyones surprise, he caught the duster. This is the most discussed moment of his childhood. [10]Business Line.His brother then took him to the East stand of the Brabourne Stadium (Mumbai) where he saw his favorite cricketer Denis Compton standing at the boundary. Farokh called Compton. Compton gave an instant reply and threw chewing gum at him. Farokh kept that chewing gum as a prized possession for many years. His father then enrolled him in the Dadar Parsi Colony Sporting Club where he learned the basics of cricket.He started playing for the Dadar Parsi Colony team. In the first match, he played, he was involved in two leg-side stumpings. From thereon, he became a regular member of the side. Farokh Engineer wicketkeeper.Talking about his daily routine, he would attend his college in the morning, and by the afternoon, he went to the Cricket Club of India (CCI) by taking a train from Dadar to Churchgate. The train was heavily crowded and he would travel while hanging on the doors. After becoming a test cricketer, people started recognizing him and started offering him a seat whenever he board the train.He played his debut first-class game in December 1958, for the Combined Universities side against the touring West Indies. He was representing Bombay University at that time. The Caribbeans star-studded with players like Wes Hall and Roy Gilchrist was all over the Combined Universities team. Farokh then scored 0 and 29 in that game.Farokh Engineer got stiff competition from Budhi Kunderan in domestic cricket. Both Kunderan and Engineer were crowd pullers.Farokh made his international cricket debut in 1961 against a tough Englands side which was led by Ted Dexter. Then Chairman of Selectors Lala Amarnath prioritized Engineer over Kunderan mainly due to his sharp keeping skills. As Farokh was about to make his international debut, during a net session, he was hit on his right eye off the bowling of Raj Singh Dungarpur to which, Kunderan was given a chance to play his debut game against England and Farokh was left out of the squad. Farokh Engineer batting.