Bobjee Narasimha Rao

One of the many cricketers who could not make a successful transition to international cricket despite an excellent record on the domestic circuit, Narasimha Rao, popularly known as Bobjee, was a sound right handed middle-order bat and an orthodox legspin bowler who could achieve considerable turn and bounce from his high arm action. He was picked to play against West Indies in 1978-79 but after two Tests he could not consolidate and his place was taken by the man he had initially replaced - BS Chandrasekhar. Brought back the following season for the series against Australia, he was discarded after two more Tests, unable to strike form either with bat or ball. As an alert close in fielder, however he did well in picking up eight catches. In the Ranji Trophy however, Bobjee was a tower of strength to the Hyderabad side for two decades and had one of the best allround performances in the national competition - 4124 runs (47.40) and 218 wickets (24.20). For a time he was a successful and popular professional in Ireland.
Partab Ramchand