Madhav Apte

The case of Madhav Apte is among the most baffling in Indian cricket. A very correct opening batsman with an array of strokes, he started off with a century on debut in the Ranji Trophy for Bombay against Saurashtra in 1951-52. Recognising his talent early, the selectors gave him his big break in his second season of first-class cricket when he was picked for two Tests against Pakistan in 1952-53. With scores of 30, 10 not out and 42, he was an automatic choice for the tour of West Indies that followed. Over there he exceeded expectations. He opened the batting in all five Tests, and had scores of 64, 52, 64, 9, 0, 163 not out, 30, 30, 15 and 33. With a tally of 460 runs (51.11) he finished second to Polly Umrigar in the Test figures and ahead of Hazare, Mankad, Roy and Manjrekar. His century was a marathon innings that helped India to draw the match after they were in danger of defeat. He came back from the tour with his reputation enhanced many times over but to his dismay and to the astonishment of cricket fans in the country, he was dropped like a hot potato. But for one token appearance against the SJOC team in 1953-54 he never played an official Test again. His India days suddenly behind him, Apte remained a tower of strength for several years to the Bombay side, both as batsman and as occasional captain and remaining as keen about the game as ever. In the Ranji Trophy he scored 2070 runs (39.80) and continued to play with enthusiasm till the late sixties.
Partab Ramchand