Prakash Bhandari

As a teenager, Prakash Bhandari was an exciting prospect. A hard hitting right hand batsman and a more than useful off break bowler, Bhandari was a star at the university level. Not yet 20, he was picked for the tour of Pakistan in 1954-55 and made his debut in the final Test of the series. He then played against New Zealand at New Delhi in 1955-56 when coming in at No 8 he helped Nadkarni to add 73 runs for the seventh wicket, his share being a bright 39. He again played in one Test against Australia at Calcutta the following season without much success and was never picked after that.

Considering the promise he had held out at the start of his career, Bhandari was a disappointment. But he had a fine first class record spread over nearly two decades. Always an aggressive batsman, Bhandari recorded the then fastest century in Indian first class cricket in 60 minutes for Bengal against Rajasthan at Udaipur in 1961-62. His career best score was 227 for Delhi against Patiala in 1957-58. Almost ten years later he was still good enough to get an unbeaten 202 against Punjab. In his first class career, Bhandari scored 2453 runs (32.70) including four centuries and took 122 wickets (28.17). (Partab Ramchand)