Full name Rameshchandra Gangaram Nadkarni
Born April 4, 1933, Nasik, Maharashtra
Died January 17, 2020, Mumbai (aged 86 years 288 days)
Major teams India, Maharashtra, Mumbai
Batting style Left-hand bat
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox
Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 | 6s | Ct | St | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests | 41 | 67 | 12 | 1414 | 122* | 25.70 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 22 | 0 |
First-class | 191 | 266 | 46 | 8880 | 283* | 40.36 | 14 | 46 | 140 | 0 |
Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tests | 41 | 65 | 9165 | 2559 | 88 | 6/43 | 11/122 | 29.07 | 1.67 | 104.1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
First-class | 191 | 38913 | 10686 | 500 | 6/17 | 21.37 | 1.64 | 77.8 | 19 | 1 |
Test debut | India v New Zealand at Delhi, Dec 16-21, 1955 scorecard |
Last Test | New Zealand v India at Auckland, Mar 7-12, 1968 scorecard |
Test statistics | |
First-class span | 1951/52 - 1967/68 |
Batsmen faced with the problem of playing Bapu Nadkarni's left-arm spin had two scoring options to choose from: nil and negligible. Nadkarni was one of the game's most noted economist ever - he gave away just 1.67 runs per over over in his Test career. In the 1960-61 series against Pakistan, he returned figures of 32-24-23-0 at Kanpur followed by 34-24-24-1 at Delhi. He crowned that with Test cricket's finest display of quantity-control bowling, with 21 successive maidens in his 32-27-5-0 against England at Madras in 1964. His legendary parsimony and precision were the result of untiring research and development in the nets - he would bowl endlessly at a coin placed on a good length. Although he is mainly remembered for his bowling, Nadkarni was actually a competent allrounder. An obstinate batsman with a pronounced crouching stance, he scored 52 and 122, both not out, against England at Kanpur in 1963-64, and in his next outing, against Australia at Chennai, he came up with his Test best bowling effort: 5-31 and 6-91. And with a first-class average of more than 40, and an innings of 283 not out for Bombay v Delhi to his credit, he'd have been an automatic pick if one-day cricket had been around in his time. H Natarajan