Obituary - Ajit Dattaram Naik (4 March 1999)
Ajit Dattaram Naik, former Mumbai all-rounder died suddenly on Sunday evening, 28th February at Ghaziabad where he was posted since 1984
04-Mar-1999
4 March 1999
Obituary - Ajit Dattaram Naik
Mohandas Menon
Ajit Dattaram Naik, former Mumbai all-rounder died suddenly on Sunday
evening, 28th February at Ghaziabad where he was posted since
1984. Born at Mumbai on 17th December, 1949, Naik was aged 49 years at
the time of death.
He was a right hand middle-order batsman and a decent medium pace
bowler. He came into prominence when he was selected to lead the
Indian schoolboys team to England in 1967. The team also had the
Amarnath brothers (Mohinder and Surinder) and Syed Kirmani, who was
the vice-captain.
In the absence of the main Mumbai players who were in the West Indies,
he got selected for the Ranji Trophy team during the 1970-71
season. He made his debut in the Ranji final against Maharashra in
April, 1971. On the first morning, he joined opener Ramnath Parkar,
with Mumbai losing three wickets for just 12 runs. However, this pair
retrieved the situation with a stand of 142 runs which enabled Mumbai
reach a respectable total. Naik's contribution being an invaluable 42
runs. He later claimed the vital wicket of Maharashtra captain Chandu
Borde (48). Mumbai won this closely fought match by 48 runs and
retained the Ranji Trophy despite the absence of its established
stars.
In all he appeared in 13 Ranji matches upto 1972-73. He scored 436
runs (avg 27.25) with one hundred - 102 against Saurashtra at Rajkot
in 1972-73. His also captured 27 wickets (avg 24.70) with a best of
5-20 against Baroda at Baroda in 1971-72.
He also represented Mumbai in two Irani Trophy matches in 1972-73 and
1973-74. He did not do anything of note except capturing three for 59
runs in the 1972-73 match.
He played his lone Duleep Trophy match in the 1971-72 final for West
Zone against Central Zone at Bangalore.
He was survived by his parents, wife, son and daughter. He was working
with the Tatas in their marketing department in Ghaziabad, near Delhi.
His first-class record (1970-71 to 1973-74)
M Inn NO Runs Avg HS 100 50 Cts Runs Wkts Avg 5w 10w Best Ranji 13 18 2 436 27.25 102 1 1 5 667 27 24.70 2 - 5-20 Duleep 1 2 - 17 8.50 10 - - - 23 0 Irani 2 4 - 29 7.25 13 - - - 126 3 42.00 - - 3-59 Total 15 24 2 482 21.90 102 1 1 5 816 30 27.20 2 - 5-20