Bapu Nadkarni

Bapu Nadkarni Biography

Bapu Nadkarni is remembered for his Test economy rate of 1.67 runs per over. He is remembered for his bowling figures of 32-27-5-0, which included 21 consecutive maiden overs.

However, parsimony was not his only virtue. Nadkarni finished with a bowling average of 29.07 for his 88 wickets, which reads better men like EAS Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Vinoo Mankad, Anil Kumble and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. In fact, among the pantheon of Indian spinners, only Bishan Bedi and Subhash Gupte finished with a better average.

In India’s maiden overseas triumph over New Zealand in 1967-68, Bedi and Prasanna took more wickets, but Nadkarni headed the bowling averages with 14 at 17.92, bowling 185.3 overs in that characteristic metronomic manner, conceding just 251 runs. His best moment came in the third Test at Eden Park, when he bowled India to victory with a career-best 6 for 43 in the second innings. Surprisingly, on his return to India, he announced his retirement.

We also tend to forget that he was a more than decent batsman with a Test hundred, a healthy batting average (25.70) and nearly 9,000 runs in First Class cricket at a 40-plus average. He had the distinction of scoring a hundred and a fifty in the same Test, both unbeaten.

His 500 (exactly) wickets in First-Class cricket came at 21, while he was an excellent fielder, and led Mumbai to three consecutive Ranji Trophy titles.

One curious aspect of Nadkarni was the fact that he wore loincloths instead of underwear, often causing amusement in the dressing-room. As a result he earned the nickname ‘Bapu’, for Mahatma Gandhi used to do the same.

Unfortunately born before the advent of One-Day cricket, he would have been a phenomenal asset in any team in today’s Twenty20 format.

Arunabha Sengupta

Bapu Nadkarni Batting & Fielding Averages

Career	M	In	R	NO	HS	Avg	BF	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
Test	41	67	1414	12	122*	25.70	--	--	1	7	64	--	22	0
ODIs	0	--	--	--		--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	0	--	--	--		--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	0	--	--	--		--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

Bapu Nadkarni Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	41	9023	2559	88	29.07	1.701	102	4	1	6/43	11/122
ODIs	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--

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