Those 21 consecutive maiden overs were pathbreaking, but Bapu Nadkarni was much more than that. He was a fantastic all-round cricketer, whose achievements remain one of the most unsung in the annals of Indian cricket. Truly unsung; he did not even get to hang the ‘unsung’ sign around his neck as brand essence as some of the luminaries did down the years.
Nadkarni’s Test career amounted to 41 matches, with 88 wickets at 29.07 and that famous economy rate of 1.67. [ Figures almost as good as Bedi and Chandra while somewhat better than Prasanna ] Additionally he was more than a decent batsman, which cannot be said about any of those famed spinners. Nadkarni scored 1,414 runs at 25.70, with a hundred and 7 fifties, which makes him a genuine all-rounder. He was also a superb fielder, often lurking close to the wicket.
Yet, he is never mentioned in the same breath as some of the other spinning greats of India.
Bapu was a colossal all-rounder at the domestic level, scoring 8880 runs at 40.36 with 14 hundreds, while with the ball he captured exactly 500 wickets at 21.37 apiece, with an economy rate of 1.64 runs for the over.
His best outing was against Saurashtra for Maharashtra in 1957-58, when he amassed an unbeaten 201 and followed it up with figures of 6 for 17 and 3 for 38. His highest First-Class score of 283 not out came in his first season with Bombay, in the Ranji Trophy semi-finals against Delhi.
When Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi led India on the tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1967-68. In Australia he failed miserably with both bat and ball, as India lost 0-4. But, as the team travelled to New Zealand, he played all the four Tests alongside Bishan Bedi and EAS Prasanna. Both Bedi and Prasanna took more wickets, but Nadkarni headed the bowling averages with 14 wickets 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 Auckland, when he bowled India to victory with a career-best 6 for 43 in the second innings.
Returning after the victorious tour, the first overseas series triumph ever for India, Nadkarni announced his retirement from First-Class cricket. The timing prompted people to ask not “Why?” but “Why on earth?”
Sadly, Bapu Nadkarni called it a day just as One-Day cricket was on the verge of making an entry into international cricket. One can only wonder at his probable feats in the shorter formats. And although he never played ODIs, he often makes it into the all-time Indian One-Day teams, with his name virtually the synonym for continuous maiden overs.
Now that he has passed over to the Elysian Fields, run making will get difficult in the game where bails are never drawn.
Text : Arunabha Sengupta
Illustration: Maha