by Sumit Gangopadhyay

The only quadruple centurion of Indian cricket, Bhausaheb Babasaheb Nimbalkar, would have turned 100 today. He was born on Dec 12, 1919.

In 80 First-Class matches, he scored 4841 runs at 47.93, with 12 hundreds. Occasionally he kept wickets, and oddly enough he was a medium pacer as well.

In the West Zone league of the 1948-49 Ranji Trophy, he slammed an unbeaten 443 for Maharashtra against Kathiawar. The world record at that time was Don Bradman’s 452. The captain of Kathiawar was His Highness the Thakore Sahib of Rajkot, the grandson of Ranji. He deliberately conceded the match at that stage, leaving Nimbalkar within striking distance of the mark. If the game had carried on, it is difficult to say how much Nimbalkar would have amassed. It is perhaps not too far fetched to say that he would have got to the 500-run mark way before Brian Lara.

For some unknown reason, like elder brother Raosaheb, Bhausaheb also never got to play Test cricket. He represented Maharashtra, Baroda, Railways, Rajasthan, Central India and Holkar in Ranji Trophy. Son Surya Nimbalkar also played Ranji Trophy.

(Translated from Bengali by Arunabha Sengupta)