Mumbai: Former Test all-rounder Rameshchandra Gangaram ‘Bapu’ Nadkarni passed away here on Friday at the age of 86. Nadkarni, best known for bowling a record 21 consecutive maiden overs in a Test match, is survived by his wife and two daughters.
A left-arm batsman and slow-left arm orthodox bowler, Nadkarni played 41 Tests for India between 1955 and 1968. He scored 1,414 runs and took 88 wickets. His debut and final Tests were both against New Zealand.
Nadkarni was known to be one of the toughest bowlers to score runs against with an astonishing economy rate of 1.67 in 65 innings that he bowled in Test cricket. In 1964, Nadkarni bowled 21 successive maidens against England in Chennai. He bowled a total of 27 maidens in the innings, albeit without a wicket, and his figures read 32-27-5-0.
In the 1960-61 series against Pakistan, he managed figures of 32-24-23-0 in Kanpur followed by 34-24-24-1 in Delhi.
Nadkarni had played a total of 191 first-class matches in which he scored 8,880 runs and took 500 wickets. His economy rate across his first-class career was 1.64.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India paid tribute to Nadkarni. “It is with profound sadness that BCCI has learnt of the passing of former India all-rounder Rameshchandra Gangaram ‘Bapu’ Nadkarni. The 86-year-old breathed his last at his daughter’s residence in Mumbai on Friday,” BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.
“The Board shares the pain and grief of the Nadkarni family and prays for the departed soul,” he added.
