'Happy Birthday to Bapu Nadkarni, who bowled 21 consecutive maiden overs in a Test Match' - by K.J.S.Chatrath

This is again about cricket. Yes, I know that T-20 2016 final is over and that the West Indies have won. But I want to salute a cricketer of our times whose birthday falls today. He is R.G Nadkarni, popularly known as 'Bapu' Nadkarni. I will not be surprised if the youngsters of today have never heard his name. He used to play a long, long timeback - in the early 1960s.



Nadkarni was famous for bowling an unerring line to batsmen which made it nearly impossible to score. It is often told that he used to put a coin on the pitch when he practiced in the nets, and would practice hitting the coin with every delivery.

He had a career economy rate of less than 2.00 runs per over. Nadkarni is perhaps best known for his bowling in the Madras Test against England in 1963-64. His figures at the end of third day of the match, bowling mostly against Brian Bolus and Ken Barrington, read 29 overs, 26 maidens, and no wickets for three runs. He finished with figures of 32-27-5-0. He bowled a record twenty one consecutive maiden overs (131 dot balls in a row) in a 114-minute bowling spell. Wow! In the final Test of that series, Nadkarni hit 52* and 122*.

Happy birthday Bapu Nadkarni Ji. 

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