R G Nadkarni

[Armadillo]

Does anyone know that this guy has the lowest economy in test cricket, apparently he was painstakingly accurate but never gets mentioned along with the likes of Bedi, Gupte and Chandrasekhar. Has anyone else heard of him?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Figures of 27-22-5-0 against England once or something?

 

[Sanz]

He is also known as Bapu Nadkarni. He once bowled 29-26-3-0 against England.


so yes, we have heard of him.

 

[viktor]

The entire spell was, 32-27-5-0. Bowled 21 of those consecutively...they say he used to rush to point to prevent the batsman taking a single.

 

[Goughy]

The entire spell was, 32-27-5-0. Bowled 21 of those consecutively...they say he used to rush to point to prevent the batsman taking a single.

The amazing mach figures of 38-31-11-2

Only averaged just over 2 wkts a test during his career. Must admit I don't know too much about him. Would like to see old film of him, but with the above figures I doubt the highlight package will be very long

 

[Richard]

Freakish cases like that happen sometimes, I suppose...
Guy must've been uncannily accurate, and must've been played with one hell of a lot of caution.

 

[Tapioca]

Guy must've been uncannily accurate, and must've been played with one hell of a lot of caution.

In this particular Test match, I think part of the reason of the extraordinary figures was that England had a quite few players down with illness and Brian Bolus and Ken Barrington wanted to avoid risks completely (SJS ?)

 

[Anil]

he used to be a radio commentator before the days of t.v....but sjs would know more about his playing days i guess....

 

[viktor]

he was also the manager/coach on India's 1981 tours to NZ-Aus, the one where Gavaskar almost forfeited the 3rd test at melbourne..

 

[Autobahn]

From Cricinfo:

Batsmen faced with the problem of playing Bapu Nadkarni's left-arm spin had two scoring options to choose from: nil and negligible. Nadkarni was one of the game's most noted economist ever - he gave away just 1.67 runs per over over in his Test career. In the 1960-61 series against Pakistan, he returned figures of 32-24-23-0 at Kanpur followed by 34-24-24-1 at Delhi. He crowned that with Test cricket's finest display of quantity-control bowling, with 23 successive maidens in his 32-27-5-0 against England at Madras in 1964. His legendary parsimony and precision were the result of untiring research and development in the nets - he would bowl endlessly at a coin placed on a good length. Although he is mainly remembered for his bowling, Nadkarni was actually a competent allrounder. An obstinate batsman with a pronounced crouching stance, he scored 52 and 122, both not out, against England at Kanpur in 1963-64, and in his next outing, against Australia at Chennai, he came up with his Test best bowling effort: 5-31 and 6-91. And with a first-class average of more than 40, and an innings of 283 not out for Bombay v Delhi to his credit, he'd have been an automatic pick if one-day cricket had been around in his time.

 

[SJS]

Does anyone know that this guy has the lowest economy in test cricket, apparently he was painstakingly accurate but never gets mentioned along with the likes of Bedi, Gupte and Chandrasekhar. Has anyone else heard of him?

In the first ever test match that I saw in Feb 1961 againt Fazal Mehmood's Pakistani's He had figures of

Overs...Maidens...Runs...Wkts
34........24........24.........1
52.4.....38........43.........4

Amazing though I dont remember feeling great about it. He was completely overshadowed by the batting stars of the side. No one talked of him or cared if he was dropped from the side.

Exactly three years later (to the day) I saw him take 3 for 97 in 57 overs of which 39 were maidens against Mike Smith's England. He was the 7th bowler to be brought on to bowl in that innings

In the next test he scored his only test century. Batting at number 9 he saved India,s disastrous batting with an unbeaten 52 in the first innings. Following on, nearly 300 runs behind, India sent him in at number He scored anunbeaten 122 and took India to a respectable draw.

He was also an absolutely brilliant close in fielder.

 

[silentstriker]

he would bowl endlessly at a coin placed on a good length.

I could think of more than a few current Indian bowlers who could learn a thing or two from this.

 

[Armadillo]

In the first ever test match that I saw in Feb 1961 againt Fazal Mehmood's Pakistani's He had figures of

Overs...Maidens...Runs...Wkts
34........24........24.........1
52.4.....38........43.........4

Amazing though I dont remember feeling great about it. He was completely overshadowed by the batting stars of the side. No one talked of him or cared if he was dropped from the side.

Exactly three years later (to the day) I saw him take 3 for 97 in 57 overs of which 39 were maidens against Mike Smith's England. He was the 7th bowler to be brought on to bowl in that innings

In the next test he scored his only test century. Batting at number 9 he saved India,s disastrous batting with an unbeaten 52 in the first innings. Following on, nearly 300 runs behind, India sent him in at number He scored anunbeaten 122 and took India to a respectable draw.

He was also an absolutely brilliant close in fielder.

Thanks for your insight SJS! What was his action like and on what sort of line and length did he bowl?

 

[Autobahn]

Thanks for your insight SJS! What was his action like and on what sort of line and length did he bowl?

I'm going to guess he bowled a good length , possibly quite flat with a very classical action.

 

[Jamee999]

I'm going to guess he bowled a good length , possibly quite flat with a very classical action.

Maybe he bowled bouncers that would hit the batsman's head

 

[Armadillo]

Maybe he bowled bouncers that would hit the batsman's head

Ha ha ha ha....no.

 

[Richard]

I could think of more than a few current Indian bowlers who could learn a thing or two from this.

Aiming at a coin is all well and good - you still need skill to hit it.
Perhaps this chappie possessed skill of accuracy that few if any have matched.

 

[silentstriker]

Aiming at a coin is all well and good - you still need skill to hit it.
Perhaps this chappie possessed skill of accuracy that few if any have matched.

Yes, well...I'll be happy with the effort.

 

[Richard]

Oh, quite - but don't expect 999 bowlers out of 1000 to be able to do it.

 

[SJS]

Thanks for your insight SJS! What was his action like and on what sort of line and length did he bowl?

Goes without saying that he was phenomenally accurate. He did not flight the ball much preferring a flatter trajectory. His bowling action wasnt very attractive to look at. It was hurried when you compared it with Bedi who came later or even Durrani who bowled alongwith Nadkarni at times.

I would say, he was like a slower version of Underwood.