Homage to Padmakar Shivalkar

 

We often see Prejudice, Bias and selective admission !!  Those following Cricket especially of Tamil Nadu from 1970s would remember this Ranji Finals played at Chepauk on 18 & 19 (yes only 2 days) Apr 1973 !! 

There was a time when people thought, spoke and wrote that it is easy to play for India if you are a ‘Kar’ or play for Bombay – to my mind there were -  :  Farokh Engineer,  Ajit Wadekar, Eknath Solkar, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar,  Hemant Kanitkar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ramnath Parkar, Ghulam Parkar  &  .. ..  We also thought Sunil Manohar Gavaskar when he was captained gave chances for every Mumbaikar !!  

India was hailed as land of spinners –   the famous quartet Bishan Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and Venkatraghavan prospered – there were the likes of VV Kumar,  Dilip Doshi, Padmakar Shivalkar, Rajidner Goel, Rajinder Hans, Dhiraj Parsana, V Ramnarayan,  Rakesh Shukla, Raghuram Bhat and more – who could not make the cut over the dominance of the quartet and Ranji matches were ‘bowler-dominated !’

 

The man who passed away yesterday was a ‘Kar’ – took close to 400 Ranji wickets, played for Bombay at a time when they literally swept Ranji – yet never played for India !!!  

His first-class debut had come all the way back in April 1962, when he was picked in a Cricket Club of India President's XI against an International XI that was making a world tour. Against that team, which included luminaries such as Bob Simpson, Tom Graveney, Colin Cowdrey, Everton Weekes, Richie Benaud and Sonny Ramadhin, Shivalkar took 5 for 129 and 2 for 44 in a drawn game.

 

One of the finest left-arm spinners in the country, who was unlucky to not have played for India as he was played cricket in an era where the famous 'spin quartet' was at the peak of its powers, Mumbai stalwart Padmakar Shivalkar passed away on Monday at the age of 84. 

In an epic 20-year career which stretched from 1961-62 to 1987-88, ‘Paddy’ Shivalkar took a staggering 589 wickets in 124 first-class matches@19.69, with a best haul of eight for 16. Shivalkar, who made his Ranji Trophy debut at the age of 22, was recalled at the age of 48 for his last two first-class matches, with the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Delhi at the Ferozeshah Kotla in the 1987-88 season being his last FC game. Shivalkar took 361 Ranji wickets for Bombay (now Mumbai), the most by any bowler when he retired. He had 11 ten-wicket hauls (joint-second). Overall, he played 86 matches for Bombay, capturing 419 wickets. 

In the Duleep Trophy, he scalped 74 in 15 matches for West Zone. In the Moin-ud-Daula, he scalped 23 wickets in seven matches. He played for Rest of India against Indian XI in a National Defence fund match in April 1972 at the Brabourne Stadium. He took five for 77, and his victims were Eknath Solkar, Gundappa Viswanath, Syed Abid Ali, S Venkatraghavan and Syed Kirmani. He took nine wickets in the match. In 2017, he received the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honour conferred by the BCCI on a former player.  Shivalkar toured Sri Lanka with a strong Indian side in 1973–74, playing in both matches against Sri Lanka and taking four wickets.. 

"One of the regrets I have is that, as the then captain of the Indian team, I could not convince my fellow selectors to pick Goel saab and Paddy to play for India," Sunil Gavaskar told The Hindu when the BCCI awarded Goel and Shivalkar the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award in 2017.  

Gavaskar shared a dressing room with Shivalkar when Bombay (the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, enjoyed their greatest period of dominance. Shivalkar featured in ten of Bombay's victorious Ranji Trophy campaigns from 1965-66 to 1976- 77.   

Now on that Ranji finals (18,19,20 Apr 1973) – TN fans would always feel bad for losing to Bombay by 123 runs, after bowling them out for 113 in their 2nd essay.  Kalyanasundaram returned magical figures of 6.3-2-8-4.    Bombay had a very formidable line-up : Sunil Gavaskar, Ramnath Parkar, Ajit Wadekar, Ashok Mankad, Sudhir Naik, Dilip Sardesai, Eknath Solkar and the great spinner Padmakar Shivalkar. For those interested, the team that represented Tamil Nadu was : PK Belliappa (keeper); R Mirza, Michael Dalvi, Abdul Jabbar, P Mukund, AG Satwender Singh, LJ Edmonds, Srinivas Venkatraghavan (Capt), R Prabhakar, B Kalyanasundaram and VV Kumar.  TN  scored 80 & 61. 

That win was fashioned by Padmakar Shivalkar who had figures of : 17.5-10-16-8 & 15.1-8-18-5 !!  Homage to that silent warrior – Padmakar Shivalkar

 

Regards – S Sampathkumar

4.3.2025