Before the twin tours, the selection committee met to choose the team, and to everyone’s surprise, Wadekar was equal on votes with Tiger Pataudi, and Chairman of Selectors Vijay Merchant used his casting vote to elect Wadekar as the captain of India.
In a side that included the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, G Viswanath and Bishan Singh Bedi, Wadekar took over the captaincy from MAK Pataudi in 1971. Wadekar felt his place was in jeopardy for the tour of the West Indies in 1970/71, but instead of the axe he was handed the captaincy. Memories were short: a giant bat erected in Indore to commemorate the 1971 wins was defaced, and stones were thrown at Wadekar’s Bombay home. Immediately he marked himself out as a future Test cricketer, yet had to endure a frustrating eight-year wait as the selectors put their faith in older players. The Indians fielded beautifully, Venkat held one end up, and India were left with a target of 173. Even though he replaced Tiger as captain for the 1971 tours, one sensed great admiration for the genius of the Nawab in Ajit’s voice. Calcutta/Mumbai: Former India cricket captain Ajit Wadekar passed away on Wednesday after prolonged illness.He was 77 and is survived by his wife Rekha, two sons and a daughter. He would go on to have the greatest debut of all time — scoring 774 runs in 4 Tests. Much like his leadership and batting, he was as cool and calculated in death as he was in his cricket life. Until his appointment India had only ever won a series on favourable pitches at home or against the relative weakness of New Zealand, but Wadekar changed all that, leading his side to victorious away campaigns that boosted morale immeasurably. His record was phenomenal in the Ranji Trophy, where he amassed 4,388 runs at 59.29 with 12 hundreds. In the second over of the final morning of the decisive Oval Test in August 1971, with India 97 from a first series victory in England, Ajit Wadekar hesitated while attempting a single, and was run out.
The man who replaced him as substitute fielder, Kenia Jayantilal, quickly pulled off a brilliant running catch to dismiss Basil D’Oliveira that hastened the end for England, who collapsed to 101 all out and lost the three-match series 1-0. In the final, he scored 85 as they beat Bengal. Wadekar had finally arrived. “Little did I realise that it was me.”, Ajit Wadekar of Bombay Cricket Club, circa 1964.
He suffered a minor heart-attack during India’s league match in the Austral-Asia Cup of 1994, but came back to manage and coach the national side again. He had also won the Arjuna Award in 1967 — the fifth cricketer to win the award. Wadekar was reluctant, but a match fee of three rupees sealed the deal. Additionally, there was a row between Wadekar and Bedi before the first Test. You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. Wadekar was determined to avoid a repeat. We have updated our Privacy and Cookie Policy. Wadekar is the only cricketer apart from Lala Amarnath and Chandu Borde to have served as captain, manager, and selector in Indian cricket. Wadekar got to know of this. As the Indians landed in West Indies, they were greeted by a poem in one of the Jamaican dailies, which ended with: A million cheers, Wadekar, He also came armed with the greatest spin-bowling arsenal the game had seen and, in the Caribbean, was stiffened by the emergence of Sunil Gavaskar. His, Wadekar was no prodigy: his father thought the game would distract him from a career in engineering, “From the moment he came in, Wadekar mounted a stirring counter-offensive, driving, hooking and cutting”, Related Story: Golden Summers, 1971: India break new ground in England, Quiz! Wadekar had a decent tour of England, which was followed by an ordinary tour of Australia. The impact he has had over the years on players, especially those from Mumbai will linger on. He was an aggressive batsman, a top-notch slip fielder, an astute captain, a successful manager, and a national selector. “It happens when you see more of them you have confidence in them.” And then, with a naughty smile he added, "It is like choosing a wife over a girlfriend, re".
When they had arrived in London from Bournemouth, the Indians were put up in an accommodation that was more of a hovel than a hotel. With Pakistan’s ascent still a few years down the line, Australia’s lacklustre performance, and South Africa’s ban, India were definitely the contenders for the best team in the world. The more he took his team to newer heights, the more it went on to affect his Test records. Now they had shrugged off decades of deference and defeats to win in England.
He is survived by his wife, Rekha, and by their three children. Tuesday, Nov 03, 2020 | Last Update : 03:12 AM IST. Most Popular #164889. However, he had just one Test hundred in his record -- a 143-run effort in Wellington -- which came in the 1968 tour of New Zealand. The drama was not over yet. He made his debut in first class cricket for Bombay in 1958 and played his first Test match in … Alex Bannister later wrote in The Daily Mail: “Like Montgomery before Alamein, he had laid his plans in advance and retired to confident sleep.”.
With Venkat playing a perfect foil (and taking 9 for 93 in the second innings against Hampshire) and Bedi impressing all and sundry, Wadekar now faced the unenviable task of choosing between Prasanna and Chandra. We want equality, Ajit Wadekar, who died a year ago, led India to two epic series victories in the early 1970s. We don’t want that momentum to slow down. It had been a triumph for the undemonstrative leadership qualities Merchant had divined. India left for the Caribbean weakened by the absence of Pataudi, who had withdrawn, and Engineer, left out because he was not resident in India. }); His Test record may not be impressive when compared to several of his contemporaries, but the jaw dropping respect he commanded from the cricket community tells you all you need to know about the man. A giant of domestic cricket, he was one of the mainstays of the Bombay side during their famous run as national champions before, during, and after the 1960s. He was born in Mumbai and made his first-class debut for the team in 1958. The match is yours. The great man was denied his ritual, his confidence was probably dented a bit, and he was clean bowled by Abid Ali for a golden duck! “We hardly dropped any catches in the West Indies and in England,” Wadekar recalled. An excellent accumulator of runs, he could not perform at his best at international level, possibly because of the burden ushered upon his shoulders when he was still fresh as a player at Test level. In the first Test at Dunedin, Wadekar top-scored in each innings; the first-innings 80 helped India secure a slender lead, and the second-innings 71 ensured that there was no nerve as India chased 200 for their first overseas Test victory. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at the career of an aggressive batsman, a top-notch slip fielder, an astute captain, a successful manager, and a national selector. He also introduced a more aggressive approach. The same year, Wadekar scored a First-Class career-best 323 in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Mysore.
In the match against Leicestershire, time was running out when Chris Balderstone and Roger Tolchard were playing the Indian spinners comfortably. © 2020 Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited. Wadekar tossed the ball to Gavaskar, with the words “you talk about your leg-spinners; here, have a go, but it will be just one over.” Gavaskar removed Tolchard immediately, Chandra and Venkat ran through the match, and India won by an innings. The Vijay Balla (Victory Bat) — an enormous concrete bat with the names of the players — was erected at Indore to commemorate the twin victories, and Wadekar was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972. But Wadekar finished second in the averages, having hit 91 as India followed on in the first Test at Headingley. The second Test at Calcutta, though, saw the resurgence of Wadekar: he scored a crucial 44 in the first innings, and then, as England chased 192, his astute handling of Bedi and Chandra helped win the Test by 28 runs.
To me, that is a measure of the popularity of the man. It began in the Ranji Trophy semi-final against Karnataka. He was an elegant left-hander who liked to score quickly, for his time. Cricket Player. MS Dhoni.
It was the first time since 1957-58 that Bombay would fail to clinch the Ranji title. While Wadekar scored another 44, Pataudi scored a brilliant 73 and an unbeaten 14 (as India ambled to 86 for 6 for a victory) as India went 2-1 up in the series.
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