By Admin 
ON THIS DAY: In the history of cricket, there have been many bowlers who troubled the batsmen with their pace or turn. However, there were some bowlers who took the breath of the batsmen away with their tremendous line-length and discipline. Bapu Nadkarni was one such name of Indian cricket. On this day, in 1964, he made such a record in Test cricket, which is still considered to be the world’s stingiest bowling spell.
Bapu’s magic worked against England
In 1964, the England team was playing a Test series on India tour. Bapu Nadkarni created history with his bowling during England’s first innings on the third day of the Test match played in Chennai. Left arm spinner Nadkarni completely trapped the batsmen by bowling 21 consecutive maiden overs. Not a single run was scored against him for 131 balls.
In this innings he bowled a total of 32 overs, out of which 27 overs were maidens. In the entire spell he spent only 5 runs and did not take any wicket. However, his impact was more dangerous than the wicket. His economy rate was only 0.15, which is still the most economical performance of an innings in Test cricket.
Match status and second innings contribution
In the first innings of this test match, India scored 457 runs on the board. Whereas the England team was reduced to 317 runs. In the second innings, India declared the innings after scoring 152 runs. In reply, England scored 241 runs for 5 wickets and due to which the match ended in a draw.
Bapu Nadkarni was effective in the second innings also. He dismissed 2 batsmen for 6 runs in 6 overs. In this match, India used 10 bowlers in an innings, which was a record at that time.
One of the most economical bowlers of India
Bapu Nadkarni played 41 test matches for India from 1955 to 1968 and has 88 wickets in his name. During this period his Test career economy was only 1.67. Among bowlers who have played more than 25 Tests, only South Africa’s Trevor Goddard has had a better economy than him.
had power even with the bat
Nadkarni was not only a bowler but also a useful batsman. He scored one century and 7 half-centuries in Test cricket. He has more than 500 wickets and about 9 thousand runs in his name in first class cricket. He breathed his last in Mumbai on 17 January 2020, but this historic feat of his stingy bowling still surprises cricket lovers.