M. L. APTE



M. L. APTE
(5 Oct 1932 - 23 Sep 2019)

Starting off as a legspinner in his schooldays, Madhavrao Laxmanrao Apte, the technically correct opener from Bombay hit a century on debut in the Ranji Trophy game against Saurashtra in the 1951-52 season, playing in place of the injured Vijay Merchant...

Making his Test debut against Pakistan in November 1952, he became the automatic choice as an opener for the inaugural away tour of West Indies that followed in January 1953...

Scoring 460 runs @51.11 Madhav Apte was second only to Polly Umrigar, ahead of Hazare, Mankad, Roy and Manjrekar. However, despite his match saving century he was, inexplicably and unceremoniously, dropped from the national side and never played an official Test thereafter. Nevertheless, Apte continued with Bombay, being the occasional skipper as well, with enthusiasm and fervour till the late sixties...

With 542 from 7 Tests, which included a ton (163*) and 3 fifties, and 3336 from 67 first class games with 6 tons and 16 fifties, it was pretty much obvious that Madhav Apte was given a raw deal...

As an ardent lover of the game, Apte was always there for anyone seeking help. He had once said in an interview,
“Do you know what is the most remarkable thing about this game? It is one of the few things in life which gives you a second chance.”...

However, as luck would have it, Madhav Apte never got a second chance in his Test career. And as curtains got drawn for Madhav Apte at 7 Tests despite an average of 49.27, his exclusion would probably remain as one of the many unanswered questions of cricket in India...

Apte passed away this day, 2019, in Mumbai after a cardiac arrest at the Breach Candy Hospital. He was 86...


🙏🙏🌹💐   🇮🇳

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

D. N. SARDESAI

Image
🏏🏏 D. N. SARDESAI (8 Aug 1940 - 2 Jul 2007)  The only cricketer from Goa to play for India in Tests, Margao born Dilip Narayan Sardesai was a technically sound right-handed wristy specialist batsman with the ability to play both spin and pace with equal ease. He was the first Indian batsman to score a double century in an overseas Test, with his epic 212 at Kingston, Jamaica...  Sardesai's Test debut in 1961, and his final game in 1972, both were against England at Kanpur and Delhi respectively... In 30 Tests Sardesai scored 2001 runs @39.23 with 5 hundreds and 9 fifties, 212 as highest, and 4 catches... Playing for Bombay and West Zone in the domestic circuit from 1961 to 1973, Sardesai scored 10,230 runs from 179 first class games @41.75 with 25 hundreds and 56 fifties, highest being 222, and 85 catches. Bombay won all the 10 finals they reached out of the 13 seasons that Sardesai played for them...  Sardesai replaced Nari Contractor after the latter'
Read more

C. P. S. CHAUHAN

Image
C. P. S. CHAUHAN (21 Jul 1947 - 16 Aug 2020) Chetan Pratap Singh Chauhan played both his first and last Tests against New Zealand. Making his debut in 1969 in the first Test in Bombay against Graham Dowling's team, he signed off after the third Test against Geoff Howarth's eleven at Auckland in 1981... As a collegian in Pune, he initially represented Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy, and later on, Delhi. Most of his Test appearances were in the late 1970s, being the regular opening partner of the "Little Master" Sunil Gavaskar... Opening the innings in 40 Tests, Chauhan scored 2084 runs, the highest being 97. With 16 fifties, including two 90s and five 80s, he, like Ashok Mankad, was unlucky to have seen the three figure eluding him. He held 38 catches and claimed 2 wickets... Chauhan played 7 ODIs for India, scoring 153 runs, 46 as highest with a strike rate of 50.83.. Chauhan's domestic record is impressive, with 11,143 r
Read more

AIR CMDE H. T. DANI

Image
🏏🏏 AIR CMDE H. T. DANI (24 May 1933 - 19 Dec 1999) Another gifted cricketer who unfortunately found himself in the list of the 'only debut Test' category, Hemchandra Tukaram "Bal" Dani originally from Solapur, shifted base to Nashik, Maharashtra... He played his only Test at the age of 19 in November 1952 against Pakistan, at the Brabourne Stadium, Bombay, which India won by 10 wickets... Opening the bowling with 41 year old Lala Amarnath, Dani held a great catch (A. H. Kardar) and got a wicket (Nazar Mohammad) in the total of 10 overs that he got to bowl in the entire match. He didn't have to bat at all. Evidently, he did not fail in the Test, which meant that there was really no reason to drop him, or to not pick him again for that matter. He toured Pakistan in 1954/55 without playing a Test. The Indian cricket selection procedures having quite often defied logic, it was Test curtains for Dani... Dani played most of his first clas
Read more