E. D. SOLKAR

🏏🏏

E. D. SOLKAR
(18 Mar 1948 - 26 Jun 2005)

When Rusi Surti chose to go Down Under in the early 70s, Indian cricket was fortunate to have an immediate glove-fitting replacement for him, a person  who would go on to be known as the second Indian "poor man's Sobers"...

Bombay southpaw Eknath Dhondu Solkar, who rose from humble roots, remains Test cricket's most successful fielder, with 53 catches in just 27 Tests @1.96  (the next best being Simpson 110 in 62 Tests @ 1.77) specializing at forward short leg, sans any protective gears. The legendary B. S. Bedi once said - "His close-in catching was really intimidating. We would never have been as effective without Solkar at short leg."

The Indian Schools captain made his Test debut against Graham Dowling's New Zealand at Hyderabad in October 1969. Solkar's Ranji Trophy debut for Bombay was in the 1966-67 season...

Solkar played in 27 Tests scoring 1,068 runs @25.42 with one hundred (102) and 6 fifties, 18 wickets @ 59.44, and 53 catches. His final Test was at Calcutta in January 1977...

Solkar played 7 ODIs for India, with his debut against England at Leeds in July 1974, and his last against New Zealand at Auckland in February 1976...

In 189 first class games for Bombay and Sussex, Solkar scored 6895 runs @ 29.34, with 8 hundreds, 36 fifties, 145* as his top score, 276 wickets @ 29.89 a piece, and 190 catches...

Solkar earned the tag of "Mr. Dependable" during the historic 1971 Windies tour and the subsequent victorious tour versus Ray Illingworth's England in the same year...

Solkar, Abid Ali and Venkatraghavan who shared the Indian bowling, along with slip specialist Wadekar formed a formidable close-in fielding quartet of those times...

Easily one of the finest and fearless forward short-leg fielders the game has ever seen, Solkar passed away in Mumbai after a heart attack, this day in 2005...

🙏🙏🌹💐    🇮🇳

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