Just a few days back I
was reading a book on Bishen Singh Bedi the legendary spinner and by all
accounts it was a fascinating story about an Amritsar born boy who had limited
dreams and went on to become one of the
finest exponents of left arm spin this
game has ever seen. Bedi played 66 tests for India was the highest wicket taker with 266 scalps until
a certain Kapil Dev Nikhanj eclipsed it much later. In that book there was mention of 2 spinners
whose careers coincided with Bishan Bedi. Yes all the cricket lovers must have
guessed it by now – Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar. Both of them took
plenty of wickets for their domestic sides Delhi and Bombay respectively but
could not play a single test for their country. This article is a humble tribute
to these 2 great non test cricketers
from India.
Rajinder Goel - Born on 20th September 1942 in Haryana.
He started his first class career with Patiala in 1958 which later evolved into
southern Punjab. He moved to Delhi in 1963 and Haryana ten years later. The Indian
team before Bishen Bedi had Salim Durrani, Bapu Nadkarni and Rusi Surti as left
armers and so Goel was denied the opportunity despite taking loads of wickets
for Delhi. In the 1960’s Bedi was considered the’ next Goel ‘ a fact which is
ironical since Goel did not get to play any test match owing to Bedi’s presence
in the national team. His bowling style was considered to be similar to Bedi
but Bedi flighted the ball while Goel
had a flatter trajectory. Even established Indian batsmen found him unplayable
on turning tracks, a fact endorsed by Sunil Gavaskar where he has included Goel
in his book ‘ Idols “ . Goel along with Padmakar Shivalkar are the 2 non
cricketers in Gavaskar’s idols. According to Gavaskar, he would much rather
face Bedi as against Goel on a turning track. He has sound reasons for this
theory where he goes on to say that Bedi’s flight allowed batsmen to come down the track and
drive him whereas with Goel he had no chance of coming down the track as Goel
was deadly accurate with his flatter trajectory. Though Gavaskar rated Bedi as a more complete bowler.
Goel had the ability to bowl long spells without losing his
nip and accuracy even at the fag end of the day’s play. As he had the rare ability to turn the ball on
any wicket, even though the flight was minimal it more than made up for in the
end with his deadly accuracy. Goel took 640 Ranji trophy wickets still a record
by any bowler and S Venkatraghavan is
second with 530 scalps. Rajinder Goel took 25 wickets in a season for 15 seasons
including his last 9 seasons for Haryana.
He took 640 wickets in Ranji trophy at an impressive average of 17.12 in 122
games with 53 five wicket hauls and 17 ten wicket hauls. His longevity can be
understood from the fact that he is the only bowler to bowl against 3 father –
son combinations. ( ML and Vivek Jaisimha,
Lala and Surinder Amaranth and Pankaj and Pranab Roy. A measure of his immense
popularity stems from the fact that when Goel took his 600th wicket
he was sent a congratulatory letter from the infamous dacoit Bukha Singh Yadav who was locked up in Gwalior
jail. Goel is perhaps the only cricketer from india whose performances were
recognized even by the dacoit and it was a pity that selectors turned a blind
eye to his feats. Goel was certain to play in the Bangalore test against west
indies in 1974-75 owing to Bedi’s absence
but his name was missing when the team
was announced. This was as close as it got for Goel as far as national duty was
concerned. Today Goel remains a simple
man who is still supremely fit and is an icon for the younger generations who
have a lot to learn from this champion. He played Ranji trophy for over 25
years and even during the later parts of his career his enthusiasm and passion
to succeed did not diminish even though he knew that he could not play for India
anymore. Never for once did he publicly vent out his frustration against the
fact that despite being the leading Ranji trophy wicket taker, he was denied a
test cap when a lot of the other bowlers who followed were much less talented and skillful than him. Goel used to
say that he was simply unlucky born in a wrong era.
Padmakar Shivalkar –
Born on 14th April 1940 he served Bombay for 20 years becoming the leading wicket taker with 589 scalps. Paddy as he was affectionately called
in Bombay cricketing circles had an accidental entry into cricket. It was his
friend Dattu Satelkar took him to nets at Bradbury mills. Paddy had never held
a cricket ball as he had only played tennis ball cricket. The first ball he
bowled hit a bamboo on the off side net and the next
ball hit a side net on the leg. He bowled the next ball on the stumps and was
asked whether he wanted a job. The man who offered him a job was none other
than the great Vinoo Mankad. Paddy had a minimalistic 3 step runup and he had
relentless accuracy. On a crumbling wicket he was considered as dangerous as Derek
Underwood on a dying wicket. He toured Australia in 1962 with the Cricket Club
of India taking plenty of wickets and scoring useful runs. He bowled with a
teasing flight and induced the batsmen to play shots which they might have
avoided otherwise. It took him some time before
he could play for Bombay Ranji side owing to the presence of Bapu Nadkarni
who was taking plenty of wickets and scoring centuries with regularity. After Nadkarni,
Eknath Solkar found favour with the selectors due to his ability to bowl left
arm spin and medium pace and being excellent in fielding.. around 1967-68 paddy
got an opportunity to play for Bombay and he never looked back thereafter. Initially
he was a shy person but after couple of years he opened up and had a dry and
naughty sense of humour. Paddy helped Bombay win the Ranji trophy on numerous
occasions and his best figures came against Tamil Nadu in 1972-73 finals where
he took 8-16 and 5-18 in madras.
Sunil Gavaskar has also included Shivalkar in his book ‘ idols’. Paddy was a match winner for Bombay
right till the very end . He was also known to be passionate about taking
wickets and hence the longevity for over 20 years. Today paddy is an
accomplished singer and sings in public forums on various occasions. He has
also sang a song on how one misses an opportunity if luck is not on his side. He
virtually put his heart and soul in that performance and was admired by
listeners. It was as if his entire cricketing career was being played out in
that song of getting so close to getting the India cap but not achieving the
goal.
It is indeed an irony,
call it ill fate or playing in the wrong era that Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar
despite taking loads of wickets could not get into the Indian side. The reasons
given were always that since Bedi was a left arm spinner as these 2, however
one can argue this theory as Prasanna
and Venkatraghavan could play simultaneously in one side then surely one
of these 2 greats could also have paired alongside Bedi. India could have done
wonders in world cricket with these players in the mid 60’s and 70’s when they
lost out on an opportunity of closing out sides and winning many more
test matches. Be that as it may despite these 2 cricketers never having played
for India does not in any way take anything away from them and they will always
be remembered for their contribution to Indian cricket.
First Class Records
First Class Records
M W Avg 5W 10W BB
Goel 157 750 18.58 59 18 8/55
Shivalkar 124 589 19.69 42 13 8/16
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