Mumbai Ranji Trophy legend, Padmakar Shivalkar, passes away at 84.
He is often compared to Rajinder Goel due to the misfortune of being outstanding left-arm spinners in the era of Bishan Bedi.
Padmakar Shivalkar, an exceptional left-arm spinner considered one of the greatest Indian cricketers never to play for India, has died at the age of 84. He passed away in Mumbai on Monday, and is survived by his wife, son, and daughter.
Shivalkar is often compared to Haryana left-arm spinner Rajinder Goel, the record-holder for most wickets taken in Ranji Trophy history, because their careers coincided with that of Bishan Bedi.
Sunil Gavaskar said to The Hindu when the BCCI awarded Goel and Shivalkar the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement award in 2017: ‘One of my regrets is that, as the then captain of the Indian team, I couldn’t convince my fellow selectors to pick Goel Saab and Paddy to play for India. They were born in the same era as the greatest left-arm bowler I have seen, Mr. Bishan Singh Bedi. Otherwise, they too would have played many Test matches for India.’
Gavaskar shared a dressing room with Shivalkar when Bombay (now Mumbai), the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, experienced their period of greatest dominance. Shivalkar participated in 10 of Bombay’s victorious Ranji Trophy campaigns from 1965-66 to 1976-77 – they won the title every season except one – and was part of the team that reclaimed the crown in 1980-81. Incredibly, he made a comeback seven years later at the age of 47 and played two matches in the 1987-88 season.
His first-class debut came way back in April 1962, when he was selected for the Cricket Club of India President’s XI against an International XI that was on a world tour. In the match against that team, which included luminaries like Bob Simpson, Tom Graveney, Colin Cowdrey, Everton Weekes, Richie Benaud, and Sonny Ramadhin, Shivalkar took 5 for 129 and 2 for 44 in a drawn game.
In total, Shivalkar took 589 wickets in 124 first-class matches, with an average of 19.69. Of these wickets, 361 were in the Ranji Trophy. No Mumbai bowler has taken more wickets in this competition. Shivalkar’s best figures – 8 for 16 – came in the 1972-73 final against Tamil Nadu, when Bombay won in two days and one ball on a treacherous Chepauk pitch.
Another excellent spinner from the 1970s who never played for India, V. Ramnarayan, closely watched both Goel and Shivalkar and wrote the following about them:
‘Perhaps the best quality of their cricket was their complete reliability. With them in the team, captains only had to worry about the supporting bowlers.’
‘Both were tireless, their smooth actions requiring minimal effort – or so it seemed. But it was their relentless work in the nets that made their apparent ease in match situations possible.’
‘If a comparison must be made between them, it should be noted that there was hardly any difference between them, except perhaps that with his flight and subtle variations, Shivalkar was a more attractive proposition on good wickets, while Goel was perhaps more destructive on crumbling surfaces.’
Shivalkar’s favorite mode of dismissal, perhaps, revealed something about the kind of bowler he was. ‘I used to enjoy getting batsmen stumped,’ he told The Cricket Monthly in 2017. ‘With my command over the loop, batsmen would step out of the crease and get trapped, beaten, and stumped.’
