New Delhi. In the cricket world, players are known for their batting and bowling, but there are very few cricketers who are known for fielding. One such name is also recorded in Indian cricket, which had gained a lot of fame in the cricket world as a fielder and worked to popularize close fielding without any fear.
We are talking about Eknath Solkar, who today has his 73rd birthday. Eknath Solkar, who played for the country from 1969 to 1977, did not achieve any significant feat either as a batsman or as a bowler, but as a fielder, he is still ranked as the highest, as he played 27 Test matches in his career. And caught 53 catches in those Test matches. Looking at the figures, you might not find this great thing, but it is really a big thing, because even today, who have played at least 10 Test matches, their catch percentage is not so much.
Eknath Solkar has taken almost two catches in each Test match. Even today no one is around this record. Solkar has no rival as a fielder. It was Eknath Solkar, who kept fielding continuously and caught dozens of catches without any helmet or protection while staying close to the batsman. Left-handed batsman and left-arm bowler who bowled both spin and pace. He was not a genius in batting and bowling, but is rated as a great player as a fielder.
Solkar fielding at short leg and Silly Point on most occasions and caught fast catches while he was down. This is the reason why this record of 1.96 catches per match is excellent. Solkar was rarely seen in the slip cordon. Apart from the successes on the cricket field, his life is nothing short of inspiration. He was born in Mumbai into a humble family. Solkar’s father was a groundman at the Hindu Gymkhana and he used to help him by changing the score on the scoreboard during the matches played on that ground. He grew up in a one-room hut with his parents and five siblings.
At the Hindu Gymkhana, he learned the nuances of the game, bowling the players in the nets. He was spotted by wicketkeeper Madhav Mantri from Bombay and India, who was impressed by Solkar’s enthusiasm and arranged to send him to school. The difficulties never frightened Solkar. He worked hard on his game and made his first attempt at captaining schools in India, including Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath in 1964, who made their first-class debut for Mumbai a year later.
Eknath Solkar made his international debut in 1969 and played seven ODIs and 27 Tests for India over a period of seven years. His most memorable performance came in India’s Test series victories in the West Indies and England in 1971. The bowling attack of India was dominated by spin in Solkar’s time in the team. The famous quartet of Erapalli Prasanna, S. Venkataraghavan, B. Chandrasekhar and Bishan Singh Bedi were heavily trusted for victory and four of them, trusted Solkar a lot to make them a success.
Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi once said that without Eknath we would have got a lot of wickets, because he used to catch dangerous catches at forward short leg. At the same time, Tony Greig said: “Ekki (Eknath) was the best forward short leg I’ve ever seen.” One of the most famous stories of Solkar’s resilience is from the 1969 Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Bengal. Just six days before the start of that match at the Cricket Club in Mumbai, Solkar’s father slipped on the steps of the Hindu Gymkhana and went into a coma. Faced with the decision of whether or not to play the match, Solkar put his grief on himself and hoped for his father’s betterment, but that did not happen.
Solkar finally decided that he would not leave his team at such a crucial time. He took three wickets while bowling first for Bengal, but it was his incredible feeling during Mumbai’s first innings. Mumbai were bowled out for 300 for five at the end of two days. He had two young players from Solkar and Milind Rege playing important innings in the line, but Solkar’s father died in the hospital on the same day. Despite this great loss, he cremated the father the next morning and set out to bat. He scored 29 runs to help his team take the lead and win the match.
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