On this day in 1964 – Bapu Nadkarni delivers 21 consecutive maiden overs
How about bowling 21 consecutive maiden overs in a Test match?
Let us travel back to January 12th 1964, as Bapu Nadkarni bowled 21 consecutive maiden overs, and choked the England batsmen with accuracy and guile in Chennai. India won the toss and batted first on a sunny morning. The entire Indian innings was just about two batsmen. Budhi Kunderan and Vijay Manjrekar scored classic centuries as India declared their first innings with a total of 457/7. For the visitors, Fred Titmus was the pick of the bowlers, picking up 5 wickets, and giving away 116 runs.
It was then in England’s first innings that Nadkarni employed his choke. The wily left-arm spinner was extremely accurate, and Ken Barrington, the England batting legend just could not find a way to score runs. Nadkarni tied the England batsmen down and bowled 131 balls without conceding even a single run.
Today in 1964: Bapu Nadkarni at the Nehru (Corporation) Stadium, Madras against England: 32-27-5-0
Did not conceded any runs for 131 consecutive balls (21.5 overs), incl 21 consecutive maiden overs!
His four spells
1st: 3- 3-0-0
2nd: 7- 5-2-0
3rd: 19-18-1-0
4th: 3- 1-2-0 https://t.co/GHmIuzfmMZ— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) January 12, 2020
England ended their first innings with a total of 317 runs on the board, having played 190.4 overs. And Nadkarni’s numbers read 32-27-5-0. He had bowled 27 maidens and had an economy rate of 0.16 in the first innings. The pick of the bowlers in the Indian first innings was Chandu Borde, who scalped a fifer.
In their second innings, India could manage to score just 152/9, as Fred Titmus once again picked up 4 wickets. England were set a target of 293 runs, but they ended their second innings with their scorecard reading 241/5, and the match ended in a draw. In the second innings, Nadkarni bowled 6 overs, gave away 6 runs and picked up 2 wickets.
More than anything else, this match is still remembered with fondness as a man choked the opposition, drying up the runs and kept even the legendary Ken Barrington quiet.
