Ajit Wadekar
Encyclopedia
Ajit Laxman Wadekar is a former international cricket
er. He played domestic first-class cricket
for the Mumbai cricket team
.
His father wished him to study mathematics
so that he could become an engineer, but he preferred to play cricket. A left-handed batsman, he made his first-class debut for Mumbai in 1958-9. He made his Test cricket
debut in December 1966, against the West Indian cricket team
at his home ground, the Brabourne Stadium
in Mumbai. He was soon a regular in the Indian team, and played 37 Test matches for India between 1966 and 1974, generally batting at number 3. He was also a fine slip fielder.
He became captain of Mumbai, and became Indian captain
in 1971, leading a side that included Sunil Gavaskar
, M. L. Jaisimha
, Gundappa Viswanath
, Abid Ali
, Farokh Engineer
, and the Indian spin quartet
(Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan
). He was immediately successful, becoming the first Indian captain to achieve series victories on tours to the West Indies and in England, winning both tours 1-0 in 1971. His team won over 5 matches in the West Indies in early 1971, and then beat England over 3 matches. He led India to a third successive series victory, beating England cricket team 2-1 again in a 5-match series in 1972-3. The team went into their tour against England in 1974 at the height of their power, but lost all 3 of their matches against England by wide margins in the "Summer of 42" (referring to the Indian second innings total in the 2nd Test at Lord's). He became India's first ODI captain during that tour and lost both the ODIs that India played. Blamed for the failure, and facing problems at home, as Mumbai lost the Irani Trophy
, Ranji Trophy
and Duleep Trophy
in 1973-4, he resigned as Indian captain, and retired from first-class cricket.
Later, he served as the manager of Indian Cricket team in the 1990s, alongside captain Mohammad Azharuddin
.
Ajit Wadekar is one of the few Indians to represent the country as Test cricket player, captain, coach/manager and Chairman of Selectors. Lala Amarnath
was the first to achieve this distinction. Chandu Borde
is the other person to have achieved this distinction.
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er. He played domestic first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
for the Mumbai cricket team
Mumbai cricket team
The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team representing the city of Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. It is the most successful team in the Ranji Trophy, India's top domestic cricket competition, with 39 titles, the most recent being in 2009–10. The team's home ground is the Wankhede Stadium in...
.
His father wished him to study mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
so that he could become an engineer, but he preferred to play cricket. A left-handed batsman, he made his first-class debut for Mumbai in 1958-9. He made his Test cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
debut in December 1966, against the West Indian cricket team
West Indian cricket team
The West Indian cricket team, also known colloquially as the West Indies or the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing a sporting confederation of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.From the mid 1970s to the early 1990s,...
at his home ground, the Brabourne Stadium
Brabourne Stadium
The Brabourne Stadium is a cricket ground in the Indian city of Mumbai. It is located on 90,000 square yards of reclaimed land along Marine Drive near Churchgate railway station in South Mumbai. The stadium is owned by the Cricket Club of India . Brabourne Stadium is India's first permanent...
in Mumbai. He was soon a regular in the Indian team, and played 37 Test matches for India between 1966 and 1974, generally batting at number 3. He was also a fine slip fielder.
He became captain of Mumbai, and became Indian captain
Indian national cricket captains
This is a list of all cricketers who have captained Indian national cricket team at the international level. The list includes all Indian captains of men's, women's and youth cricket. India became a full member of the Imperial Cricket Conference on 31 May 1926...
in 1971, leading a side that included Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar is a former cricketer who played during the 1970s and 1980s for Bombay and India. Widely regarded as one of the greatest opening batsmen in cricket history, Gavaskar set world records during his career for the most Test runs and most Test centuries scored by any...
, M. L. Jaisimha
M. L. Jaisimha
Motganhalli Laxminarsu Jaisimha was an Indian Test cricketer.M.L. Jaisimha a right-handed batsman who was noted for his style on and off the field. He bowled medium pace, often opening the bowling for India, and off breaks and was a brilliant fielder. But it was the way he went about things that...
, Gundappa Viswanath
Gundappa Viswanath
Gundappa Rangnath Viswanath is a former Indian cricketer. He was one of India's finest batsmen throughout the 1970s. He played Test cricket for India from 1969 to 1983 making 91 appearances and scoring over 6000 runs. He also played in One Day Internationals from 1974 to 1982 including the World...
, Abid Ali
Abid Ali
Syed Abid Ali is a former all-rounder Indian cricketer. He was a watchful lower order batsman, a medium pace bowler and a brilliant fielder.-Early life:...
, Farokh Engineer
Farokh Engineer
Farokh Maneksha Engineer is a former Indian cricketer of Parsi background who played 46 Tests for India and played first-class cricket for Mumbai in India and Lancashire in England. Engineer's active international career started in 1961 and continued to 1975, and he was India's first-choice...
, and the Indian spin quartet
Indian spin quartet
The Indian spin quartet is the collective name given to the Indian spin bowlers of the 1960s and 70s: Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan , Bhagwat Chandrasekhar , and Bishen Singh Bedi . Between them, they played 231 Test matches taking 853 wickets...
(Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar
Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar is a former Indian cricketer who specialised in leg spin. Considered amongst the top echelon of leg-spinners, Chandrasekhar along with E.A.S. Prasanna, Bishen Singh Bedi and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan constituted the Indian spin quartet that dominated...
, Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan
Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan
Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan ; is a former Indian cricketer. He played for Derbyshire in English county cricket from 1973 to 1975. He played Test cricket for the Indian cricket team, and later became an umpire on the elite International Cricket Council Test panel...
). He was immediately successful, becoming the first Indian captain to achieve series victories on tours to the West Indies and in England, winning both tours 1-0 in 1971. His team won over 5 matches in the West Indies in early 1971, and then beat England over 3 matches. He led India to a third successive series victory, beating England cricket team 2-1 again in a 5-match series in 1972-3. The team went into their tour against England in 1974 at the height of their power, but lost all 3 of their matches against England by wide margins in the "Summer of 42" (referring to the Indian second innings total in the 2nd Test at Lord's). He became India's first ODI captain during that tour and lost both the ODIs that India played. Blamed for the failure, and facing problems at home, as Mumbai lost the Irani Trophy
Irani Trophy
The Irani Cup tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship and was named after the late Z.R. Irani, who was associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India from its inception in 1928, till his death in 1970...
, Ranji Trophy
Ranji Trophy
The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between different city and state sides, equivalent to the County Championship in England and the Sheffield Shield in Australia...
and Duleep Trophy
Duleep Trophy
The Duleep Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition played in India between teams representing geographical zones of India. The competition is named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji .-History:...
in 1973-4, he resigned as Indian captain, and retired from first-class cricket.
Later, he served as the manager of Indian Cricket team in the 1990s, alongside captain Mohammad Azharuddin
Mohammad Azharuddin
Mohammad Azharuddin also known as Azhar, is an Indian politician and former cricketer. He was an accomplished batsman and captained the Indian cricket team for much of the 1990s, until his involvement in a match-fixing scandal forced him into retirement...
.
Ajit Wadekar is one of the few Indians to represent the country as Test cricket player, captain, coach/manager and Chairman of Selectors. Lala Amarnath
Lala Amarnath
Nanik Amarnath Bhardwaj was an Indian Test cricketer. He was the first cricketer to score a Test century for the Indian cricket team, which he achieved on debut...
was the first to achieve this distinction. Chandu Borde
Chandu Borde
Chandrakant Gulabrao "Chandu" Borde born 21 July 1934 in Poona In Marathi Christian Family, is a ex-cricketer who was a member of the Indian team between 1958 and 1970. Following his retirement, Borde became a cricket administrator, serving as the Chairman of national selectors...
is the other person to have achieved this distinction.
External links
- Serenity at its cold-blooded best, CricinfoCricinfoESPNcricinfo is believed to be the largest cricket-related website on the World Wide Web. Content includes news,articles, live scorecards,live text commentary and a comprehensive and searchable database called 'StatsGuru', of historical matches and players from the 18th century to the present...
, 15 August 2006