One of the greatest captains of Indian cricket, Ajit Wadekar died yesterday night at Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai. He was a left-handed batsman who came at number 3 and was one of the finest slip fielders.
He made India believe that they can win in overseas conditions. Many memorable moments of Ajit Wadekar which Indian cricket cannot forget.
Here we look at the Timeline of some rare facts about legend Ajit Wadekar
1. He made his first-class debut for Bombay in the year 1958-59. In the Ranji Trophy tournament, he played 11 finals and did not lose any finals
2. Wadekar made his international debut for India in test matches at Brabourne Stadium, Bombay in December 1966.
3. He played 37 test matches for team India between 1966 and 1974, batting at number 3.
4. Under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar, he became the first Indian captain to win overseas series win in England and West Indies in 1971 with many top players like Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Farkokh Engineer and a spin quartet of Bishan Singh Bedi, E.A.S Prasanna, B Chandershekar and Venkataraghavan
5. He took the role of captaincy from Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and then led India to many heights in overseas conditions.
6. Under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar, India won the 3 match test series against England in England by 1-0. Then soon after, Wadekar led side defeated the strong West Indies side 1-0 in five-match ODI test series in West Indies.
7. After defeating West Indies, under the captaincy of Wadekar, the Indian team defeated England.
8. Again in the five-match test series against England in 1972-73, Wadekar led side defeated England again 2-1.
9. In the 37 test matches he played, Wadekar scored 2113 runs with an average of 31.07 with 1 century and 14 half centuries.
10. Wadekar played and led in India’s first ever One-day international match. He featured in 2 One day international matches scoring just 73 runs.
11. He retired from test cricket on 4th July 1974 against England and decided to retire from ODI cricket on 13th July 1974.
12. Wadekar was awarded with Arjuna Award by the Government of India. In 1972, he was awarded with Padma Shri which is India’s fourth highest civilian award. He was awarded with CK Nayadu Achievement Award, Sportsperson of the year and Castrol Lifetime Achievement award
13. After retirement, Wadekar was named as the manager of Indian cricket team in 1990’s with Mohammed Azharuddin as captain.
14. He is one of few Indian players to represent the country as a player, captain, coach/manager, chairman of selectors.
15. Wadekar played a total of 237 first-class matches and scored 15,380 runs with an average of 47.03 with 36 centuries and 84 half centuries.
16. He was made as coach of Indian team from 1992-1996.
17. His contribution to Indian cricket was great as he worked as a cricket administrator.
