Bapu Nadkarni, India All-Rounder Who Bowled 21 Straight Maidens, Dies Aged 86

Former India all-rounder Bapu Nadkarni, best known for bowling a record 21 successive maiden overs in a Test match against England, passed away on Friday, family sources confirmed. Nadkarni was 86 and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

"He died of old-age related problems," his son-in-law Vijay Khare told PTI.

Reacting to the news, Sachin Tendulkar tweeted, "Very sad to hear about the demise of Shri Bapu Nadkarni. I grew up hearing about the record of him bowling 21 consecutive maiden overs in a Test. My condolences to his family and dear ones. Rest in Peace Sir".

Very sad to hear about the demise of Shri Bapu Nadkarni. I grew up hearing about the record of him bowling 21 consecutive maiden overs in a Test. My condolences to his family and dear ones.
Rest in Peace Sir🙏. pic.twitter.com/iXozzyPMLZ

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 17, 2020

Bapu Nadkarni, a left-handed batsman and slow-left arm orthodox bowler, played 41 Tests in which he scored 1414 runs and grabbed 88 wickets with 6/43 as his best bowling figures. Nadkarni was a Mumbai stalwart having played 191 first-class matches and taken 500 wickets and scored 8880 runs.

The Nashik-born Nadkarni made his Test debut against New Zealand in Delhi in 1955 and played his last Test at Auckland against the same opponents in 1968 under MAK Pataudi's captaincy.

However, he rose to frame after he bowled 21 successive maidens. His figures in that Madras (now Chennai) test read 32-27-5-0.

He was known more for his accuracy as he also had Test match figures like the 1960-61 series against Pakistan where he returned with figures of 32-24-23-0 at Kanpur followed by 34-24-24-1 in Delhi.