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[dextrous]

Hey All,
In the next week or so, let's nominate Indian cricketers for the 2006 CricketVoice Hall of Fame. Then we can vote for up to three players. This can become an inaugural event. Entires must accompany a brief profile, stats, and your own few words.

[nominate up to 3]

[CLR James]

This is a very important thread. Thanks and applause to Dextrous for starting it. We have to take this very seriously. My first proposal is to induct Palwankar Baloo (1976-1955) as the first entrant into the hall of great Indian cricketers. Ram Guha has written two books about him. He was perhaps the first great left arm spinner we ever had, being, in that sense, the precursor of Vinoo Mankad, Bishan Bedi, and Maninder Singh (I do not consider Venkatpati Raju in the same league). Baloo was a dalit, which is why he was never allowed to captain the Hindu team during the Pentangulars/Quadrangulars. When the first Indian team visited England in 1911, Baloo captured more that 75 wickets in 14 first class matches (see the cricinfo records). He had more than 100 dismissals in that tour.

Baloo's history is a history of our modernity. When he was a kid, he used to bowl at the nets (remember Eknath Solkar?) and be a 'mali'. Then an Englishman called 'Jangla' (John) Grieg spotted him when he was outfoxed repeatedly by the young dalit urchin. Jangla Grieg was no walkover. He played for MCC and Hampshire and this is his fc record:

First-Class Career Batting and Fielding (1893/94-1922)
   M   I   NO   Runs   HS   Ave   100   50   Ct
Overall   125   219   17   7348   249*   36.37    15   32   102


It was at this Englishman's insistence that Baloo had a career. Years later, when he single handedly won the quadrangular for the Hindus, he was not allowed to enter the clubhouse where the trophies were being handed
out (the same one where he was a mali) because he was an 'achchyut'. The Hindus never dared to declare him captain for the Quadrangulars. In 1920, during Baloo's last season (when he was 44), the officially nominated captain of the Hindus, L.P Jai would retire to the pavillion within an hour to allow Balloo the honor that had always elluded him. Balloo captained when Jai retired. But times changed. Balloo's younger brother Palwankar Viththal, a very good batsman, ended up captaining the Hindus  during the late twenties.

Baloo's overall first class record reads thus:

Palwankar Baloo

India

Full name Babaji Palwankar Baloo
Born March 19, 1876, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra
Died July 4, 1955, Bombay (now Mumbai), Maharashtra (aged 79 years 107 days)
Major teams Hindus
Bowling style Slow left-arm orthodox

Batting and fielding averages
class    mat    inns    no    runs    hs    ave    100    ct    st
First-class     33     58     3     753     75     13.69     0     12     0

Bowling averages
class    mat    runs    wkts    bbi    ave    5    10
First-class     33     2724     179     8/103     15.21     17     4

[kban1]

Appplause for bringing into focus the accolades that should be due to such a stalwart of Indian cricket -- forgotten by many, unknown to others.

Thanks for shedding light on this luminary.

[ramshorns]

CLR:Applause for bringing a person who contributed to Indian cricket so immensely during the primitive days of the game.  I never heard of him till today.

On a different note I would rate V.P.Raju as a better spinner than Manindar Singh who showed promise very early only to fade away like Hirwani.  I think Bedi and R.S Goel would both rank as the best in my books as far as left arm spinners are concerned.

[avinashgodkhindi]

CLR James, applause for an great informative post, please keep updating us with such info about great players that are unheard of.

[MockTurtle]

and here's the man Baloo himself (source :Guha's book)

[VMenon]

B. B. Nimbalkar
Bhausaheb Babasaheb Nimbalkar, generally known as B. B. Nimbalkar (born 12 December 1919 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra) was an Indian cricketer. Despite an impressive batting average of 56.72 in Ranji Trophy matches, and his additional abilities as a wicket-keeper and a fast-medium bowler, Nimbalkar surprisingly never played Test cricket during a long first-class career that stretched from 1939/40 to 1964/65.
In 1948/49, playing for Maharashtra against Kathiawar at Pune, Nimbalkar made 443 not out, at the time second only to Don Bradman's 452 not out as the record first-class innings. He was unable to break the record because the Kathiawar side then left the field and conceded the match; however Bradman sent a personal note to Nimbalkar saying that he considered Nimbalkar's innings better than his own. Nimbalkar's score remains the highest by a cricketer not to have played a Test.

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/31839.html

[sudzz]

B. B. Nimbalkar
Bhausaheb Babasaheb Nimbalkar, generally known as B. B. Nimbalkar (born 12 December 1919 in Kolhapur, Maharashtra) was an Indian cricketer. Despite an impressive batting average of 56.72 in Ranji Trophy matches, and his additional abilities as a wicket-keeper and a fast-medium bowler, Nimbalkar surprisingly never played Test cricket during a long first-class career that stretched from 1939/40 to 1964/65.
In 1948/49, playing for Maharashtra against Kathiawar at Pune, Nimbalkar made 443 not out, at the time second only to Don Bradman's 452 not out as the record first-class innings. He was unable to break the record because the Kathiawar side then left the field and conceded the match; however Bradman sent a personal note to Nimbalkar saying that he considered Nimbalkar's innings better than his own. Nimbalkar's score remains the highest by a cricketer not to have played a Test.

http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/31839.html

Menon applause for reminding me of this one...

It is actually heart rending to hear of this one...The match was approaching tea and Nimbalkar did not know that he needed 9 for the record.

Kathiawari players had been chasing leather for a better part of 2-3 days and were very miffed..they just did not take the field and after tea Nimbalkar and partner made it to the middle and there was no sign of Kathiawari;s and when the Maharashtra captain went up to them to ask what happened they said you've scored enough how much more do you want...and when told about the record they said they dont care and went off to the station to take the train...

[CLR James]

Applause to VMenon for invoking Nimbalkar. My second nomination to the hall of fame harks back to an earlier age.

Dinkar Balwant Deodhar (1892-1993) was the grand old man of Indian cricket. India began to play test cricket when he was 40 years old, so he was considered too old. Deodhar's fc achievements, given the times, the uncovered wickets, and the primitive equipment, is impressive, although perhaps not as good as younger batsmen like Merchant or Hazare:

81 133 18 4522 246 39.32  9 27 70 

His batting was classically correct, balanced, and imbued with great technique and concentration. Although the Professor was from Pune, he can be hailed as the first great Marathi batsman of a certain mold, of which Merchant, Manjrekar (senior) and Gavaskar were great latter day examples.

Deodhar of course was a legend in the Bombay Quadrangulars. But the extent of his talent can be measured by how he fared against touring teams.

He scored 148 representing India against MCC in 1926 (Merces, Boyes, Wyatt, Gilligan), 100* against DJ Rockwood's European Eleven in 1930, 70 against the same team in the next match. Deodhar played fc cricket till he was 54. In 1947, during his last season, he was clearly playing from memory. But he was still enough to score 89 and 58 captaining South Zone against the West Zone in the Zonal Quadrangular Tournament (later Duleep Trophy). What were the bowling options for the West Zone in that match? Mankad, Phadkar, Hazare, and Amir Elahi -- all test cricketers.

The Deodhar Trophy is of course named after this man.