Eknath Dhondu Solkar
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Eknath Dhondu Solkar was arguably the greatest forward short-leg fielder in the history of Test cricket,. He played his 27 Tests for India on the strength of his fielding alone and snapped 53 catches. A gentle, colourful cricketer, he was called "a poor man's Sobers" because he could bat and bowl - fast as well as slow - as well as field.
His fielding and catching contributed substantially to the success of India's spin quartet of Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna and Venkataraghavan in the 1970s. Tall, loose-limbed and supremely athletic, Solkar had made the dangerous forward short-leg position virtually his own with his supple arms, lightning reflexes, hawk-like eyesight, brilliant anticipation and amazing concentration - all without a helmet, arm-guards or shin-guards. He would dive full-length and scoop the catch millimetres from the ground in his cupped two-handed style, unique among bat-pad specialists.
When asked for the secret of his success, Solkar, affectionately called Ekky, said: "I only watch the ball." At Calcutta in 1969-70, Solkar caught Bill Lawry so wonderfully off Bedi that the Australian captain presented him with his bat.
Then in 1971, at the Oval, India might not have won but for Solkar's stunning catches of Allan Knott and Keith Fletcher in England's crucial second innings. Knott played a forward defensive shot off Venkataraghavan. Solkar moved from his position but saw that the ball was almost out of his reach. In a split-second, he dived full length, fell on his chest and pouched the ball inches from the ground. Solkar himself admitted it was his best ever catch.
Born in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), Solkar never forgot his humble origins. He changed scoreboards at PJ Hindu Gymkhana, where his father was a head groundsman, and shared a dingy, one-room quarter behind the grounds with five other siblings and his parents. He started his career as a schoolboy cricketer, toured Sri Lanka in 1964 and later led the Indian schoolboys, including Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath, against the London Schools in 1965-66. In addition to his outstanding fielding, He built a reputation as a world-class left-arm spinner (who could also bowl medium pace when required) and a handy, gutsy batsman. He played as a professional for the Sussex second XI for two seasons to qualify for the first XI but played only a solitary match for the county side.
He played his maiden Test, against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1969-70, volunteering to stand at the suicidal short-leg position, where he remained. He had a reasonably good series against the Aussies at home immediately after the Kiwis left. But it was his consistent batting and increasing habit of plucking catches out of nowhere in the West Indies in 1971 that made Solkar a star. His experience of English conditions allowed him to open the bowling in the 1971 series, with Abid Ali. The two gentle, medium-pacers saw the shine off the ball before the spin quartet took over.
In the first Test at Lord's, he scored 67 sharing in a 92-run partnership of monumental patience with Gundappa Viswanath (68) that saw India gain a first-innings lead for only the second time in a Test in England. In the third Test at the Oval, he bowled tightly in the first essay for 3 for 28, hit 44 in India's first innings and took two blinders when England batted again. After Chandrasekhar's magical figures of 6 for 38, it was Solkar's allround show that made India's triumph possible.
Though he did not do anything remarkable with the ball or bat (save for a brilliant 75 in the opening Test at Delhi) in the 1972-73 home series against England, he excelled as a fielder and took 12 catches in five Tests. He achieved little on India's disastrous tour of England in 1974 except to dismiss Geoffrey Boycott in three successive innings.
A painstaking 102 (his only Test century) against West Indies at Mumbai was Solkar's last hurrah. In a first-class career spanning 16 years, he scored 6,851 runs at 29.27, including eight centuries, took 276 wickets at 30.01 and took 190 catches. Apart from his 53 catches in 27 Tests, he made 1,068 runs at 25.42 and claimed 18 wickets at 59.44.
Eknath Dhondu Solkar, cricketer, born March 18 1948; died June 26 2005
