Dattatraya Gajanan "Dattu" Phadkar (12 December 1925 – 17 March 1985) was an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

who represented

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

. Phadkar was an attacking middle order batsman, a medium pace bowler who could swing the ball both ways and extract life from the wicket, and usually fielded in the slips. He was one of the cricketing heart-throbs of his day. Phadkar was educated in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

in the Robert Money High School and took a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

degree from

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1856, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the edu ...

. At the age of 10, he scored 156 in an inter-school match. He represented

Bombay University University of Mumbai is a public state university in Mumbai. It is one of the largest university systems in the world with over 549,000 students on its campuses and affiliated colleges. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. It was est ...

at cricket between 1941/42 and 1946/47. On his collegiate debut, he hit 274, which was then a record. He underwent training at

Alf Gover Alfred Richard Gover (29 February 1908 – 7 October 2001) was an English Test cricketer. He was the mainstay of the Surrey bowling attack during the 1930s and played four Tests before and after the Second World War. He also founded and ran ...

's cricket school. Picked for the Indian tour of Australia in 1947/48, Phadkar shone more with the bat than the ball. On his debut on a difficult wicket at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

he hit 51 while batting at eight and took 3 for 14. Promoted to No.6, he scored 123 at

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and added a record 188 for the sixth wicket with

Vijay Hazare Vijay Samuel Hazare (11 March 1915 – 18 December 2004) was an Indian cricketer. He captained India in 14 matches between 1951 and 1953. In India's 25th Test match, nearly 20 years after India achieved Test status, he led India to its first ...

. Phadkar went on to top the batting averages and scored at least a fifty in all the four Tests that he played. Next year against West Indies at

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, Phadkar took 7 for 159 which remained his best figures in Tests. But his efforts at bowling bouncers in this match led to the West Indian bowlers reacting in kind and the defeat of India. In the exciting last Test where India needed 361 and ended up six runs short, Phadkar hit 37 not out. His other major innings was 115 against England in 1951/52. When India lost disastrously in England in 1952, he was one of the few players to come out with some credit. At

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

where India lost the first four wickets before scoring a run, Phadkar and Hazare added 105 for the sixth wicket. Phadkar played in 13 unofficial Tests. He played all the ten Tests against the touring Commonwealth teams in 1949/50 and 1950/51. In the former series where India used four captains, Phadkar led the team in the final Test. He made his first class debut at the age of 17 and went on to captain Bombay in 1950/51. Against Maharashtra in 1948/49 – a match in which 2376 runs were scored – he hit 131 and 160, and took 3/142 and 3/168. His highest first class score was 217 scored against Maharashtra in 1950/51 out of a Bombay total of 725 for 8.Bombay v Maharashtra 1950-51
/ref> He played in the Lancashire League for

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

, and for

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

in the Central Lancashire League. He was a national selector in the 1970s. MCC made him a life member in 1968. He worked for Tata & Sons in Bombay and also for the

Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to roa ...

. Suhas Phadkar, Dattu's brother's son, later played cricket for Vidarbha and captained the team in the 1980s. After retirement he ran a kindergarten school with his wife in

Behala Behala is a locality of South West Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Behala is a part of Kolkata Municipal Corporation area. It is broadly spread across Ward Numbers: 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, ...

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, called Sunny Preparatory School. His death was due to a brain illness.

References

* Christopher Martin-Jenkins, ''The Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers'' * Obituary in Indian Cricket 1985

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phadkar, Dattu 1925 births 1985 deaths India Test cricketers Indian cricketers 20th-century Indian sportsmen Mumbai cricketers Commonwealth XI cricketers Maharashtra cricketers Hindus cricketers Bengal cricketers Railways cricketers West Zone cricketers North Zone cricketers Sportspeople from Kolhapur Cricketers from Mumbai