Padmakar Shivalkar, regarded as one of the greatest Indian cricketers never to have played for the national team, has passed away at the age of 84. The legendary Mumbai spinner breathed his last on Monday in Mumbai.
Shivalkar was often mentioned alongside another left-arm spinner, Rajinder Goel, the highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy history. Despite dominating domestic cricket for years, neither of them got the opportunity to represent India. The reason? They played in an era when Bishan Singh Bedi, considered by many as the greatest left-arm spinner of all time, was in his prime.
In 2017, when the BCCI honored both Goel and Shivalkar with the C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar expressed his regret in an interview with The Hindu, saying, “My one regret as the Indian captain was that I couldn’t convince the selectors to give Goel Saab and Paddy (Shivalkar) a chance to play for India.”
He further added, “They were born in the same era as the best left-arm spinner I have seen, Bishan Singh Bedi. Otherwise, they too would have played many Tests for India.”
During Mumbai’s golden era in Ranji Trophy cricket, when the team dominated the tournament, Shivalkar shared the dressing room with Gavaskar. Between the 1965-66 and 1976-77 seasons, Mumbai won 10 Ranji Trophy titles, with Shivalkar playing a key role in those triumphs. Barring one season, Mumbai clinched the title in every edition during that period. He was also part of the victorious 1980-81 Mumbai team.
Astonishingly, seven years later, at the age of 47, Shivalkar made a brief return, playing two matches in the 1987-88 season.
His first-class career began in 1962 when he made his debut at the age of 22. Over 124 matches, he picked up 589 wickets at an incredible average of 19.69. In the Ranji Trophy alone, he took 361 wickets, the highest by any Mumbai bowler in the tournament’s history. He claimed five-wicket hauls 42 times, with his best bowling figures being 8 for 16 in the 1972-73 Ranji Trophy final against Tamil Nadu—a match Mumbai won in just two days.
