XtraTime Web Desk: Sad news for all the Indian on the 72nd Independence Day as former Indian cricket team captain Ajit Wadekar breathed his last today at the age of 77. He was suffering with lung cancer and was hospitalized for last three months.
Wadekar’s name will always be in the history books for 1971. In that year he led the Indian team which won historic series in West Indies and England.
The legendary cricketer made his first class debut in the 1958-59 season but he had to wait for almost 8 years until he got the call up for the national team in 1966-67.
He established himself in the Indian team and was a tower of strength to the Indian batting for seven years. He was one of the best No. 3 batsmen in the history of Indian cricket and one of the finest slip fielders.
Wadekar played 37 Test matches for the nation and scored 2113 scored at an average of 31.07. He scored his only century (143 runs) against New Zealand in 1967-68. Four times Ajit got out with 90 or more runs, but could not complete the century. Once he also scored 99 runs.
In his first-class career he played 237 matches and scored 15380 runs at an average of 47.03. He made the best score of 323 against Mysore in the Ranji Trophy match of the 1966-67. Ajit played a total of 18 Duleep Trophy matches, in which he was the captain of the West Zone. He captained the Bombay (Mumbai) team 6 times. Beside all these he was the chairman of the selection committee and was employed in a high post of State Bank of India.