Bapu Nadkarni is the former Indian cricketer played the domestic and international level cricket. He was closely associated with Maharashtra Cricket team and Mumbai Cricket Team.
Bapu Nadkarni represented Maharashtra Cricket Team in Ranji Trophy from 1951 to 1952 to 1959-1960 and Bombay Cricket team thereafter till 1967-1968. Bapu Nadkarni scored 201 runs not out and took 6/17 and 3/38 against Saurashtra Cricket Team in 1957-58 and 167 and seven wickets in the match against Gujarat Cricket Team in 1958-1959. The highest score of Bapu Nadkarni was the six hour innings of 283 runs (not out) against Delhi Cricket team in the 1960-1961 semi-final matches.
Bapu Nadkarni, who is also known as Rameshchandra Gangaram Nadkarni entered in the Indian cricket scene appearing in the Rohinton Baria Trophy for Pune University in 1950-1951.
Rameshchandra Gangaram Nadkarni made his first-class debut for Maharashtra Cricket Team in the next year. The two years later, Rameshchandra Gangaram Nadkarni scored his first hundred, against Bombay Cricket team at the Brabourne Stadium.
Bapu Nadkarni scored his 103 runs not out in just over three hours, and added 103 runs for the last wicket Sadashiv Patil, another Indian cricketer of that time.
Bapu Nadkarni got a lucky break when he was picked to play against New Zealand in the Test at Feroz Shah Kotla in 1955-56 when Vinoo Mankad rested himself. He scored 68 runs (not out), but bowled 57 overs in the match without taking a wicket. When Mankad returned, Bapu Nadkarni found himself out of the team. Bapu Nadkarni became the captain of Maharashtra Cricket team in the same year.
Bapu Nadkarni was well-known for bowling an unerring line to batsmen which made it nearly impossible to score. It is often told that he used to put a coin on the pitch when he practiced in the nets, and would practice hitting the coin with every delivery.[citation needed] He had a career economy rate of less than 2.00 runs per over.
Nadkarni is perhaps best known for his bowling in the Madras Test against England in 1963-64. His figures at the end of third day of the match, bowling mostly against Brian Bolus and Ken Barrington, read 29 overs, 26 maidens, and no wickets for three runs. He finished with figures of 32-27-5-0 and bowled a record twenty one consecutive maiden overs (131 dot balls in a row) in a 114 minute bowling spell. In the final Test of that series, Bapu Nadkarni hit 52 runs (not out) and 122 runs (not out). It remained his only hundred in Test cricket in international arena.
Batting Average
| Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 | 6s | Ct | St | |
| Tests | 41 | 67 | 12 | 1414 | 122* | 25.7 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 22 | 0 |
| First-class | 191 | 266 | 46 | 8880 | 283* | 40.36 | 14 | 46 | 140 | 0 |
Bowling Average
| Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
| Tests | 41 | 65 | 9165 | 2559 | 88 | 6/43 | 11/122 | 29 | 1.67 | 104 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| First-class | 191 | 38913 | 10686 | 500 | 6/17 | 21 | 1.64 | 78 | 19 | 1 |
Bapu Nadkarni took 5/31 and 6/91 against Australia Cricket team at Madras (Chennai) in 1964 to 1965. He was dropped from the tour of England in 1967 but, in New Zealand that winter, he bowled India to a win at Wellington with career best figures of 6/43. On return from this trip, Bapu Nadkarni announced his retirement from first-class cricket hemisphere. His first class cricket spanned from 1951-1968.
