Eknath Solkar played a very important role in the success of the famed Indian spin quartet of the 1970s because of his extraordinary reflexes and bravery while fielding close to the bat at forward short leg.
Solkar, who died in Mumbai on Sunday following a cardiac arrest, rose to represent India from humble beginnings - he was the son of the groundsman at the P J Hindu Gymkhana in south Mumbai, showed extra-ordinary courage by standing at hand-shaking distance from the batsmen to pouch catches out of nothing off the great spin exponents - Bishen Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and S Venkatraghavan.
In those days there were no helmets to protect the close-in fielders and there were no shin protectors, but Solkar - who volunteered to stand at the suicidal position when Mansur Ali Pataudi was the Indian captain - showed tremendous guts and selfless courage.
The all rounder, was a very gritty lower-order batsman who was very difficult to dislodge and a pretty useful medium pacer.
Solkar, who followed in the footsteps of Bapu Nadkarni, Salim Durrani and Rusi Surti to occupy the all-rounder's spot earned plaudits by twice dismissing the great Geoff Boycott when India toured England in 1971 and created history. He could bowl left-arm slow stuff too.
His Test record is nothing great at 1068 runs in 27 matches and 48 innings with only one century against the fearsome pace battery of Clive Lloyd's West Indies in the first ever Test played at the Wankhede stadium which was the deciding one of the five-match series in 1974-75.
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But he would forever be remembered for his extra-ordinary close-in fielding. In fact, he used to earn his place in the squad for his fabulous catching.
His fantastic fielding played a big part in India's famous victory at The Oval in the 1971 series against England which later helped Ajit Wadekar to become a member of Solkar's building society in Worli - the distinction of being the country's first-ever victorious captain against England in the latter's backyard.
In fact, when England visited India for the return series in 1972 Solkar once again played a big part by snapping up catches off Bedi, Chandra and Prasanna to help his team score another series win for a memorable back-to-back Test series triumph.
Solkar formed a great partnership with Wadekar at slip, Abid Ali at backward square leg or short fine leg and Venkat at gully to give the cutting edge to the great spin bowlers during that glorious period in Indian cricket.
