“Indian cricket has lost a real champion,” said Sunil Gavaskar on Friday on hearing about Bapu Nadkarni’s death.
“He came as assistant manager for quite a number of our tours. He was very encouraging. His favourite term was chodo mat (hang in there) which we all learnt from.
Gritty player
“He was gritty considering that he played in the days when gloves and thigh pads were not very good, as you would get hit, but he still hung in there, as he believed in chodo mat”, Gavaskar said.
“Every time he was on a tour he was very very helpful in terms of strategy. At lunch time or tea time, he would say try this if you were a fielding captain. He would tell bring this bowler, or ask this bowler to bowl round the wicket. He was fantastic.”
“He was probably the main guy instrumental in having Sandeep Patil come back after a blow on his head. He was the one who kept urging Sandeep that ‘it doesn’t matter, you are here and you should go out and bat again’. Bapuji was the assistant manager on the tour.
“It was only because of him that Sandeep went on to score that 174 in the next Test because Bapuji was constantly there with him.
