Padmanabh Joshi

JOSHI, PADMANABH GOVIND (NANA), died in Pune on January 8, 1987, aged 60. A sound wicket-keeper and useful, versatile right-hand batsman, he appeared in twelve Tests for India over nine seasons. He had already announced his possibilities as a batsman with a dour, unbeaten 100 for a combined team againt "Jock" Livingstone's Commonwealth side at Nagpur in 1949-50 when he was called up by India in 1951-52 for the First Test against Nigel Howard's Engand side. He took two catches and made two stumpings in the first innings but was not required to bat, yet India dispensed with his services until the Fourth test, then dropped him again for the Fifth, so establishing a pattern which prevailed until 1960-61, when he played in his final Test, against Pakistan at Bombay. He scored 52 not out and with R. B. Desai added 149 for the ninth wicket, which was still a record for India against all countries at the time of his death. His highest score in Tests, this took his aggregate to 207, with an average of 10.89; hardly, perhaps, what had been expected. In addition, he took eighteen catches and made nine stumpings. He had been on two tours, to the West Indies in 1952-53 and to England in 1959, when he played in three of the Tests. He played for Maharashtra from 1946-47 to 1964-65, captaining them from 1960-61 till 1962-63 and in 78 first-class matches scored 1,724 runs with an average of 17.06, caught 120 batsmen and stumped 61.