Sadashiv Shinde

Who was Sadashiv Shinde?

Sadashiv Ganpatrao "Sadu" Shinde was an Indian cricketer who played in seven Tests from 1946 to 1952.

A leg-spinner, Shinde was described as "frail and willowy". Apart from the leg break and the conventional googly, Shinde could also bowl a different googly. According to Sujit Mukherjee, "coming after the orthodox wrist-crooked wrong-'un, this delivery invariably sprang a nasty surprise. Ripped off the top of the third finger, it hastened unexpectedly off the pitch. Its tendency to pitch short nullified its efficacy as secret weapon but was practically unplayable when properly pitched."

Shinde's first performance of note in first class cricket was a 5 for 186 that took in 75.5 overs for Maharashtra against Bombay in 1943-44 as Vijay Merchant made 359* for Bombay. He toured England with the Indian team in 1946 and took 39 wickets in tour matches. In his only appearance in a Test match, at Lord's, he was involved in a stand of 43 for the last wicket with Rusi Modi, but did little with the ball. In the next five years, he played in only one more Test.

His one major success in Tests came against England at Delhi in 1951-52. He was brought on to bowl as the third change just before lunch on the first day of the series. Immediately after lunch he bowled Don Kenyon middle stump with a googly, and followed with Jack Robertson lbw and Donald Carr caught by wicket-keeper Nana Joshi off a leg-break. He was 8-2-16-3 at this point. He took three more wickets after tea as England were bowled out for 203 five minutes before close. Shinde's figures were 6/91. India took a handsome first innings lead and had two days to bowl England out in the second innings. But Shinde had seven chances missed off his bowling, most crucially by Joshi and the substitute Dattajirao Gaekwad, and England managed to save the match. Shinde himself missed a run out.