Mumbai: Former India cricketer and president of Cricket Club of India Madhav Apte passed away at the Breach Candy hospital on Monday morning. He was 86.
Apte had represented India in seven Test matches and led Mumbai to two Ranji Trophy titles back in 1958-59 and 1961-62. Making his debut against Pakistan in 1952, Apte went on to score 542 international runs, which includes one century and three half-centuries in 13 innings. He was also the first Indian opener to aggregate over 400 runs in a Test series (460 runs against West Indies in 1953).
The right-handed batsman, however, had a much better first-class record where he scored 3,336 runs in 67 matches, which includes six hundreds and 16 fifties. His highest first-class score was 165 not out.
His performance at The Oval is credited to have prevented Don Bradman’s last innings from achieving an average of 100.00
He made his Test debut against Pakistan at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai in November 1952 and played his last test against West Indies at Kingston in April 1953.
Till his last breath, he was president of the ‘Legends Club’, a group formed to celebrate the achievements of different sportspersons.
