Former Maharashtra skipper Raju Bhalekar passed away

Former Maharashtra captain Raju Bhalekar has passed away in Pune on Saturday (April 14) due to a brief illness. He was 66 years old. He is understood to have undergone a second bypass surgery at a hospital in his hometown but unfortunately, the post-surgery complications resulted in multiple-organ failure. He was survived by his wife, son and a US-based daughter as his family suffered a huge loss following his death.

Bhalekar had led Maharashtra at Ranji trophy level and his first-class career spanned 14 years from 1972 to 1986. But he couldn’t play List A cricket for a long time as his career in the limited overs format could stretch only for 4 years from 1977 to 1981. Though while at the helm, Bhalekar led the side admirably well and he was being looked up for the same reason by the youngsters.

Cricketing career

Raju Bhalekar played only for Maharashtra during his 14-year cricket career and was mainly known for his contribution with the bat for his team. He used to lead from the front with the willow in hand and he did it consistently while playing 74 first-class matches. Raju amassed 3877 runs in 117 innings at an average of 39.16 with as many as 7 centuries. The highest score of his career was 207* which proves he was a class player and he also scored 18 half-centuries.

He also impressed everyone with his part-time off-breaks picking 35 wickets with 4/31 being his best effort with the ball. Bhalekar was also known as the bowler to arrest the run-scoring as he conceded runs only at an economy of 2.91 while delivering a whopping 3180 balls for Maharashtra in the longest format of the game. Unfortunately, he could never play for India despite brilliant performances at the domestic level. In 11 List A matches, he couldn’t contribute much as he only scored 64 runs batting down the order at an average of 37 and scalped 5 wickets.

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