All Ten: The Ultimate Bowling Feat

242 Pradeep Sunderam Sunderam had bowled unchanged and easily improved on his previous best figures of five for 98. Although the other bowlers of course failed to strike, they supported him by conceding runs at less than two an over. Opening bowler Yunus Ali and slow left-armer Ratan Singh were both making their first-class debuts. Ali’s career only amounted to four matches, but Singh would eventually take 94 wickets in 28 matches. Anju Mudkavi was a very occasional bowler but his older brother, off-spinner Sanju, had a quite successful career, finishing with 169 wickets from 75 matches. In the previous season he had taken eight for 60 against Railways (and 11 wickets in the match), with Sunderam picking up the other two wickets. In 1983/84, as part of a new scoring system, penalty points for slow over- rates had been introduced for Ranji Trophy zonal matches and Vidarbha’s 140 had benefited from the addition of an extra 20 runs courtesy of tardy Rajasthan bowlers. In fact 80 penalty runs, 20 in each innings, would be conceded in the match as the over-rate fell five short of the required number in each innings. Penalty runs would be replaced by fines in the early 1990s. Medium pacer Thakre continued to enjoy himself when Rajasthan went in, taking the first four wickets and finishing with five for 44. The home side’s final total score of 218 was much helped by the generosity of Vidarbha who conceded 23 byes, bowled 15 no-balls and also donated their opponents 20 penalty runs. The Vidarbha openers, wicketkeeper Praveen Hingnikar and captain Vijay Telang, did no better the second time around, again scoring just one run between them as Sunderam once more struck early. Having failed to score in the first innings Vikas Gawate redeemed himself with an undefeated 50 and helped give his side a chance of victory. Taking six for 76 Sunderam finished with match figures of sixteen for 154 to become the third bowler after Frank Tarrant (England v India [12-a-side] in 1915/16) and Jack Meyer (Europeans v Muslims in 1927/28) to take 16 wickets in a match in India. He was of course the first Indian to do so. Chasing 107 to win Rajasthan seemed to have little chance of victory when their ninth wicket fell at 62. With the exception of 20-year-old debutant Sohain Jain, whose 30 would be the highest score of his four-match career, none of the first nine batsman reached double figures. However a last wicket partnership of 33 edged them closer before the tenth wicket fell at 95. A narrow defeat? Well no, because when the penalty runs for Vidarbha’s slow over-rate were added at the end of the innings Rajasthan’s total jumped to 115, and a nine-run victory had been secured! Strange but true. Having qualified for the knockout stages of the Trophy by finishing second in their group to Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan advanced to the semi-final by virtue of a first innings lead in their quarter-final match against Andhra. Sunderam hadn’t played in the quarter-final, and he only bowled four overs in the semi-final which Rajasthan lost to a formidable Delhi side in a match dominated by spinners. He retired five years later without playing