Ajit Dattaram Naik, former Mumbai all-rounder died suddenly on Sunday evening, 28th February at Ghaziabad where he was posted since 1984. Born at Mumbai on 17th December, 1949, Naik was aged 49 years at the time of death.

He was a right hand middle-order batsman and a decent medium pace bowler. He came into prominence when he was selected to lead the Indian schoolboys team to England in 1967. The team also had the Amarnath brothers (Mohinder and Surinder) and Syed Kirmani, who was the vice-captain.

In the absence of the main Mumbai players who were in the West Indies, he got selected for the Ranji Trophy team during the 1970-71 season. He made his debut in the Ranji final against Maharashra in April, 1971. On the first morning, he joined opener Ramnath Parkar, with Mumbai losing three wickets for just 12 runs. However, this pair retrieved the situation with a stand of 142 runs which enabled Mumbai reach a respectable total. Naik's contribution being an invaluable 42 runs. He later claimed the vital wicket of Maharashtra captain Chandu Borde (48). Mumbai won this closely fought match by 48 runs and retained the Ranji Trophy despite the absence of its established stars.

In all he appeared in 13 Ranji matches upto 1972-73. He scored 436 runs (avg 27.25) with one hundred - 102 against Saurashtra at Rajkot in 1972-73. His also captured 27 wickets (avg 24.70) with a best of 5-20 against Baroda at Baroda in 1971-72.

He also represented Mumbai in two Irani Trophy matches in 1972-73 and 1973-74. He did not do anything of note except capturing three for 59 runs in the 1972-73 match.

He played his lone Duleep Trophy match in the 1971-72 final for West Zone against Central Zone at Bangalore.

He was survived by his parents, wife, son and daughter. He was working with the Tatas in their marketing department in Ghaziabad, near Delhi.

His first-class record (1970-71 to 1973-74)

         M  Inn NO  Runs  Avg    HS 100  50  Cts  Runs Wkts   Avg  5w 10w Best
Ranji   13  18  2   436  27.25  102  1    1   5   667   27   24.70  2  -  5-20
Duleep   1   2  -    17   8.50   10  -    -   -    23    0     
Irani    2   4  -    29   7.25   13  -    -   -   126    3   42.00  -  -  3-59
Total   15  24  2   482  21.90  102  1    1   5   816   30   27.20  2  -  5-20

Contributed by: Mohandas Menon (mohan_menon@nagar.com)