Gavaskar batted lefthanded and right in same innings

[fineleg]

interesting note I read, ofcourse some of you may know this well.

Look at the team strengths though, wonderful Ranji with gundapa vishwanath, brijesh patel, syed kirmani, with strong bombay opp.

 

Credit: wiki

Raghuram Bhat is chiefly remembered for the role he played in Karnataka's victory in the semifinal against Bombay. The 1981-82 Ranji semifinal was played between a strong Bombayteam and Karnataka at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Bombay had at their disposal some of the then current stars of the Indian cricket team, including Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ashok Mankad, Sandeep Patil, Ravi Shastri and Balwinder Sandhu.

Sunil Gavaskar captaining Bombay won the toss and decided to bat. Gavaskar opened the batting with Ghulam Parkar and put on a 62 run opening stand. Raghuram Bhat soon got into the act and dismissed Gavaskar for 41. He then had Vengsarkar bowled for 8. A 101 run partnership was established between Ghulam Parkar and Sandeep Patil. Raghuram Bhat got Ghulam Parkar Leg before wicket. That bought Ashok Mankad to the crease. Raghuram Bhat had Mankad edge the ball to Gundappa Viswanath at slip to leave Bombay at 184 for 5. Raghuram Bhat completed his hat-trick by dismissing Suru Nayak. Raguram Bhat went on to claim 3 more wickets as he ended up with his then best figures of 8 for 123. Bombay were dismissed for 271.^[3]

Karnataka batted well in their first innings. A fine century from M.Sudhakar Rao and a knock of 78 from Brijesh Patel ensured Karnataka overhauled Bombay's first innings total. Some fine late order batting from Syed Kirmani and Raghuram Bhat ensured Karnataka reached 470.^[4]

The pitch by then had deteriorated and was expected to help spin. Ghulam Parkar and Vengsarkar opened the batting for Bombay in the 2nd innings and put on 72. Bhat dismissed Vengsarkar and soon had Suru Nayak giving him a return catch to leave Bombay at 107 for 2. Bhat and fellow spinner B.Vijaykrishna went through the middle order to leave Bombay at 160 for 6. Sunil Gavaskar unusually walked to bat at number 8 and soon faced trouble from the spin of Raghuram Bhat. Gavaskar had earlier decided to bat left handed against Bhat, but was talked out of it by Bombay team manager Sharad Diwadkar. Sensing that he had no chance against Bhat, Sunil Gavaskardecided to bat as a left-hander against him. Sunil Gavaskar survived against Bhat batting as a left-hander and against Vijaykrishna batting as a right-hander. Gavaskar batted over 60 minutes as a left-hander and ensured Bombay did not lose outright. Bombay ended up at 200 for 9. Karnataka went through to the final based on the big first innings lead. Raghuram Bhat ended up with 13 wickets.^[5]

[nevada]

Interesting, had never heard about this before. Now, KL Rahul has a better chance of not getting out if he makes one small change - which is to not bat at all.

[fineleg]

Was Raghuram Bhat Left Arm Orthodox like Ravi Shastri?

[coffee_rules]

He was SLA, lost out to bowlers like Maninder, Siva, etc. Ranji dada, though.