The unfortunate demise of Mumbai's left-arm spin legend Padmakar Shivalkar on March 3 (last Monday) left not just Mumbai's, but the entire cricketing community deeply saddened. In a conversation with Mirror, former India left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi recalled how Shivalkar, who took a staggering 589 wickets in 124 first-class matches at an outstanding average of 19.69 between 1961-62 to 1987-88, had an impact on him, whenever he would interact with 'Paddy Sir' while playing tournaments in Mumbai.
"I met 'Paddy sir' for the first time in the 2000-01 season. I took a seven for 37 haul for Canara Bank against Reserve Bank of India in the All-India Bank Olympic tournament at the Police Gymkhana in Mumbai. Much to my good fortune, I was given the 'Man of the Match' award by domestic legend Padmakar Shivalkar. That was my first interaction with him. He said he was impressed by me, and would follow my exploits from now on, and that he was ready to guide me whenever I needed any advice," Joshi recalled.
Joshi, who took 41 wickets in 15 Tests, 69 wickets in 69 ODIs and 615 wickets in 160 first-class matches, said, "After that occasion, every time I played a match in Mumbai, I used to speak to him without any hesitation, to understand the nuances of spin bowling. 'Paddy sir' wasn’t a big fan of flight and loop, but he was easily the best in terms of accuracy amongst all the left-arm spinners of that era. When I learnt of his demise, my heart was very heavy and I could not believe the sad news. He was a great person and was always humble in his interactions with me. I'm sure he was similarly humble in his conversations with all the other cricketers as well," an emotional Joshi said. "May his soul rest in peace," he added.
"I was lucky to have interacted with all the spin greats of that era-Paddy sir, Rajinder Goel, Bishan Singh Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna, BS Chandrashekar and S Venkataraghavan. They all gave me pearls of wisdom which helped me in my career, and now I'm passing on those learnings to the youngsters," said Joshi, who is currently the head coach of Uttar Pradesh and the assistant coach of the IPL team Punjab Kings.
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