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Dinkar Balwant Deodhar (14 January 1892 – 24 August 1993) was an Indian cricketer. He played first-class cricket from 1911 to 1948.
 Deodhar on a 1996 stamp of India | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 14 January 1892 Poona, Bombay presidency, British India (Now Pune, Maharashtra, India) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 24 August 1993 (aged 101) Pune, Maharashtra, India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Legbreak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: CricketArchive, 7 July 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Deodhar was born in Poona (now Pune), British India. He was a professor of Sanskrit at Pune College.[1]
Popularly known as the Grand Old Man of Indian Cricket, Deodhar was an aggressive right-hand batsman and a leg-break bowler. He captained Maharashtra in Ranji Trophy matches from 1939 to 1941. In his first-class career, he played 81 matches, scoring 4,522 runs at an average of 39.32 with a highest score of 246.[2]
Deodhar was vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the President of the Maharashtra Cricket Association, and also a national team selector.
Like Bill Ashdown, Deodhar is one of the few people known to have played first-class cricket both before the First World War and after the Second World War, having played in the Bombay Triangular in 1911 and the Ranji Trophy in 1946.[3] In a Ranji Trophy game against Nawanagar in 1944, he scored centuries in both innings, helping his team win.[4] He was aged 53 at the time.[5]
He was awarded the Padma Shri award in 1965 and the Padma Bhushan in 1991 by the Indian Government.[6] He was the first Indian first-class cricketer known to have lived to 100. Vasant Raiji became the second in 2020. Raiji died a few months after becoming a centenarian.[7]
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India's former National Badminton Champions Tara Deodhar, Sunder Deodhar, and Suman Deodhar are his daughters.[8]
The Deodhar Trophy, a limited overs inter-zonal cricket tournament played in India since 1973, is named after him. In 1996, India Post issued a commemorative stamp in his honour. A bronze statue of Deodhar was unveiled at Pune's Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in 2012.[9]
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