Sudhir Naik Age, Death, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sudhir Naik

• Sudhir Naik was an Indian cricketer who is known for playing the Ranji Trophy for Bombay in the 70s.

• In an interview, he said that when he was young, he used to pester small animals and play cricket with the table tennis ball. He used to play with kids from Tardeo’s Chikkalwadi. When he was in class 10, his elder brother advised him to meet Vinoo Mankad, who provided coaching for him.

• He started playing cricket for Bombay University and later, he became the captain of the Tata Oil Mills team where he was also an employee.

• He was a studious child and was always fund studying when not playing cricket. He used to carry his books and study even when he was on tour. He used to wake up at five in the morning and study for a few hours.

• According to Sudhir, he never wanted to play cricket but he dreamt of becoming the boss of a company because at that time there was not much money in cricket.

• Before choosing MSc in Organic Chemistry, he applied for an engineering degree and even got admission to VJTI (Veermata Jeejabai Technological Institute) in Mumbai. He changed his decision after former cricketer Madhav Apte messaged him and told him that if he chose to engineer, he would not get time to play cricket.

• When he was the captain of the cricket team at Bombay University, he became the only captain to win the Police Shield Tournament and Mahindra Shield Tournament for two consecutive years (1967 and 68).
  

  Sudhir Naik when he was young

• He was later chosen for Mumbai’s junior squad and also made it to the senior team.

• In an interview, Naik said that before 1970, only one team was allowed to play the knock-out rounds. So, his team used to win against Maharashtra because of this in 1970, Maharashtra proposed to the BCCI to allow two teams from each group to play in the knock-out. The offer was accepted by the BCCI. In 1971, Bombay became number 2 in the West Zone.

• In 1974, he played three Test matches and two One Day Internationals for the Indian cricket team.

• He was the opening batsman in India’s 1974 tour of England. He did not get a chance to play the first and second Tests, in spite of being the highest scorer in all the tour games. He scored 77 runs in the second innings, but India could not win the match. This was the highest scorer in that innings making him Man of the Match for India.

• In 1970-71, his excellent performance led Bombay to an unexpected Ranji Trophy triumph even when Sunil Gavaskar and Ajit Wadekar were in West Indies to play a match.

• In the 1972 Ranji season, he was not included in the playing XI because other batsmen were included in the squad. In an interview, he talked about this and said,
  

  I was dropped for the knock-outs. I had good scores and it was definitely unfair. It was politics played by some of our own senior players. They were afraid that if Sudhir plays in the knock-outs, he may get selected for India and we may go out. That was dirty politics. But this is part and parcel of the game.”

• In 1974, his performance in first-class matches where he scored 730 runs (40.55) got him entry into the Indian team and he played the final Test at Edgbaston.

• In 1973-94, he played the Ranji Trophy against Baroda where he scored 2687 runs (40.10) which became the highest score of 200 not out.
  

  Sudhir Naik in batting action

• He hit his first four for India in a One-day International match in England as he scored 18 from 29 balls.

• He used to work as an organic chemist.

• He was the coach at his own National Cricket Club, Mumbai where cricketers like Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, Rajesh Pawar, Raju Sutar and Paras Mhambrey were trained.

• In 2005, he became the ground in charge at the Wankhede Cricket Stadium and took care of the wicket and the outfield before the matches. In 2011, he prepared the pitch for the 2011 World Cup at the Wankhede Cricket Ground in Mumbai. He also used to prepare the grounds and pitches of the west zone in the capacity of West Zone In-charge of BCCI’s Ground and Pitch Committee. In 1984-85, he also served on the Mumbai selection committee as a chief selector and managing committee member.
  

  Sudhir Naik as the ground in-charge discussing about the pitch

• In 2016, he retired from his job because Ravi Shastri criticized him for an improper pitch. In an interview, he mentioned that he was 70 years old and could not take the things Shastri said.

• In his domestic career, he scored 4376 runs in 85 First-Class matches with seven hundred and 27 fifties.

• The players in his club used to call him James after James Bond.

• According to former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar, Sudhir was a straightforward person.

• In the 1970s, he was accused of stealing two pairs of socks at a London departmental store, but the BCCI at that time was not strong enough to take a stand for him because of this he had to suffer a lot. Sunil Gavaskar talked about the incident in the book ‘Sunny Days’ and said that Naik should have been provided with good lawyers to prove him innocent in court. However, just after the incident, he scored a half-century in a test match.

• On 24 March 2023, he fell down in his residence in Dadar after which he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai because of an injury on his head. He died on 5 April 2023. After his death, Zaheer Khan expressed his condolences on his death and said,
  

  A day after he was hospitalised, I went and saw him. He was responding to the treatment. He recognised me and tried talking to me. I had a bit of a conversation with him. Knowing the personality that I have seen over the years, I was hoping he would fight through this. But it wasn’t to be. On Sunday night, he became critical, and we were told that the next 72 hours will be critical. While we were hoping for his recovery, all through this time, I have been recalling my innumerable conversations with him as soon as I moved to Mumbai.”

  

  Sudhir Naik with Zaheer Khan

• In an interview, Milind Rege, former Mumbai captain said that he had seen Sudhir wearing torn gloves and his self-respect was so much that he would not ask anybody for spare gloves. In the interview, he remember the days spent with Sudhir and said that they used to travel in a taxi to the Ranji Trophy games with their kits. They used to live in the same neighbourhood and went to practice together. He also remembered that most of the time they were together. He also said that Sudhir was a great captain. In the interview, he said,
  

  He was extremely sound tactically. That was his plus point. He knew his field placement, he knew the temperament of his players. Sudhir would never rebuke us on the field. He never told us, “ Kya kar raha hai? Barabar se bowling nahi ho raha hai (What are you doing? You are not bowling properly)… He would put his arm around us and be very cool and calm. In that final of 1970-71, we were all youngsters – most of us were in our early 20s – with the exception of Vijay Bhosale and Padmakar Shivalkar. We were just raw talents and he captained the team marvellously. He was a great leader.”

• His last Test was at Eden Gardens against the West Indies in 1975.