In the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final on March 4, India faces Australia on the pitch of Dubai. Team India has been observed wearing black bands on their arm to mourn the loss of domestic cricket legend, Padmakar Shivalkar. He passed away at the age of 84 on March 3. An extremely talented left-arm spinner of his time, he is considered to be one of the greatest players to not play for Team India, a coinciding career with Bishan Singh Bedi.

Who is Padamakar Shivalkar?

Shivalkar has played as a contemporary to Haryana’s Rajinder Goel, the highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy history. Both received the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017. Sunil Gavaskar once remarked that they played in the era of the greatest left-arm bowler he had seen in a conversation with The Hindu. Shivalkar was instrumental in Bombay’s Ranji Trophy dominance, winning ten titles between 1965-66 and 1976-77, with another victory in 1980-81. Remarkably, he returned at 47 to play two matches in the 1987-88 season. Across 124 first-class matches, he claimed 589 wickets at an average of 19.69, including 361 in the Ranji Trophy.

ALSO READ

VVS Laxman took to X and shared his condolences for Padmakar Shivalkar “sir”. He shared that he had heard of his, “exploits in domestic cricket and how unfortunate he was to not represent the country.”

IND vs AUS Semi-Final 2025

As the ICC Champions Trophy semi-final is underway, this match will decide which team will battle for the title in the final. After 8 overs, Varun Chakravarty came to an attack in a mystery, sending Travis Head back to the pavillion. With Steve Smith still on strike, fans await India’s chase of the score.

India retained the playing XI from the previous matches with Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy in the team.