The Nearly Spinner

Being a slow left-arm bowler, Nilesh Moreshwar Kulkarni definitely broke quite a number of records with his very first ball itself! Carving his name in history by taking a wicket with his very first bowl in Test Cricket crowned him the first Indian bowler to achieve this astounding feat.

Nilesh Kulkarni in the only jersey that got him wickets; Source: Caughtatapoint

Born on this day in Dombivli, Maharasthra, Nilesh Kulkarni was off and running in just his first match. He was one of the many Mumbaikars to get a debut under the captaincy of Sachin Tendulkar.

Debuting against Sri Lanka at Colombo, he had his first victim Marvan Atapattu, caught behind on the first ball itself. He couldn't have wanted a better start.

Soon, Nilesh was about to get a very rude shock. Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama stuck to their guns on the crease and for the next twelve hours, the Indians were made to toil mercilessly by them. They made 576 runs together and guided their team to 952/6, the highest-ever score to this day. Kulkarni himself bowled 70 more overs that innings and fell short of scoring (getting scored off rather) a double-century himself.

He got a shot the next game too, but he couldn't make anything out of that game either. Dropped after his first two games, he was left to fend for himself until being called up against Australia 4 years later. Here to, Kulkarni failed to get anything but a wicket under his belt. That was that for his test match career.

The lanky bowler got 11 matches to make something of his career, but here too he was a colossal failure- managing just 11 wickets in 10 matches.

Nilesh Kulkarni's performances at the domestic level were absolutely opposite, snatching 357 wickets at a wonderful average of 24.89.

Even though he missed out on making it as a cricketer, he made it big as a sports educator- a pioneer in the field, the Indian Premier League was his ticket to success.

The lack of any knowledge about sports management prompted him to open the Indian Institute of Sports Management. The ten-year effort earned him the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar in 2020.

Although Nilesh Kulkarni did end up making a career for himself, one can only wonder what all could've been achieved, had he translated the promise he showed in the domestic circuit into concrete performance on the International level.