Sports News Desk !!! Rajinder Goel (English: Rajinder Goel, born- 20 September 1942, Punjab; died- 21 June 2020, Rohtas, Haryana) was an Indian cricketer. He made his mark in cricket as a bowler. Rajinder Goel took 750 wickets in 157 matches while playing for Haryana and North Zone. He played cricket from 1958-1959 to 1984-1985, but he never got a chance to represent India, because then India had a left-arm spinner in the form of Bishan Singh Bedi. In his career, he achieved the feat of taking 5 wickets in an innings 59 times and 10 wickets 18 times. Rajinder Goel is still the highest wicket-taker in first-class cricket.
Introduction
Rajinder Goyal was born on 20 September 1942 in Punjab. His father was appointed as Assistant Station Master in Indian Railways. Rajinder Goyal’s son is Nitin Goyal who himself has been a first class cricketer and is a match referee of domestic matches. Rajinder Goyal was one of the best left-arm spinners. Even after retirement, he made valuable contributions to this game. It is noteworthy that this left-arm spinner had a very long career in domestic cricket.
record
Despite not getting a place in the national team, Rajinder Goyal continued to play domestic cricket from 1958-59 to 1984-85. In these 26 seasons, he represented Haryana Ranji Trophy He took 637 wickets in 1999, which is a record in the national championship. He took 750 wickets in 157 matches in first-class cricket. It was Bishan Singh Bedi who presented him the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award at the BCCI Awards ceremony.
This was the reason why
Rajinder Goyal had the amazing ability to bowl long spells. It was impossible to play him on a pitch that was giving even a little help. The fact that he played for such a long time can be gauged from the fact that he played against Vijay Manjrekar as well as his son Sanjay.
Place in Gavaskar’s book
Rajinder Goyal was also among the players who were given place by Sunil Gavaskar in his book ‘Idols’. Gavaskar has written in his book that – “Goyal brought new shoes and kit for himself, but he was selected as the 12th player. Bedi returned in the next test match, but Goyal never got a chance to represent the country again.” Kapil Dev has definitely been the best cricketer of Haryana, but before him it was Rajinder Goyal who had handled the bowling command of this state very well. When Haryana led by Kapil Dev won the Ranji Trophy by defeating Mumbai in 1991, Goyal was the chairman of its selection committee. Once Goyal was asked whether he was sad that he did not get a chance to play for India due to being in the Bedi era. He said, ‘No, not at all. Bishan Bedi was a great bowler.’
Bowling Specialty
Another characteristic of Rajinder Goyal’s bowling was that he did not allow the batsman to use his feet for drives. He always tried to put the batsman on the backfoot. Change of pace was another characteristic of his bowling. Many times, even batsmen who played spin very well got trapped in front of him. Similarly, Vijay Manjrekar, who played spin very well, also played very cautiously against him and he used to get him caught by the nearby fielder on the inside edge. Another left-arm spinner Padmakar Shivalkar considered him a greater spinner than himself. Dilip Vengsarkar used to wait for him to play in the Times Shield. By playing against a quality spinner, he had the opportunity to prepare for international matches. Bishan Singh Bedi has admitted that when he got his first chance in Tests, Rajinder Goyal was a better bowler than him.
Death
Rajinder Goyal died on June 21, 2020 in Rohtas, Haryana.
