An inning better than Don.

The birth of one India’s stalwart cricketer, the man who threatened the record of Bradman “Bhausaheb Nimbalkar.”He was left stranded in the middle of the ground. His 443* remains the highest score, and the only quadruple century, in Indian first-class cricket. The then-record of highest individual score was 452* by Bradman against Queensland in 1930. Playing for Maharashtra against Kathiawar at Poona in 1948-49, he was almost there to break the record of Don, but after tea Thakur Sahib of Rajkot, Kathiawar’s captain surrendered the match. Raja Gokhale, Maharashtra’s captain, urged Kathiawar to play for at least two over and allow Nimbalkar to surpass Don’s record but all in vain. The unsporting Thakur Sahib deprived not only Nimbalkar but also Maharashtra team to become the highest-scoring team in a Ranji Trophy match. Nimbalkar scored almost run a minute 443 runs in 494 minutes studded with 49 fours and a solitary six.

Bhau told reporters, “My captain Raja Gokhale requested the opposition to come on to the field for two overs so that I could get the record. But they refused to do so and conceded the match. They kept saying that you have already scored so many runs, why do you want to get more runs.”He received a personal message from Bradman saying that he considered his innings better than his own. In a career spanning from 1939/ 40 to 1964/65, Bhau scored 4841 runs at an average of 48. He never got the opportunity to represent India, and his score of 443 remains the highest score by a player not represent his country. He played one unofficial match for India against the Commonwealth team in 1949-50, where he scored 48.