Eknath Solkar: 
Bombay in 1968-69 Ranji Trophy final facing blue from the bolt as their esteemed crown, the trophy, was in jeopardy. For this state only they have to blame, having spilled dozens of sitters. After spinner Eknath Solkar and Miland Rege sent Bengal’s top-order back to the pavilion, Bengal skipper Chuni Goswami, the former India football team captain, had two big partnership with Debu Mitra and Gopal Bose to add 262 runs. When Bengal got out for 387, the diehard Bombay fans were confident that Bombay’s batting line up would get past that total without any fuss. Years of brilliance had molded their thinking so.
But this was not the real story of the match. The real story was happening of this game was actually happening off the field. When Bombay preparing hard for the final only a few days remaining for the big day, allrounder Eknath Solkar was spending sleepless nights at the G.T. hospital. Solkar at 20 was young and talented. He was the son of Hindu Gymkhana groundsman Dhondu Solkar. On the fateful day of 9 February 1969, Dhondu had slipped and tumbled down the stairs to the ground floor. He was admitted to the hospital. Dhondu remained in a coma hardly responding to the treatment.
The date of Ranji final approaching and Bombay needed Eknath’s expertise, but how could his mind off his ailing father? Hardly anyone in Bombay cricket circle knew what Solkar was going through “for more than weeks, I hadn’t slept.” Hemant Mafatal made Solkar be tough. “I decided to play the match but never mentioned to anyone about my father’s condition,” Eknath recounted.
Eknath decided to play. He carried the legacy and burden of a decade of wins. To lose not an option. Yet again Bengal had reduced them to a crisis. On day four ,when two youngsters Eknath and Milind Rege returned to the pavilion at the end of play, they did not even have double digits against their name in the scorecard. There were fear and unrest of losing the match. In the middle of this, the news came that his father died. But, Solkar had just come out of the field; his mind was absorbed in his team’s crisis. The news shook him out of sense. With tears rolling down from his cheeks, he performed the last rites of his father who had made him the player that he was.
His plight could have made Bombay’sorrow. But, Solkar turned to his tearful mother and said his team needed him. The next morning he was there on the field, more determined than ever before. The tears dried up from his face but the memory hadn’t. Solkar and Rege faced the lethal barrage from Ramesh Bhatia and Suborot Guha and did so with tremendous courage. Their fight paid off as Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy.
He kept contributing till he died in 2005 at the age of 57.