A surprise choice for the tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1967-68, Umesh Kulkarni was a nippy left-arm medium-pacer. He played three Tests against Australia and one against New Zealand but despite some help from the wickets, he was generally ineffective. His only feat worth recalling was to remove Bill Lawry for a duck in his first over with the new ball in the second innings of the first Test at Adelaide. In the third Test at Brisbane, he scored only 1 not out but held on firmly for about half an hour to help Jaisimha, who was 80 when Kulkarni joined him, to reach his century. He represented Bombay for a few years and then disappeared as quickly as he had entered the scene. In a brief first-class career, Kulkarni took 40 wickets at 39.95.
Partab Ramchand