Hemant Kanitkar came into national reckoning by a series of splendid performances around the domestic circuit. But his international record did not come anywhere near his feats at the national level. A stocky and gritty right-hand batsman and a sound wicketkeeper, Kanitkar scored a career-best 65 in his first Test innings against West Indies at Bangalore, but successive scores of 18, 8 and 20 meant that he could not consolidate his place in the side and he was discarded for good. He remained a tower of strength for Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy in which he scored 3632 runs (43.75), with a highest score of 250 against Rajasthan in 1970-71. In a first-class career that lasted from 1963 to 1978, Kanitkar scored 5007 runs (42.79) with 13 centuries and 87 dismissals, 68 of them caught. He is the father of Hrishikesh Kanitkar.
Partab Ramchand