It's left arm maestro Raghuram Bhatt's birthday. A Karnataka stalwart, he was unfortunate to have got just 2 tests to prove his skill. But he has one record no other bowler can claim. He got the legendary Sunil Gavaskar to bat left handed. The story.

It was March 1982, Bombay, led by Gavaskar were playing Karnataka, led by his brother-in-law GR Viswanath in the Ranji semi-final. Both were star studded teams, Bombay had Vengsarkar, Patil, Shastri & Sandhu in their ranks while Binnny, Kirmani & Patel were with Vishy.

Bombay batted first but after a decent start, Bhatt got going on the Chinnaswamy wicket. He got a a hattrick and took 8 for 123 as Bombay finished at 271. Karnataka replied with 470 & given that it was a 4 day match, Bombay were already looking at defeat on the 1st innings lead.

They started their 2nd innings with Vengsarkar opening with Parker. As Bhatt kept taking wickets, Gavaskar walked in at 7 and faced him left handed. He batted right to Vijaykrishna & left to him. Incredibly he survived for an hour for 18 & Karnataka were denied an outright win!