417 FC wickets, just 3 Tests: The forgotten story of Subhash Gupte’s brother Baloo

On August 30, 1934, Balkrishna Pandharinath Gupte was born into a family that would produce two accomplished leg-spinners. But while his elder brother Subhash Gupte went on to become one of the finest spinners of his generation, Baloo Gupte spent much of his cricketing life in his shadow.Baloo, as Balkrishna was known, was no ordinary cricketer. He was an orthodox leg-spinner and googly bowler who built a formidable reputation in Indian domestic cricket, taking more than 400 first-class wickets. Yet his international career never came close to matching his domestic achievements.His story is perhaps one of Indian cricket's more intriguing cases of talent that never translated into sustained success at Test level.Test debut came after brother was droppedThe irony of Baloo Gupte's international career was evident from the very beginning.Five years older, Subhash had already established himself as India's premier leg-spinner when Baloo made his Test debut.