Vasant Tapu Harji Chavda, usually known as Vasant Tapu (1936-1988) was a Tanzanian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. A left-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and left-arm

fast-medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

/ left-arm orthodox spin bowler, he played for the

Tanzania national cricket team The Tanzania national cricket team is the men's team that represents Tanzania in international cricket. Cricket has been played in what is now Tanzania since 1890, and the national side first played in 1951.Encyclopedia of World Cricket by Roy ...

between 1967 and 1974Vasant Tapu
at CricketArchive and also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

for East Africa.Vasant Tapu
at Cricinfo

Biography

Born in

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

in 1936, Vasant Tapu began to play international cricket in August 1967 with two matches against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The first was for Tanzania in Dar es SalaamOther matches played by Vasant Tapu
at CricketArchive and the second was a first-class match for East Africa in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

.First-class matches played by Vasant Tapu
at CricketArchive In the first-class match, he scored 55 in the East Africa first innings and took 5/72 in the Indian first innings,Scorecard
of East Africa v India, 19 August 1967 at CricketArchive his best batting and bowling performances in first-class cricket. He played in the East African Quadrangular tournament in 1969 and 1970, and again in 1971, 1972 and 1974 when it had become a triangular tournament. He also went on a tour of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with East Africa in 1972. His last match for Tanzania was against

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

in August 1974, and he had played his second and final first-class match earlier in the year, against the MCC in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...

. He died in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tapu, Vasant 1936 births 1988 deaths East African cricketers Tanzanian cricketers