Ramnath Baburao Kenny pronunciationⓘ (29 September 1930 – 21 November 1985) was an Indian cricketer who played in five Test matches between 1958 and 1960.
[1] He was an elegant right handed middle order batsman, "a front foot player with a sound defense"[2] and an occasional off-break bowler.
Son of a mill manager in David Sassoon & Co.,[3] Kenny studied at King George High School, R.N.
[5] A month later, he played his first match in Ranji Trophy scoring 52 against Maharashtra and adding 147 with Dattu Phadkar who made a career highest 217* at the other end.
[9] After a 143 for Bombay against the next Commonwealth XI in 1953-54, where he reached his hundred in only 148 minutes,[10] he was selected for two Unofficial Test matches.
The Bombay captain Madhav Mantri used the heavy roller on the pitch on the third day to break up the wicket.
Kenny played another brilliant innings, outshining the Indian captain Polly Umrigar in a match winning partnership of 131 and mastering the bowling of Nayudu.
Bowling with the second new ball, Surendranath had Kenny edging to the slips where the catch was dropped by the future Air Marshall Gyanendranath Kunzru.
Captain Ghulam Ahmed sent in Kenny and Ghorpade early to protect the senior batsmen Vijay Manjrekar and Polly Umrigar from the bowlers Wes Hall, Roy Gilchrist and Sonny Ramadhin.
[19] Both batsmen survived the day but Kenny fell to Hall for 16 & 0 on the third, his off-stump uprooted by an outswinger in the second innings.
[22] In the second Test at Kanpur against Australia, Kenny played the most important innings of his Indian career.
Coming in at No.7 with the score on 153, Kenny added 61 runs with Chandu Borde and 72 with Bapu Nadkarni.
After India scored 291, Patel and Polly Umrigar bowled Australia out for 105 for a famous win.
At the Brabourne Stadium, his 55* on the last day and a partnership of 109 with Abbas Ali Baig helped save the match.