Datla Gopalakrishna Chaitanya Ananda Varma, popularly known as D.G.C.A. Varma, who passed away here on Wednesday at the age of 67, stayed in the record books of Ranji trophy cricket for a long time.
A stocky pace bowler during his time, Varma earned the respect of the rival batsmen and apart from a five-wicket haul against Kerala in 1976-77 season at Guntur, he recorded the highest partnership for the last wicket in Ranji trophy, by adding 136 with Ch. Sankar against Kerala at Guntur during December 1974, his second season in the tournament. This record remained intact for nearly 20 years before Kiran More and V. Patel shared 145 for Baroda against Uttar Pradesh during 1983-94 season.
