IN REMEMBRANCE - INDIAN TEST CRICKETERS

🏏🏏 P. G. JOSHI (7 Oct 1926 – 8 Jan 1987) Baroda born Padmanabh Govind "Nana" Joshi was a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman who played for India between 1951 and 1960... Joshi arrived on the scene at a time when India had three or four wicket keepers more or less of the same class. Thus being in and out of the eleven, Joshi played just 12 Tests in a career which lasted for almost a decade... Joshi made his Test debut in November 1951 against England at Delhi, and played his last in December 1960 against Pakistan at Bombay.... In 12 Tests  Joshi scored 207 runs @10.89, just one half century 52* - in his last Test innings - as his highest, 18 catches and 9 stumpings... Representing Maharashtra from 1946/47 to 1964/65 Joshi played 78 first class matches scoring 1710 runs @16.93, the lone 100* as highest, 8 fifties, 120 catches and 61 stumpings... Joshi was brilliant in the first innings of his debut Test, but his errors in the second helped England save the...

🏏🏏 S. NYALCHAND (14 Sep 1919 - 4 Jan 1997) Shah Nyalchand was another cricketer who played just the debut Test for India. A left-arm seamer who excelled on matting surfaces, Nyalchand was an impressive performer in the domestic circuit... Dhrangadhra (Gujarat) born Nyalchand had a first class career spanning almost a quarter of a century. Beginning from the 1939/40 season representing Western India, Nyalchand went on to play for Gujarat and Saurashtra teams till the end of the  1963/64 season... None other than Sir Frank Worrell had called Nyalchand “the King of matting wickets.” Despite placid wickets of those days, and Indian fast bowlers being allrounders, the 5'7" Nyalchand excelled with his left-arm seam bowling in 57 games, 29 for Saurashtra. He finished with 235 wickets @22.57 with a five-wicket haul 15 times and a ten-wicket haul 6 times, his best being 7/32... Nyalchand's only Test was against Pakistan in October 1952, at Lucknow. Though unfortunate ...

🏏🏏 C. T. SARWATE (22 Jul 1920 – 23 Dec 2003)  Another outstanding domestic performer who failed to realize his full potential where it mattered most,  Chandrasekhar Trimbak "Chandu" Sarwate, originally from Sagar, M.P, was a right-handed all-rounder who played 9 Test matches for India predominantly as a lower-order batsman and a spin bowler... An off-spinner and leg-spinner rolled into one, Sarwate was also a forceful batsman, good enough to open the Indian innings, which he did along with Vinoo Mankad in all the five Tests against Don Bradman's mighty team in Australia in 1947-48... Sarwate's debut and final Tests were both against England, in July 1946 Old Trafford, Manchester and December 1951 Brabourne Stadium, Bombay respectively... The 208 Test runs @13.00, with 37 as highest and 3 Test wickets, needless to say, hardly do any justice to Sarwate's cricketing abilities...  In a first class career spanning over three decade...

🏏🏏 V. B. RANJANE (22 Jul 1937 – 22 Dec 2011) Another talented new-ball bowler who unfortunately played most of his Test cricket on dead batting tracks or spin oriented pitches, and at a time when the Indian opening bowler's function was limited to just a few overs to take the shine off the ball, Pune born Vasant Baburao Ranjane was a right-arm medium pace swing bowler who played in 7 Tests between 1958 and 1964... Ranjane made his Test debut at Kanpur in December 1958 against the mighty West Indies, and played his last Test at Madras in October 1964 against Australia... His only away Test was against the West Indies in 1961-62 (series of the unfortunate Nari Contractor near-fatal injury fame) where he recorded his best Test bowling figures. Playing the final Test of that series at Kingston, Ranjane claimed the wickets of Conrad Hunte, Rohan Kanhai, Gary Sobers and Frank Worrell... He scored 40 Test runs with a top score of 16, 19 wickets @34.15 a piece with 4/72...

🏏🏏🏑🏑 M. J. GOPALAN (6 Jun 1906/9 - 21 Dec 2003) A multi-sporting personality from the erstwhile Madras State, Morapakkam Josyam Gopalan from Chingleput district performed in an era where sport used to be an art irrespective of outcomes... A right-handed allrounder who bowled medium pace, capable of moving the ball both ways, he represented India both in cricket and in hockey... Discovered by one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket, C. P. Johnstone, Gopalan made his first class debut for Madras Presidency against the Europeans in 1926/27, shining with the cherry, literally, with 5 wickets in each innings and match figures of 10/153... Another two performances in 1930 for Madras against Vizianagaram XI which included Jack Hobbs, and the first hat trick in Chepauk against Ceylon in 1933 propelled him into the reckoning... Gopalan played his only Test in January 1934 against England at Calcutta. He scored 11* and 7, got one wicket in the...

🏏🏏 V. S. HAZARE (11 Mar 1915 – 18 Dec 2004) One of India's finest exponents of the willow, Sangli born right-handed Vijay Samuel Hazare was an effective right-arm medium pace bowler as well, especially in the domestic circuit... Hazare made his Test debut in June 1946 against England at Lord's, and played his last in March 1953 against West Indies at Kingston... Representing India in 30 Tests Hazare scored 2192 runs @47.65, with 7 hundreds and 9 fifties, with highest as 164*, claimed 20 wickets @61.00, and 11 catches... One of the first cricketer-recipients of the Padma Shri (in 1960 along with Jasubhai M. Patel) Hazare has several other firsts to his credit. I hereby list a few ones of prominence... The skipper of 14 Tests from 1951 to 1953, Hazare led India to her first ever Test win (and the only one as a captain) against England at Madras in 1951-52, incidentally India's 25th Test match, won by an innings and 8 runs, the first day of whi...