IN REMEMBRANCE - INDIAN TEST CRICKETERS

  🏏🏏 GHULAM AHMED (4 Jul 1922 - 28 Oct 1998)  The gentleman cricketer from Hyderabad, right-arm slow Ghulam Ahmed, was regarded as an off-spinner of the highest class, the first ever to play for India. His easy action helped in good control over line and length. Representing India for a decade, he along with Vinoo Mankad and Subhash Gupte, formed the first great Indian spin trio...  By sheer coincidence of sorts, Ghulam Ahmed's debut and final Tests were against the West Indies, on the same ground, Delhi, exactly a decade apart - 31st December 1948 and 1958 respectively... Ghulam Ahmed toured England in 1952 and Pakistan in 1954-55. He captained India in 3 Tests -  a drawn Test against New Zealand in 1955-56, and found himself on the losing side in two against the West Indies in 1958-59... Ghulam Ahmed played in the inaugural Test between India and Pakistan in 1952-53, Delhi, which India won. A memorable one for him as he took five wickets and scored 50 at ...

🏏🏏 V. M. MERCHANT (12 Oct 1911 - 27 Oct 1987) Vijaysingh Madhavji Merchant (real name Vijay Madhav Thackersey) from Bombay was a right-hand opening batsman and a right-arm medium fast bowler who played first-class cricket from 1929 to 1952. He is regarded as one of India’s greatest batsman of the pre-independence era, counted amongst the likes of Sir Don Bradman, Denis Compton and others... All of his 10 Tests for India were against England, spread over 18 years. Merchant made his Test debut in the 1933-34 series at Calcutta. He scored 859 Test runs @47.72 with 3 hundreds and 3 fifties, 154 being his highest... Playing for Bombay and Hindus, Merchant dominated the domestic scene with a batting average of 71.64, being second only to Don Bradman in first class cricket. With 13470 runs from 150 games which included 45 hundreds and 52 fifties and 359 as his highest along with 65 wickets and 115 catches, Merchant carved a niche for himself... His ...

🏏🏏 Lt Col. H. R. ADHIKARI (31 Jul 1919 - 25 Oct 2003) Lieutenant Colonel Hemchandra Ramachandra "Hemu" Adhikari, born in Poona, represented India both as a player and a legendary coach in a career that spanned three decades... A right-handed batsman and an occasional leg-spin bowler, Adhikari came into the international scene a decade after his entry into first-class cricket as a teenager in the 1936/37 domestic season... Adhikari made his Test debut at the age of 28, in 1947 on India's tour of Australia. Comfortable and courageous against both pace and spin, he is remembered for the Indian record 109-run last wicket partnership with Ghulam Ahmed in a Test against Pakistan, which stood for over fifty odd years till Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan eclipsed it... Adhikari captained India in one Test even as he neared his fortieth birthday, scoring 63 and 40 and taking three important wickets in a drawn Test against the West Indies in ...

🏏🏏 P. H. SHARMA (5 Jan 1948 - 20 Oct 2010)  Born in Alwar, Parthasarathy Harishchandra Sharma, made his way into the Rajasthan team in 1962–63 as an under-15 adolescent, with Salim Durrani spotting his prowess. However, the strong team that he was part of, Sharma neither batted nor bowled nor took a catch in his debut game. He had to wait till the 67-68 season to cement his place...  Keeping wickets early on, he changed it later to off-spin and gentle medium-pace. His batting technique was said to be comparable to that of Vijay Manjrekar's in countering the turning ball...  Representing India in 7 international games, Sharma made his Test debut at Delhi in December 1974 against the West Indies, when Sunil Gavaskar and Mansur Ali Khan of Pataudi sat out with injuries. Though India lost the match, Sharma did justice to his selection with scores of 54 and 49... He didn't play a Test in the 1976 New Zealand tour, but made his ODI debut al...

🏏🏏 V. L. MANJREKAR (26 Sep 1931 – 18 Oct 1983)  The diminutive right handed Vijay Laxman Manjrekar from Bombay, a classical exponent of the cuts and the hook shots, one of India's finest players of pace, with equal ease against spin too, was often termed as the link between Hazare and Gavaskar...  Making his Test debut against England at Calcutta,1951, he scored 48 coming in at number seven. He shot to fame with his first ton (133) in his first match on English soil at Headingley in 1952, at a time when Trueman and Bedser threatened to run through the Indian side. From 42/3, Manjrekar, along with Hazare added a record 222 runs for the fourth wicket to lift the Indian total to a respectable 293... On the following tour of the West Indies Manjrekar (118), who also kept wickets in the game, along with Pankaj Roy (150) saved the Jamaica Test for India. He reserved his best performance for the 1961/62 series against England, scoring...

🏏🏏 S. N. BANERJEE (3 Oct 1911 - 14 Oct 1980) Sarodindu Nath Banerjee, popularly known as "Shute" Banerjee, was an effective right-handed all-rounder, medium pacer and a lower order batsman from Bengal, who unfortunately found himself in the list of cricketers who never got a chance to play again after their Test debut... Banerjee played his only Test at Bombay, in February 1949 against John Goddard's West Indies after he was well past his prime. He scored 5 and 8 in the match and claimed 5 wickets for 127... Earlier on, picked for the (disatrous) England tour of 1936, Banerjee missed the Test bus due to the infighting between skipper Vizzy and CK Nayudu. He got the call again a decade later and despite a stellar performance involving a world record which still stands to date, failed to make it to the Test eleven... He is more known for that heroic last wicket stand in his second tour of England in 1946. Number 10 Ch...

🏏🏏 K. M. RANGNEKAR (27 Jun 1917 - 11 Oct 1984) Bombay born Khanderao Moreshwar Rangnekar was regarded as a divine blessing to make marks, both in cricket and in badminton. The elegant left-handed batsman and right-arm medium fast bowler Khandu, as he was fondly addressed to, was a gifted ambidextrous fielder, and a right-handed national badminton player... He made his Ranji Trophy debut in the 1939-40 season for Maharashtra, opening the bowling and also smashing an under 100-minute 102. Subsequently he went on to represent Bombay, Holkar and Madhya Pradesh in that order. With a ton (113) for a victorious Madhya Pradesh in his last Ranji Trophy match in 1958-59 , he joined the select band of cricketers with hundreds in their first and last Ranji Trophy games... Making his Test debut in November 1947 at Brisbane, his international career was confined to just 3 Tests played entirely in that Australian tour of 1947-48 . Scores of 1, 0, 6, 18, 8, 0 betrayed ...

🏏🏏 C R RANGACHARI (14 Apr 1916 - 9 Oct 1993) One of the quickest bowlers in the early days of Indian cricket, Commandur Rajagopalachari Rangachari was a right arm medium pacer with a little whippy round-arm action, capable of unleashing good outswingers... CRR started with the Madras cricket league in 1932 playing for Chepauk United Club, and later for Triplicane Cricket Club where he formed an effective duo with M. J. Gopalan... His Ranji career started in 1938. An excellent fielder at silly mid-off, he formed a nice combination with the team's spinner A.G. Ram Singh... CRR played 4 Tests for India, two each against Australia (away) and West Indies (home). His Test debut against Australia at Adelaide in 1947-48 saw him dismissing Neil Harvey, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall and Ian Johnson. Wicketless in the next Test, CRR returned from down under with figures of 4 for 141... His career best Test bowling, 5 for 107, came in his next Test a...