V. L. MANJREKAR


🏏🏏
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 586 runs at an average of 83.71. The series also saw his highest Test score in Delhi. His scores of 59 and 39 played their part in India's first Test win over the Australians in 1964-65...

On the domestic front, Manjrekar represented six teams - Bombay, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra... 

As luck would have it, weight issues took their toll on his batting style, putting brakes on Manjrekar's impressive international career. One of the few players who bade farewell to Test cricket with a century - unbeaten 102 at Madras, February 1965 against New Zealand, he also holds the record for most Test runs without hitting a single six during his career...

Manjrekar, with his gentle off-spinners claimed just the one Test wicket, and twenty first class wickets... 

In 92 innings of the 55 Tests, Manjrekar scored 3208 @39.12, which included 7 centuries and 15 half-centuries, an unbeaten 189 as his highest, 19 catches and 2 stumpings... 

From 198  first class games he scored 12832 runs @49.92, which included 38 tons and 56 half-tons, 283 being his top score, 72 catches and 6 stumpings... 

In the annals of Indian Test cricket, Manjrekar was preceded by his wicket-keeper uncle D. D. Hindlekar, and succeeded by his son Sanjay... 

He was working with Air-India when he passed away on October 18, 1983, in Madras. He was just 52 years old... 

Legendary EAS Prasanna once spoke of Manjrekar's class - "With the defence of Gavaskar and strokes of Viswanath, I have no hesitation in saying that Gavaskar + Viswanath = Vijay Manjrekar."

🙏🙏🌹💐    🇮🇳

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