V. M. MERCHANT



🏏🏏

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 Ranji Trophy record is even more impressive, averaging 98.75 in 47 innings, especially taking cognizance of the fact that pitches remained uncovered during his times...

His record of eleven double-centuries in first-class cricket stood until November 2017, when Cheteshwar Pujara (Saurashtra) eclipsed it with his twelfth against Jharkhand in the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy game...

With his impeccable technique and puritanical approach to batting, he was regarded as one of the finest openers to have played the game. English cricketer C. B. Fry had said of Merchant, "Let us paint him white and take him with us to Australia as an opener."...

Merchant was one of the five Wisden Cricketers Of The Year in 1937. He is the oldest Indian player to score a Test hundred, 154 against England 51-52 series when just over 40 years. That being in his farewell Test, only two Indians have given him company so far - Vijay Manjrekar and Mohammad Azharuddin...

"Cricket with Vijay Merchant" used to be a popular Sunday afternoon sponsored radio programme on Vividh Bharati hosted by Merchant in the 70s and 80s. His talks therein reportedly had played an important role in Sunil Gavaskar's retirement...

Besides being a great cricketer, Merchant was a noted philanthropist, the cause of the specially abled being close to his heart. He termed this work as his second innings...

An atheist, Merchant believed in service to humanity, and he once said in an interview that he never slept a day without offering some service to society. Innumerable people have been recipients of his magnanimity, chiefly by way of employment in his Thackersey Group...

The illustrious cricketer, administrator, broadcaster, writer and national selector, the good samaritan Vijay Merchant passed away after a heart attack in Bombay on Oct 27, 1987. He was 76...

🙏🙏🌹💐   🇮🇳

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