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...

🙏🙏🌹💐   🇮🇳

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

D. N. SARDESAI

Image
🏏🏏 D. N. SARDESAI (8 Aug 1940 - 2 Jul 2007)  The only cricketer from Goa to play for India in Tests, Margao born Dilip Narayan Sardesai was a technically sound right-handed wristy specialist batsman with the ability to play both spin and pace with equal ease. He was the first Indian batsman to score a double century in an overseas Test, with his epic 212 at Kingston, Jamaica...  Sardesai's Test debut in 1961, and his final game in 1972, both were against England at Kanpur and Delhi respectively... In 30 Tests Sardesai scored 2001 runs @39.23 with 5 hundreds and 9 fifties, 212 as highest, and 4 catches... Playing for Bombay and West Zone in the domestic circuit from 1961 to 1973, Sardesai scored 10,230 runs from 179 first class games @41.75 with 25 hundreds and 56 fifties, highest being 222, and 85 catches. Bombay won all the 10 finals they reached out of the 13 seasons that Sardesai played for them...  Sardesai replaced Nari Contractor after the ...
Read more

A. M. MANKAD

Image
🏏🏏 A. M. MANKAD (12 Oct 1946 – 1 Aug 2008) Ashok Mulvantrai Mankad, fondly known as Kaka, was the eldest son of the illustrious Vinoo Mankad. His siblings Atul and Rahul played first class cricket; his better half Nirupama and sons Mihir and Harsh were renowned tennis players of their times... There are several quarters who still consider Mankad, the victorious Bombay skipper of 1974-75 and 1975-76, as the greatest captain India had produced but never had, often in comparison with England's Mike Brearley... Primarily a right handed middle-order batsman, Mankad had held all positions from No.1 to No.8, and could turn his arm around with some medium stuff and off cutters as well. Making his way duly through the Harris Shield, Under-19 and Rohinton Baria tourneys, Mankad made his first class debut just a week before he turned 17... He made his Test debut, along with Chetan Chauhan and Ajit Pai, in September 1969 against Graham Do...
Read more

GHULAM AHMED

Image
  🏏🏏 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 ...
Read more