M. L. JAISIMHA

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M. L. JAISIMHA
(3 March 1939 – 6 July 1999)

Secunderabad born Motganhalli Laxminarsu Jaisimha was a stylish right-hand batsman, right-arm medium pace and right-arm off break bowler in addition to being an outstanding fielder, who represented India in Tests from 1959 to 1971...

The first cricketer to bat on all the five days of a Test match, Jaisimha achieved this feat in the home series against Australia at Calcutta's Eden Gardens in 1960. Ravi Shastri and Cheteshwar Pujara are the other two Indian players to emulate his feat...

Jaisimha made his Test debut in June 1959 against England at Lord's, and played his last game for India in the final Test in April 1971 against West Indies at Port of Spain...

In 39 Tests Jaisimha scored 2056 runs @30.68 with 3 hundreds and 12 fifties, 129 as his highest, 9 wickets and 17 catches...

Jaisimha first class figures are quite impressive. Playing for Hyderabad and South Zone for over two decades - 1954 to 1976 - he scored 13516 runs from 245 games @37.44 with 33 hundreds and 65 fifties, highest being 259. He claimed 431 wickets @29.86 a piece and took 157 catches...

Indian cricket's "cultivated stylist" Jaisimha was known for his trimness and looks, his inimitable gait, the silk shirt and scarf, sleeves buttoned at the wrist and the collar turned up. He was a good exponent of all front foot strokes and the lofted shots.

With an unimpressive Test debut at Lord's Jaisimha came into prominence in the following home series against Australia, in the final Test (Calcutta) of which he achieved the distinction of batting on all five days, scoring 20 and 74...

Fitting into the opening slot left by Pankaj Roy, Jaisimha performed well against England in 1961-62 and 1963-64. Called in as replacement for the injured Chandu Borde and B.S. Chandrasekhar during the Australian tour of 1967-68, Jaisimha went straight into the 3rd Test and scored 74 and 101, almost pulling off an improbable victory. Incidentally, all of his three hundreds came in the 3rd Tests of the respective series...

In his last innings for India, at Port of Spain, he hung around for an hour along with Sunil Gavaskar, scoring 23 which helped save the match, and winning the series...

One of the few captains in the cricketing world who always preferred a result to a draw, even if it meant his ending up on the losing side, the astute Jaisimha led Hyderabad for 16 seasons and 76 matches. Though the Ranji Trophy eluded him and his team, he was never reluctant to take risks in order to make a game interesting, win or lose...

Post retirement Jaisimha was a selector between 1977–78 and 1980–81. He was the team manager for the tour to Sri Lanka in 1985–86. MCC conferred upon him a life membership in 1978. He was a TV commentator for the 1987 World Cup, and a columnist as well...

Jaisimha passed away this day in 1999 at Secunderabad, losing his battle against lung cancer...

🙏🙏🌹💐    🇮🇳

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