IN REMEMBRANCE - INDIAN TEST CRICKETERS

🏏🏏 MANSUR ALI KHAN (5 Jan 1941 - 22 Sep 2011) Mohammed Mansur Ali Khan Siddiqui, the erstwhile ninth Nawab of Pataudi, the youngest and the 14th Indian Test captain, began his first class career with Sussex in 1957 at the age of 16... An injured right eye in early 1961 left Mansur Ali Khan with only the left for his entire international career. Leading India in 40 out of the 46 Tests that he played, he scored 2793 runs with 6 centuries and 16 fifties, an unbeaten 203 being the highest. In 310 first class appearances, which included Oxford University, Sussex, Delhi and Hyderabad, he totaled 15425 runs with 33 hundreds and 75 fifties... Mansur Ali Khan made his debut against England in the Delhi Test, December 1961. His match winning ton at Madras in that series earned him the vice-captain's spot, which did not last long as he had to take over the reigns from the injured skipper Nari Contractor during the 1962 West Indies tour. His last Test...

🏏🏏 A. D. GAEKWAD (23 Sep 1952 - 31 Jul 2024) A scion of the Gaekwad royal family of Baroda, Bombay born Anshuman Dattajirao Gaekwad was it's second generation Test cricketer... Gaekwad made his Test debut in 1974 at Eden Gardens, Calcutta, against Clive Lloyd's mighty West Indies as a middle order batsman, coming in after Roberts had sent a bleeding Indian skipper Mansoor Ali Khan back to the pavilion. Perhaps a beginning of such things for the debutante, as over time Gaekwad eventually went up the ladder to become Gavaskar's regular opening partner in 30 Tests... Representing India in 40 Tests, Gaekwad scored 1985 runs @30.07, 2 hundreds and 10 fifties with 201 as his highest, 15 catches and 2 wickets. In 15 ODIs Gaekwad has 269 runs @20.69, with just the one fifty-plus score of 78* as his highest, 6 catches and 1 wicket... Gaekwad played his final Test too at Eden Gardens against David Gower's England in the 1984-85 series, which saw Mohammed...

🏏🏏 M. K. MANTRI (1 Sep 1921 - 23 May 2014) India's oldest Test cricketer at the time of his demise, Nasik born Madhav Krishnaji Mantri, the right-handed wicket-keeper batsman of the Bombay team of the 1940s and 1950s, is regarded as one of the finest openers Indian cricket has had... The Brabourne Stadium debutant of December 1951, Mantri played just the four Tests in his career - 3 against England, and his final against Pakistan at Dacca in 1955. While the 67 Test runs, with 39 as highest, 8 catches and a stumping can be termed ordinary, it was his 4403 runs with 7 hundreds - a double included - and 26 fifties, 136 catches and 56 stumpings from 95 first class games that made him a class apart... Captaining Bombay to an emphatic 531 run victory over Holkar in the 1952 Ranji Trophy finals, with individual scores of 94 and 152, earned Mantri a place for the June 1952 England tour. As luck would have it, Mantri was part of the top-order collapse at Headi...

A YEAR'S MIND 🏏🏏 SYED ABID ALI (9 Sep 1941 – 12 Mar 2025) A member of India's first wins in the Caribbean and New Zealand, Hyderabad born Syed Abid Ali belonged to a generation which included some of the finest cricketing brains and exponents like Ghulam Ahmed, Mansoor Ali Khan of Pataudi, M. L. Jaisimha, Abbas Ali Baig and P. Krishnamurthy, to name a few... Arguably one of the most natural cricketers Hyderabad ever produced, Abid Ali excelled in every department of the game, always giving more than a hundred percent, with an untiring lion's heart perfectly befitting the grace of the sport... An embodiment of versatility, Abid Ali had a dream Test debut Down Under at the Adelaide Oval in 1967. Opening the bowling he picked up 6 wickets for 55, which included greats such as Bob Simpson, Bill Lawry, Bob Cowper, and Barry Jarman... Also, Abid Ali’s innings of 78 and 81 in the same series underlined his potent...

🏏🏏 S. S. NAIK (21 Feb 1945 – 5 Apr 2023) Credited for scoring India's first boundary in an ODI - against England at Leeds in 1974 - Bombay's prolific opener Sudhir Sakharam Naik was distinctly unlucky to have played just three Tests... Regarded as an astute captain, Naik's purple patch was probably when he led Bombay to the Ranji Trophy title in 1970–71, in the absence of the regular players who were doing duty for India in the West Indies... Making his debut in England in 1974, 141 runs from 6 Test innings, with 77 as highest, and 38 from 2 ODIs are false indicators of Naik's batting prowess when compared to his domestic record. His 4376 runs from 85 games with 7 hundreds and 27 fifties, 200* highest, and 42 catches tell another story... While it must have been heartbreaking for a promising cricketer to realize his international curtains down in a span of just 6 months, Naik continued to contribute as much as he could to the game as a player, coach, selec...

🏏🏏 P. K. SEN (31 May 1926 – 27 Jan 1970) The first regular Test wicketkeeper and also the first Test cricketer from Bengal, Comilla (now in Bangladesh) born right-handed Probir Kumar "Khokan" Sen played 14 Tests for India...  Sen made his Test debut in January 1948 against Australia, at Melbourne. He played his last Test in December 1952 against Pakistan at Calcutta... Nothing exceptional to show with the bat in Tests, Sen scored 165 runs @11.78, 25 as his highest, but his acrobatic agility behind the stumps earned him 31 dismissals - 20 caught and 11 stumped... Sen's first class record (1943-44 to 1957-58) was better, scoring 2580 runs @23.24 from 82 games, 3 hundreds and 11 fifties with 168 as highest, 108 catches and 36 stumpings, 7 wickets including a hat trick... Sen has a few records to his credit. He was the only Indian wicket-keeper to have stumped Don Bradman, in a four-day match against South Australia in 1947–48. His purple patch was i...

🏏🏏 P. G. JOSHI (7 Oct 1926 – 8 Jan 1987) Baroda born Padmanabh Govind "Nana" Joshi was a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman who played for India between 1951 and 1960... Joshi arrived on the scene at a time when India had three or four wicket keepers more or less of the same class. Thus being in and out of the eleven, Joshi played just 12 Tests in a career which lasted for almost a decade... Joshi made his Test debut in November 1951 against England at Delhi, and played his last in December 1960 against Pakistan at Bombay.... In 12 Tests  Joshi scored 207 runs @10.89, just one half century 52* - in his last Test innings - as his highest, 18 catches and 9 stumpings... Representing Maharashtra from 1946/47 to 1964/65 Joshi played 78 first class matches scoring 1710 runs @16.93, the lone 100* as highest, 8 fifties, 120 catches and 61 stumpings... Joshi was brilliant in the first innings of his debut Test, but his errors in the second helped England save the...

🏏🏏 S. NYALCHAND (14 Sep 1919 - 4 Jan 1997) Shah Nyalchand was another cricketer who played just the debut Test for India. A left-arm seamer who excelled on matting surfaces, Nyalchand was an impressive performer in the domestic circuit... Dhrangadhra (Gujarat) born Nyalchand had a first class career spanning almost a quarter of a century. Beginning from the 1939/40 season representing Western India, Nyalchand went on to play for Gujarat and Saurashtra teams till the end of the  1963/64 season... None other than Sir Frank Worrell had called Nyalchand “the King of matting wickets.” Despite placid wickets of those days, and Indian fast bowlers being allrounders, the 5'7" Nyalchand excelled with his left-arm seam bowling in 57 games, 29 for Saurashtra. He finished with 235 wickets @22.57 with a five-wicket haul 15 times and a ten-wicket haul 6 times, his best being 7/32... Nyalchand's only Test was against Pakistan in October 1952, at Lucknow. Though unfortunate ...

🏏🏏 C. T. SARWATE (22 Jul 1920 – 23 Dec 2003)  Another outstanding domestic performer who failed to realize his full potential where it mattered most,  Chandrasekhar Trimbak "Chandu" Sarwate, originally from Sagar, M.P, was a right-handed all-rounder who played 9 Test matches for India predominantly as a lower-order batsman and a spin bowler... An off-spinner and leg-spinner rolled into one, Sarwate was also a forceful batsman, good enough to open the Indian innings, which he did along with Vinoo Mankad in all the five Tests against Don Bradman's mighty team in Australia in 1947-48... Sarwate's debut and final Tests were both against England, in July 1946 Old Trafford, Manchester and December 1951 Brabourne Stadium, Bombay respectively... The 208 Test runs @13.00, with 37 as highest and 3 Test wickets, needless to say, hardly do any justice to Sarwate's cricketing abilities...  In a first class career spanning over three decade...

🏏🏏 V. B. RANJANE (22 Jul 1937 – 22 Dec 2011) Another talented new-ball bowler who unfortunately played most of his Test cricket on dead batting tracks or spin oriented pitches, and at a time when the Indian opening bowler's function was limited to just a few overs to take the shine off the ball, Pune born Vasant Baburao Ranjane was a right-arm medium pace swing bowler who played in 7 Tests between 1958 and 1964... Ranjane made his Test debut at Kanpur in December 1958 against the mighty West Indies, and played his last Test at Madras in October 1964 against Australia... His only away Test was against the West Indies in 1961-62 (series of the unfortunate Nari Contractor near-fatal injury fame) where he recorded his best Test bowling figures. Playing the final Test of that series at Kingston, Ranjane claimed the wickets of Conrad Hunte, Rohan Kanhai, Gary Sobers and Frank Worrell... He scored 40 Test runs with a top score of 16, 19 wickets @34.15 a piece with 4/72...

🏏🏏🏑🏑 M. J. GOPALAN (6 Jun 1906/9 - 21 Dec 2003) A multi-sporting personality from the erstwhile Madras State, Morapakkam Josyam Gopalan from Chingleput district performed in an era where sport used to be an art irrespective of outcomes... A right-handed allrounder who bowled medium pace, capable of moving the ball both ways, he represented India both in cricket and in hockey... Discovered by one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket, C. P. Johnstone, Gopalan made his first class debut for Madras Presidency against the Europeans in 1926/27, shining with the cherry, literally, with 5 wickets in each innings and match figures of 10/153... Another two performances in 1930 for Madras against Vizianagaram XI which included Jack Hobbs, and the first hat trick in Chepauk against Ceylon in 1933 propelled him into the reckoning... Gopalan played his only Test in January 1934 against England at Calcutta. He scored 11* and 7, got one wicket in the...

🏏🏏 V. S. HAZARE (11 Mar 1915 – 18 Dec 2004) One of India's finest exponents of the willow, Sangli born right-handed Vijay Samuel Hazare was an effective right-arm medium pace bowler as well, especially in the domestic circuit... Hazare made his Test debut in June 1946 against England at Lord's, and played his last in March 1953 against West Indies at Kingston... Representing India in 30 Tests Hazare scored 2192 runs @47.65, with 7 hundreds and 9 fifties, with highest as 164*, claimed 20 wickets @61.00, and 11 catches... One of the first cricketer-recipients of the Padma Shri (in 1960 along with Jasubhai M. Patel) Hazare has several other firsts to his credit. I hereby list a few ones of prominence... The skipper of 14 Tests from 1951 to 1953, Hazare led India to her first ever Test win (and the only one as a captain) against England at Madras in 1951-52, incidentally India's 25th Test match, won by an innings and 8 runs, the first day of whi...

🏏🏏 M. R. REGE (18 Mar 1924 – 16 Dec 2013) The mainstay of Maharashtra's batting then, Panvel born Madhusudan Ramchandra Rege was another 'only debut Test' player, unfortunate in the sense that he found himself amidst almost seven batting greats of his times, including the three Vijays, a Polly and a Pankaj... Rege made his first class debut aged 19 against Nawanagar as a low order batsman, but acquired the opener's role from the second game. His unbeaten 200 for Indian Universities against Lindsay Hasset's Australian Services and his maiden first class hundred (101) against Europeans in the Pentangular shot Rege into prominence...  His debut and only Test was, unfortunately, something Rege himself would have probably admitted, a forgettable one. It was against John Goddard's West Indies, January 1949 at Madras. Opening the batting, he could manage just 15 and 0 as India went down by an innings and 193 runs, and Rege never played for India again... ...

🏏🏏 T. E. SRINIVASAN (26 Oct 1950 - 6 Dec 2010) Tirumalai Echambadi Srinivasan, for whom batting came almost naturally, the elegant right hander from Tamil Nadu made the task of scoring runs appear so very simple. Despite being spotted early, TE blossomed a trifle late, and with a Test debut at 31 he remained the near perfect batsman that India did not utilize... With ML Jaisimha as his idol, TE began his first class career for Tamil Nadu from the 1970/71 season. His 3487 runs from 75 games @34.18, 149 his top score, 5 hundreds and 16 fifties and 62 catches till his retirement in the 1983/84 season, fail to mirror, in all fairness, his talent and potential... Scoring 29 and 19 in his only Test (against New Zealand in Auckland, 1981) and a total of 10 in two ODIs one each against Australia and New Zealand, the selectors opted for a less accomplished batsman who could also turn his arm around for the following home series, and TE was a forgotten ...

🏏🏏 A. L. WADEKAR (1 Apr 1941 - 15 Aug 2018) Having played at a time when cricket used to still be the gentleman's game, Bombay southpaw Ajit Laxman Wadekar was one of India's most reliable one drop batsmen, endowed with one of the safest pair of hands in the slip positions... Beginning his first class career for Bombay in the 1958–59 season, Wadekar made his Test debut perhaps a bit late, against the West Indies at Brabourne Stadium in December 1966, and ODI debut in 1974 against England at Headingley... In an international career from 1966 to 1974 Wadekar played 37 Tests and 2 ODIs, captaining India from 1971 till he called it quits in 1974. He scored 2113 runs @31.07 with a topscore of 143, a hundred and 14 fifties and 46 catches... Making cricketing history by leading India to her sensational first-ever Test series win against Garry Sobers's mighty West Indies in 1971, followed by another big triumph over Ray Illingworth's England in...

🏏🏏 R. D. PARKAR (31 Oct 1946 - 11 Aug 1999) A player who was perhaps not allowed to bloom to his full potential in Tests for want of opportunities which he fully deserved, diminutive right handed Ramnath Dhondu Parkar did yeoman service to Bombay as it's near perfect opener... Tutored by the illustrious Vinoo Mankad and later by Ramakant Achrekar, Parkar made his domestic debut for Vazir Sultan Tobacco Colts XI in the 1964-65 season, followed by the Bombay cap in the 1970-71 season... A trifle unfortunate to have represented India in just two Tests, in the home series against Tony Lewis's England in 1972, Parkar managed just 80 runs, 35 being his topscore... A captain's dream with an adaptability to bat and field at any position, Parkar standing at 5'3" was a quality willow-wielder and an outstanding fielder who served Bombay exemplarily when it's regular players were away... Having had all possible copybook shots in his repertoire to be co...

🏏🏏 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...

YASHPAL SHARMA (11 August 1954 – 13 July 2021) 'Crisis Man For India' in the words of Sunil Gavaskar, Ludhiana born right-handed middle order batsman of the 1970s and 1980s, Yashpal Sharma is the only member of the victorious 1983 World Cup Indian team to have left this mortal world... Donning the Punjab cap from 1973, Yashpal came into the national limelight after his stellar knock of 173 for North Zone in the 1977 Duleep Trophy final, against South Zone packed with stalwarts like Prasanna and Chandrasekhar... Picked initially for the ODIs, Yashpal’s first match for India was in October 1978 against Pakistan. Making his Test debut in August 1979 against England at Lord's, Yashpal played his final Test in November 1983 against the West Indies at New Delhi, and his final ODI in January 1985 against England... With 2 centuries and 9 fifties in 37 Tests, Yashpal scored 1606 runs, 140 being his highest. From 42 ODIs he has 4 fifties in the 883 runs scored, with a to...

🏏🏏 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 centuries (including two double 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 re...

🏏🏏 R. G. NADKARNI (4 Apr 1933 – 17 Jan 2020) Rameshchandra Gangaram "Bapu" Nadkarni was an accomplished left-handed slow orthodox bowling allrounder, with an uncanny knack of keeping the batsmen on a tight leash... Originally from Nashik, Nadkarni's debut and final Tests were against New Zealand, in December 1955 at Delhi and in March 1968 at Auckland respectively... Nadkarni who excelled in badminton, table tennis, kabaddi and kho-kho as well was spotted by Prof. D. B. Deodhar who persuaded him to stick to cricket, convincing him that his footwork on the badminton court would be more effective between the 22 yards strip...  Playing 41 Tests for India, Nadkarni scored 1414 runs @25.70, with one century (122*) as his highest, 7 fifties, 22 catches, 88 wickets @29.07 with a best of 6/43, five wickets in an innings 4 times and ten in a match once... Representing Maharashtra in the domestic circuit from 1951-52 to ...