Lala Amarnath

Lala Amarnath
Amarnath batting at Lord's in 1936
Personal information
Born(1911-09-11)11 September 1911
Kapurthala, Punjab, British India
Died5 August 2000(2000-08-05) (aged 88)
New Delhi, India
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 12)15 December 1933 v England
Last Test12 December 1955 v Pakistan
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class
Matches 24 186
Runs scored 878 10,426
Batting average 24.38 41.37
100s/50s 1/4 31/39
Top score 118 262
Balls bowled 4,241 29,474
Wickets 45 463
Bowling average 32.91 22.98
5 wickets in innings 2 19
10 wickets in match 0 3
Best bowling 5/96 7/27
Catches/stumpings 13 96/2
Source: Lala Amarnath, 12 May 2020

Lala Amarnath Bhardwaj (11 September 1911 – 5 August 2000) was an Indian cricketer. He is considered to be the father figure of Indian cricket. He scored the first ever century for India in Test Cricket in 1933.[1] He was independent India's first cricket captain and captained India in their first Test series win against Pakistan in 1952.[2]

He played only three Test Matches before World War II (India played no official Test matches during the war). During this time he amassed around 10,000 runs with 30 hundreds in first-class cricket which included teams from Australia and England. After the war, he played another 21 Test Matches for India. He later became the chairman of the Senior Selection Committee, BCCI and was also a commentator and expert. His proteges include Chandu Borde, M.L. Jaisimha, and Jasu Patel who played for India. His sons Surinder and Mohinder Amarnath also became Test players for India. His grandson Digvijay is also a current first-class player. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1991.[3] Amarnath received the inaugural C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994, the highest honour bestowed by BCCI on a former player.[4]

  1. ^ "Full Scorecard of India vs England 1st Test 1933/34 – Score Report". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Lala Amarnath". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  4. ^ "C.K. Nayudu award for Kapil Dev". The Hindu. 18 December 2013. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 25 April 2023.