A Great Scorecard from the Past ...

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Mr. Wicket]

Very cool scorecard Boss... had no idea about this, thank you for sharing. Are there any more detailed writeups on the game in the Wisden almanack?

[Lurker]

Some trivia fron the scorecard: a) L Ramji was the brother of Amar Singh, the Indian pace bowler who formed alongside Mohammed Nissar. Ladha Ramji was considered a pretty hostile bowler in Indian domestic cricket and often terrorized the visiting team too. b) Centurian DB Deodhar is one of the doyens of Indian cricket, Deodhar trophy is named after him. Also played in other sports and made a century in real life too, died at age of 100 plus. c) Maharaja of Patiala played from MCC. Serves him exactly right that his name is not written in the scorecard(no Maharaja of Patiala Bhupinder Singh kinda). d) CK Nayudu of course is considered by those that have been him play to be the greatest Indian player. The most interesting thing, to me anyway, is how at the time when Indian domestic teams were divided on religious lines (Hindu, Muslims etc), CK was accepted without any qualms as the God of Indian cricket, and this was much before the days of sychophancy culture. xxx

[Mr. Wicket]

Lurker, have you read any of Ramachandra Guha's writeups on Nayudu? Sounds like such an amazing cricketer... both in terms of raw talent and his force of personality.

[teacup]

Here is another scorecard from the same tour.

[Lurker]

Lurker' date=' have you read any of Ramachandra Guha's writeups on Nayudu? Sounds like such an amazing cricketer... both in terms of raw talent and his force of personality.[/quote'] He was a fantastic cricketer and was clearly ahead of his time. Those that have seen him, or read about him, still pick him as a player who would be very successul in 20/20 and LOI even today. Hardly surprising when the man clubbed Vinoo Mankad for sixes when he(CK) was 68 years old. Thinking of CK I can not help but remember my discussions with a couple of elderly gentlemen in Indore in 90s. Amidst visiting Lingaraj temple and that lovely street(whose name fails me now) which starts buzzing only in late evenings after hawkers put shops for people coming from work and bring out their sweets/delicacy shops, I had run into two elderly gents who absolutely revered CK. Later I found out CK was absolutely worshipped in Indore/Holkar region. Actually he was worshipped by pretty much every cricket fan. No less a man than Lala Amarnath who was a fine player himself and had seen most great players between 50-mid 80s(he also used to commentate) considered CK the greatest Indian player ever, much ahead of Sunny and Kapil and others. You know Salil, I can not help but remember the other thread about Bradman, and others like Victor Trumper etc. I would hate to take a cheap shot but if fans wonder about how successful Bradman would be, is there any remote chance a CK, or a Lala Amarnath, would ever make a case for getting into an all-time Indian XI with averages in 20s in tests, 30 in first class??? Any wonder that when these days all-time Indian XI is picked the players are almost exclusive from 75 onwards. The only two names that are aberration are Vinoo Mankad and Subhas Gupte. Folks like CK, Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, Hazare, Sardesai, Umrigar do not make even the potential players. And whose loss is that? xxx

[Mamu]

He was a fantastic cricketer and was clearly ahead of his time. Those that have seen him, or read about him, still pick him as a player who would be very successul in 20/20 and LOI even today. Hardly surprising when the man clubbed Vinoo Mankad for sixes when he(CK) was 68 years old. Thinking of CK I can not help but remember my discussions with a couple of elderly gentlemen in Indore in 90s. Amidst visiting Lingaraj temple and that lovely street(whose name fails me now) which starts buzzing only in late evenings after hawkers put shops for people coming from work and bring out their sweets/delicacy shops, I had run into two elderly gents who absolutely revered CK. Later I found out CK was absolutely worshipped in Indore/Holkar region. Actually he was worshipped by pretty much every cricket fan. No less a man than Lala Amarnath who was a fine player himself and had seen most great players between 50-mid 80s(he also used to commentate) considered CK the greatest Indian player ever, much ahead of Sunny and Kapil and others. You know Salil, I can not help but remember the other thread about Bradman, and others like Victor Trumper etc. I would hate to take a cheap shot but if fans wonder about how successful Bradman would be, is there any remote chance a CK, or a Lala Amarnath, would ever make a case for getting into an all-time Indian XI with averages in 20s in tests, 30 in first class??? Any wonder that when these days all-time Indian XI is picked the players are almost exclusive from 75 onwards. The only two names that are aberration are Vinoo Mankad and Subhas Gupte. Folks like CK, Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, Hazare, Sardesai, Umrigar do not make even the potential players. And whose loss is that? xxx

Lingaraj Temple in Indore ? Did not know that. Are you sure it is Lingaraj -- even Google doesn't bring up anything. I thought Bhubaneswar was famous for that.

[Sooda]

You know Salil, I can not help but remember the other thread about Bradman, and others like Victor Trumper etc. I would hate to take a cheap shot but if fans wonder about how successful Bradman would be, is there any remote chance a CK, or a Lala Amarnath, would ever make a case for getting into an all-time Indian XI with averages in 20s in tests, 30 in first class??? Any wonder that when these days all-time Indian XI is picked the players are almost exclusive from 75 onwards. The only two names that are aberration are Vinoo Mankad and Subhas Gupte. Folks like CK, Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, Hazare, Sardesai, Umrigar do not make even the potential players. And whose loss is that? xxx

Yr right to an extent-- though anyone with even a bit of knowledge about Indian cricket history would very seriously consider including Hazare in an All time India XI- I can only think of Laxman who runs him close (and possibly pips him) for a theoretical no 5 spot. The rest of the names on your list wouldnt make a list of potential players when all we have to go by is numbers and averages. From what little I know one thing does link alot of those names- theyre a bunch of pretty exiciting players of dash and flair and numbers dont really do them justice. Obviously talented perhaps something mental, application wise wasnt quite as good. Lala Amarnath for egs, I think Im right in saying on the tour of Aus in the 40's would smash pretty strong state/tour attacks for fun but couldnt quite cut it (against largely the same bowlers) in the test series. Umrigar is rated as one of Indias finest ever cricketers- possibly bit of an FTB though...? struggled against Trueman badly and thats held against him, tho Im sure ive read of a century vs Wes Halls W Indians (maybe wrong) (ON a side-ish note- heres an 'All time' Limited overs team of Indian cricketers who have never played an ODI/T20- Mushtaq Ali, Mankad, Umrigar, C Borde, M Pataudi*, B Kunderan, S Durrani, Phadkar, L Amar Singh, S Gupte, M Nissar.. Packed with all rounders, hard hitting batsmen, fine fielders, top class new ball duo, great spin attack- would give our current lot a serious run for their money :D )

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Sachinism]

cricinfo did a short special on this the other day

Cricket and India started off as wary bedfellows. The game began in India as an elitist pastime, part of the imperial avocation of civilising the natives by moulding them in one's image. It was hardly a mass sport in the early years of the 20th century - the English regarded cricket in the USA in purely patronising terms. Thus, when Arthur Gilligan led an MCC side to India in 1926-27, consisting of worthies such as Maurice Tate, Andrew Sandham and the future England captain Bob Wyatt, they were expected to steamroll the opposition. And so they did on the first leg of the tour, all the way until they came to Bombay. With one innings it all changed. Twenty-five thousand people trooped into the Bombay Gymkhana grounds on December 1, 1926 to watch the Hindus take on the might of MCC. India, in those days, was charged with a sense of destiny; did these men feel it too? At 84 for 3, the Hindus were on the back foot when CK Nayudu unleashed an assault that would reverberate far beyond the confines of that packed stadium. In 116 minutes of dazzling strokeplay, he made 153 runs, treating the bowlers - county stalwarts, all - with a disdain that would have befitted the likes of Victor Trumper or Gilbert Jessop. His innings included 14 fours and 11 sixes, then a world record. A few days later, a masterfully crafted 148 from DB Deodhar ensured that India took the first-innings lead in the first unofficial Test against MCC. These were not flukes, to be applauded patronisingly and forgotten - they testified to the growth in Indian cricket, and brought about a paradigm shift in the way it was perceived. Gilligan, MCC's captain and an influential figure in English cricket, lobbied for India's elevation to Test status, which led to the formation of the Indian cricket board in 1928, and India's first Test match in 1932. Things have come a long way since then - but the first rays of sunshine came through on a winter's day in December.

[TSAG_RGB]

May be off topic, but here is a scorecard from the 1947/48 Australian tour. A win against in a FC match against a team consisting of Bradman,Miller,Harvey,Brown, Johnston and Loxton. Helped by the decision to go for the runs by the Australians, but a win nevertheless. http://static.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1940S/1947-48/IND_IN_AUS/IND_AUS-XI_14-18NOV1947.html

[Tapioca]

Any wonder that when these days all-time Indian XI is picked the players are almost exclusive from 75 onwards. The only two names that are aberration are Vinoo Mankad and Subhas Gupte. Folks like CK, Mushtaq Ali, Lala Amarnath, Hazare, Sardesai, Umrigar do not make even the potential players. And whose loss is that?

Of all the names listed above, Mankad and Gupte were the only two who would have got picked for a World XI of their time. Even though in those times, World XI was little beyond a joint Aussie-England XI. Take CK's case. If you take best batsmen in the world at the time he made his Test debut, they would be Bradman, Hammond, Sutcliffe, Headley, Ponsford, Woodfull (probably in that order). CK would be somewhere in the second tier with some old Englishmen and young Aussies. Hazare would struggle to get into the Aussie team of the time, let alone a World XI which could have a Hutton, Compton, Dudley Nourse and the Ws. Even Merchant is not a certain selection post-war because Hutton would be an automatic choice, and the other could be one of Morris/Barnes/Brown. Great feats in domestic cricket is all very nice and inspiring to read, but the standing of these players in the world cricket of their time is miles away from that of a Tendulkar, Dravid or Gavaskar.