Indian All Time Test XI, Part I : Openers

[Lord]

Sehwag and Dravid are must in all time 11. And please no Azhar. VVS is more worthy. Rather i wud put Ganguly ahead of him.

me too.cant have fixers in there.we need a leftie in MO n Dada is perfect

[Andy]

me too.cant have fixers in there.we need a leftie in MO n Dada is perfect

Yes Dada would add 'Flair' into the squad. He was brilliant against Spinners.

[Jersey #10]

I may remind if you have forgotten that test cricket is also played in eng' date=' aus,sa and nz,these players along with sachin are as valuable as gold in those conditions[/quote'] mind you, I want players who can play in any condition and anywhere in the world in my all time XI

[Roshanrocks]

i guess everyone will agree on Sehwag and Gavaskar to open.

[anish233]

easy Veeru and Sunil

[achilles]

*BUMP* 5 people from my list made it - The XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Erapalli Prasanna. Readers' XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Vinoo Mankad, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Erapalli Prasanna. Source

[SJS50]

Its interesting to have as many as four candidates for the "greatest opener" from India :-) Normally Gavaskar would be the only one. Merchant was most people's second choice though some did not like his relatively, small Test career. Now we have the mighty Virender Sehwag and some are actually struggling to choose a partner for him between Gavaskar and Merchant. The turbaned stand-up-comedian is there just to make up the numbers though in the bare cupboard of Indian openers he too has a place one supposes. I once wrote a piece on Merchant. Some of you may find it interesting . . . This was written in August 2008

He (Sehwag) is without doubt the best opener since Gavaskar. Of course, one would have to concede that it isn't a position for we have a long queue of contenders. For the period before Gavaskar, the queue was equally short as Indian cricket was always starved of quality openers. Just like we have, for so long, just one genuine opener in Gavaskar since 1970, we have just one before and that is the redoubtable Mr Vijay Merchant. His first class record is phenomenal and needs recounting. 13470 runs in just 150 Matches (only 234 innings) at an average, overtaken only by Bradman, of 71.64, with a top score of 359*. 45 centuries - that is 3 centuries in every 100 matches - Gavaskar has 23.3 and Sachin has 26.1. Bradman had 50 :) He played ten Test matches spread over four series and 18 years ! With the exception of the first one against the visiting Englishmen in 1933 at home, he did pretty well. Its worthwhile having a look at how Merchant's career in synopsis and how he fared against world class opposition. Before I do that let me inform of two relatively less known facts.

1. His name wasn't Merchant but Thackersey 2. He was never an opener and did not EVER open in any class of the game for many years including his first test series - that is three of the ten Tests he played !

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deconstructing Vijay Madhavji Thackersey a.k.a. Vijay Merchant

Early years :

Merchant made his first class debut at 18 playing for the Hindus against the Muslims in the semifinals of the Pentangular in November 1929.

• He batted at number 6 and scored 9 runs
  .
• He was retained in the side for the finals but
  this time batted at number 8 and scored 12
  .

THe Hindus seem to have had enough of him and did not include him again in their powerful side till five years later by which time he had played three Test matches ! But we overtake ourselves. The next time Merchant got an opportunity to play in First class cricket was three years later in the Moin-ud-Dowlah tournament in December 1932. He scored 157 against the not so strong Aligarh University (Past and Present) and then faded away.

[B]

Match Order Runs

[/B]

Qtr- Finals 4 157 Semi-finals 4 5 The Final 6 1

No more first clas cricket for Mr Merchant, the scion of one of India's richest families and then one year later Jardine brought MCC to India.

MCC in India 1933-34

MCC had already played six first class games befpre they faced Bombay at Bombay Gymkhana Grounds. They had won four of them with no batsman standing upto them (only two fifties in four games, except for the players from Punjab. In two games (against Southern Punjab and Patiala) they were good enough to lose just 17 wickets in two games. Wazir Ali and young Amarnath scored a century and a fifty each. Clearly the balance of Indian cricket was different from what it was portrayed by the powerful men who controlled it in Mumbai and the West. It was in this background that Mumbai took the field against Bombay on 8th December 1933.

Bombay v Marylebone Cricket Club

Bombay Gymkhana, 8 Dec 1933 Bombay, winning the toss, decided to bat first. Before the pace of Nichols and Clarke, they lost their first four wickets for 8 runs. In walked 22 year old Vijay Merchant (still Vijay Tackersey - real name) to join Champak Mehta. They took the score to 58 before Verity caught Champak off his own bowling and then MCC proceeded to run through the side. Young Vijay stood at one end, defending dourly, with the defense that was to become the hallmark of his batting in the years to come. H

e scored just 19 of the 79 runs that were scored while he was at the crease but he never left it - remaining unbeaten.

In the second innings, Bombay, almost 400 runs behind, promoted Vijay to number four and he came in at 57 for 2. He played another defensive marathon as Bombay played 92 overs to score just 191 but more importantly, lost just five wickets.

Vijay was again not out for 67

.

Not someone you want to compare with Sehwag :) This may not have been earth shattering stuff but it was enough to get Merchant a call into the Indian side for the first Test that was to be played just five days later at the very same Bombay Gymkhana grounds.

India v England (1st Test) :

Bombay Gymkhana, 15 Dec 1933 Batting first, India were bowled out for 219. The openers, Wazir Ali and Navle, scored 36 and 13. Amarnath, making his debut and batting at one drop, scored a composed 38 to top score.

Merchant batted at six and scored 23.

Its not known how slow he played but India got their runs in 91.2 overs - slow going even for those days. In the second innings, more than 200 runs behind on the first, India did marginally better getting 258 in 91 overs. Amarnath played an incandescent knock of 118 in just over three hours with 84 of those runs in boundaries. A star was born. Clearly, but for him the Indian innings would have looked much more laboured.

Vijay again batting at number six scored 30.

England won by 9 wickets. Amarnath and Nissar (five for 90 in 33.5 overs in the first innings) were the outstanding performers. Vijay hadn't shattered the earth but had done enough to stay in a weak batting side and surely showed some promise.

Before the second Test an Indian XI played MCC and if they wanted him to play the second Test, one would have thought it appropriate for young Vijay to play that game- particularly since it was played at Eden Gardens, the venue of the second Test. Five Englishmen played for the 'Indian' XI and the pointless match was drawn. Con Johnston (69 not out) and Humphrey Ward (77 not out) were the batting stars for an Indian XI !!

India v England (2nd Test)

Eden Gardens, 5th January 1934 This time England won the toss, batted and put on over 400. India had a new set of openers (sounds familiar) although Wazir Ali was in the playing XI, Jeoomal and keeper Dilawar Hussain. The latter top scored with 59.

Merchant was next with 54 - again at number six, the position he was to hold through the entire series

. With a follow on available for a lead of 150, MCC put India in again. India decided, the first innings top scorer had done his bit of opening and sent Syed Mushtaq Ali to partner Jeoomal. Jeoomal got 43 and his first innings partner, now at number 7, was top scorer once again with 57.

Vijay Merchant scored 17.

The four day match was drawn.

Again Vijay had done enough to remain in the side. but no sign of his being an opener. One could never say anything about that though - as in later years. Anyone could be asked to open the innings, except the stars who preferred the comfort of the middle order - typical :) Five more first class games followed the second Test. Ms Johnston and Ward got four innings each but none for young Vijay Thackerey. Its interesting to see how many times some players like Nayudu and Amarnath got games against the visitors. Maybe it was more important to be in the payroll of some Maharaja or the other, who hired top cricketers, hired Europeans or at least lavished big purses and gifts on them, owned their own grounds and ste out the red carpets for the visitors. There were matches against the against the Maharaja of Patiala XI, Maharajkumar of Vizianagram XI and Nawab Moin-ud-Dowlah XI. The Viceroy XI and the Europeans side meant fewer opportunities for Indians. Then came the next Test at Chepauk, Madras, now MAC, Chennai.

India v England (3rd Test)

Chepauk, 10 Feb 1934 England again won the toss and batted first. This time it was the turn of Amar Singh (without his legendary bowling partner Nissar) to do the damage. He took 7 for 86 bowling 44.4 overs ! England managed 335. Dilawar Hussain was back with Jeoomal (who retired hurt) but this time it didn't work for either and

Vijay Tackerey's 26 was the top score in a poor 145.

The Young Prince of Patiala was next with 24. England batted again and left India 451 to get starting in the afternoon of the 3rd day. India did better than the first innings but not by much. To start with they again brought in Mushtaq Ali to open, this time with Dilawar - it must have been exasperating to be an Indian opener as it has been all through its 70 odd years history. The Prince of Patiala, leading scorers of the first inings, put on 84 for the 6th wicket of which the young prince scored an enterprising 60 - the top score. Vijay got 28. India suffered their biggest defeat of the three Test series.

Vijay Thackersey had played his first Test Series. Had not yet become an opener (in any form of the game. Had scored 178 runs at 29.7 with one fifty (54 in Calcutta). But he always got starts and always showed a desire to stay at the wicket. His run of scores is in a remarkably tight range - 23 & 30, 54 & 17, 26 & 28. At best a hard working youngster, not a Tendulkar or a Gavaskar by any stretch of imagination, not at this stage at least Before the MCC left India, they played one final match, this time again at Bombay Gymkhana, probably the reason why Vijay Thackersey again found him in a side game - this time for an Indian XI.

Indian XI v Marylebone Cricket Club

Bombay Gymkhana, 4th March 1934 This time Merchant batted at number four and top scored

in the first innings with an unbeaten 89, out of 238. In the second innings he was again unbeaten, this time with 18

. Clearly this man would not give away his wicket in a hurry.

But he wasn't an opener and not, yet, a man who scored big hundreds either. That was still to come.

- to be continued

[SJS50]

Deconstructing Vijay Merchant Continued .....

Indian Cricket at the end of Jardine's MCC team visit

It is interesting to see where we find India and Merchant and India as MCC left India and the 1933-34 season came to an end.

Vijay Merchant's vis-a-vis other Indians

While Vijay 'Merchant' hadn't done anything spectacular in that series, the other Indians too had modest returns.

• Amarnath averaged 40.6 but faded away after that fabulous hundred on debut.
• Yuvraj (prince) of Patiala headed the averages with 42 in his first and last Test match.
• Keeper Dilawar Hussain had the next best average (41.3) and was the only one with two scores above fifty in the Tests.
• Jeoomal and CK Nayudu averaged in the 20's and below Merchant. CK was the only other batsman to have a fifty plus score.

In addition he (Merchant) had done well for Bombay and the Indian XI but then so had Amarnath, Wazir Ali, CK Nayudu etc. He had given some notice of his skills but hadn't done anything that foretold really great things to come.

The Opening Scene

India had tried five openers in the three Tests. Between them they had scored 234 runs at 19.5 with just one fifty More pertinently, India had played five different sets of openers in the six innings and between them they averaged 25.5 for the 1st wicket and just one fifty run partnership (Mushtaq and Jeoomal) in the second Test. Not surprising considering that for the last five inings, India never had the same pair opening two consecutive innings. A problem that even three-quarters of a century later we are familiar with. In the side games a whole lot of other people had opened (besides these five) including Amarnath who scored a hundred as opener against the visitors but it was common, even in the side games, to see different sets of openers in the two innings of the same match. Indians just did not seem to want to open or to repose a measure of confidence in their openers, No one was allowed two failures in succession - or so it appears !! This was a recipe for disaster but the same policy continued for three quarters of a century and look what we have. A large majority of our openers are batsmen who were not openers but made to open either because they had no one else who was wiling to open or because these batsmen, good as they were, found the top of the order the easiest place to break into. Thirteen of India's top 26 openers over time, have opened in 346 innings but their total career innings number over 1400. This is not just a statistic. It is a stark picture of both a lack of good openers but much more, its a sign of complete bankruptcy of ideas and absence of a policy to support and play regular openers. Even in the other half of these 26 top openers, there are those like Sehwag, Sidhu, Kunderan etc who were not openers and yet opened more often than not. But we sacrificed some of our best batting talent to the cause of opening the innings. Jaisimha for a large part of his career and Laxman for most of his early career are glaring examples. Jaisimha was an even more gifted, and visually pleasing batsman then the fabulous VVS. But we digress :) So at the end of this series India had played four Tests (including the inaugural one in 1932 where Jeoomal and Navle put on opening stands in the thirties in both innings) and were struggling with a problem they grappled with for most of their cricketing history. Our hero had played four seasons of FC cricket, scored 573 runs at just under 48 with one century (against a relatively weak side) and three fifties.

The Season 1934-35

Merchant had a successful year at home. He moved to number three for Bombay and the Hindus,

scored another 543 runs

(to add to the 573 he had scored in the previous four seasons)

but only at 38.8

per innings. He did get two hundred but he also got a pair and Nissar seemed to get him for low scores almost every time they came face to face.

He was now five seasons old, in his 24th year and had yet to open in any form of the game. He had started opening the bowling for Bombay , however, and had 14 wickets at under 22 with a best of 4 for 29 with his right arm medium pace.

The Season 1935-36

He scored

662 runs at 82.7 with two hundreds

and also 71 scored for the Indian Universities team in Ceylon against the Ceylonese side. He was still batting in the middle and the team was announced to go to England in the summer of 1936.

So at the start of the tour to England, Merchant had still not opened in any FC match. Weird ?

ENGLAND 1936

29th May to 15th Sept. 1936 It was India.s first full tour. They had played four Tests so far, three of which at home, all against England and lost three of them. Their bowlers had been amazingly competitive with Amar Singh and Nissar clearly world class. CK Nayudu was a world class all rounder as was Lala Amarnath. However this team had lots of problems and of the on-field issues there was nothing bigger than its lack of quality opening batsmen. The team had many players who had opened in the past in Wazir Ali, Palia, Dilawar Hussain, Mushtaq Ali and Hindlekar. And yet they were to struggle on this front.

The first ten matches

In the first five matches on the tour, India went with three different pairs in the first three games - Mushtaq and Palia (Worcestershire) - Bannerjee and Hindlekar (Oxford) - Mushtaq and Hindlekar (Somerset) and then allowed Mushtaq and Hindlekar to continue, irrespective of their scores, in two more games. It was a sensible policy, but the Indian batsmen were unable to cope with a wet sumer and the moving ball. The scores the openers put up reflected on the ultimate poor performance of the batting side. Consecutive opening partnerships of 21 and 3, 15 and ?(probably around 20), 32 and 6, 15, 17 and 23, meant that the top order was also exposed to the conditions they found to much and the team lost 3 of the five games. One of the drawn games was against the weak University side although even that did not get a reasonable partnership out of the openers. Merchant, who was having a good time in the first four games (44* and 10, 59 and 8, 23 and 151, and 71) injured himself while the team was fielding first in the fifth game against MCC. He was now out of the game for four weeks, missing as many as five consecutive games - six if you add the game in which he was injured and hardly took any part. This really affected the team's performance and they lost three more games

. The openers hadn't improved any and in these five games they put up 11, 20, 16, 9, 0, 8, 16, 7 and 4. If any thing it had got worse. Their last nine innings had yielded 91 from the first wicket. Add the first five matches and they were tottering at 13.5 per innings. No wonder the team was struggling. Surprisingly, neither Wazir Ali nor Dilawar Hussain, the only successes against Jardine's Englishmen, were not tried at the top in any game. It was in such a team condition that Vijay returned to the side for the game against Durham.

Durham : 10 Jun 1936

In a two day match against the modest attack of Howell and Ellis, India won the toss and decided to bat. In walked the veteran Wazir Ali and the young Vijay.It was a brave though inexplicable move because it had taken them so long to bring Wazir Ali back and Merchant's dour style should have made him an early candidate in a team struggling with the opener issue. Both of them batted for about 90 minutes each. They did not score to many but the 40 they put up for the first wicket was still India's best for 11 games. More importantly they had lasted 90 minutes each. They both left in quick succession and except for the brilliant LP Jai (according to Merchant the best Indian batsman of his times) no one stayed and they were bowled out for 174. Getting Durham for just 176, India decided to force a result in a dead match. They declared at 203 for 3 in 55 overs. Wazir Ali got 139 but Merchant got just 2. Durham went for the runs and got them in 48 overs against an atack thet had rested Nissar and Amar Singh.

The first opening stint of Merchant hadn't been an out and out success but it had happened.

Larwood and Voce

Nottingham 13 Jun 1936 The next game brought India and young Vijay face to face with Larwood and Voce. Most of the first two days were washed out by rain. On the third day India were at six for no loss at close (Merchant 5*) Next morning Larwood got 3 early wickets ( for 11) - Vijay amongst them, leg-before for 9. Voce got another 3 for not many and India were bundled out for 124. There wasn't much time for anything else.

Round two and our hero has 38 runs from three innings as opener. Not a dream start.

A Weak Team and a Big Score

Minor Counties - 17 Jun 1936 Batting second, India lost opener Hindlekar for 5. Then Mushtaq Ali joined Vijay Merchant and they thrashed the weak bowling for 215 runs. The side may have been weak but it was great for the morale of the Indian side. Merchant got 95, Mushtaq 135 and India 402. Amar Singh got 5 for 12 and Nissar 5 for 24 (to go with his first innings 4 wickets) and India won its first match in England

.

Surrey : 20th June 1936

Merchant and Hindlekar put on 49 in the first innings and 26 in the second. Vijay got 44 and 19. Hindlekar 80 in the second and India, after being 226 behind on first innings scored enough to put Surrey in and for Nissar to send a scare in the strong County side's ranks by first getting Andy Sandham and then clean bowling Squires for 9. India had Surrey on two down for no score and three down for 17 and still about 170 runs behind.

Once again Merchant and his partner hadn't given a stunning start but done just enough and the Indian team was recovering its confidence as the first Test match came up.

.... to be continued

[SJS50]

Before we go onto the first Test, it is important to record that the match against Minor Counties was the last match played by India's star batsman on tour till then. The entire Indian team had scored a grand total of five FC centuries till that match. Of these three had been scored by Lala Amarnath. He was far and away the outstanding star of the side. But he had a big problem with the captain. To start with Lala was under the employment of the Maharaja of Patiala who had tried hard to either be appointed captain of the touring side or have one of his men (maybe his own son who had already scored a Test sixty on debut). But it was the Maharajakumar of Vizianagram who led the side. And he couldn't stand the aggressive and slightly rebellious Lala. Some other seniors too played a lot of politics and finally when the Minor Counties match came around, Lala was made to keep waiting and not sent into bat. From number three he was dropped to four and then five and then six and finally seven. Lower order batsmen like Amar Singh and CK Nayudu's brother CS were sent above him. LLa was furious and went out to bat, threw his bat around for 22 runs, came back threw his bat around and hurled the choicest abuses in Punjabi. He was sent home to India (a la Sidhu by Azhar many decades later) where the ship was kept waiting in the harbour as arrangements were sought to be made to send Lala back. But that did not happen and we had one of the early of the ugly episodes of Indian cricket. No one has any doubt that if Lala had stayed back and played in the side alongwith Merchant and others, India would have performed much better. As it was, there was no more Test cricket for India for the next three years and then there were six years of the war and one of India's brightest stars had to play most of his cricket well beyond his peak years. Even though he was sent back well before the halfway stage of the tour, before the first Test itself, Lala scored three centuries with only Merchant with four ahead of him. He also headed the bowling averages for the tour with 32 wickets at 20. 9 each. His 6 for 29 was the second best bowling by an Indian in a first class game. If the players had just stood together this great tragedy would have been avoided. I have talked to so many old players regarding the cricketers of the past and without a single exception, everyone of them has got visibly excited at the very mention of Lala Amarnath. "He was something else", "He was easily the most gifted Indian player", "He was the greatest outfielder we have ever seen". " He was the cleverest of medium pacers", "He was India's finest captain" etc are all sentences one has heard so many times that every time I read or write or discuss this sorry episode, my blood boils.

India in England - 1936 - Ist Test

Lord's - 27th June 1936 England, led by Gubby Allen, had an impressive bowling attack. Led by the skipper himself, they also had the fast medium pace of Wyatt, left arm spin of the great Verity and the considerable skills of leg spinner RWV Robins. No wonder then, that in a three day match, eager to start on a positive note, they put India in. Out walked Vijay Merchant with his old partner Hindlekar. Hindlekar and Merchant proceeded to give India its best start of the entire tour. It was just 62 runs but in the context of this game that was like a 200 run partnership. From the time Gubby

Allen clean bowled Merchant for 35

, Indian batting just went to pieces. The 35 that Merchant scored was the top score of the Indian first innings and indeed of the entire Indian batting effort in the match. Hindlekar was second highest scorer with 26. The 62 runs they scored for the first wicket were more than three times as many as any other of the nineteen wickets would put up for India in the Test match. No partnership could muster even twenty runs as they lost the next 19 wickets for 178 runs to lose the match well within the three days allocated for the game. India were bowled out in the first innings for 147 and in the second for 93.

Merchant again fell to Gubby Allen in the second innings without him or India opening its account

. The 17 runs that his batting partner scored in the second innings was the top score of that innings. Before anyone jumps up and declares the Indian side of this tour worse than the minnows of today, let me tell you that in-spite of being bowled out for 147, India managed to eke out a 13 run lead on the first innings. Amar Singh almost bowled right through the English innings, bowling 25.1 overs, conceding just 35 runs and picking up six of the finest of the English batting. Nissar was no less effective. His three wickets in 12 overs came at 12 runs apiece.

They sent a scare down the English batting side as they had done with so many others but as has always been the trouble with Indian sides, they either have a great bowling side or a solid bating side - never both together. Merchant came out with honours only because of the mess his colleagues were in. Otherwise his fourth Test and the first as opener had just resulted in 35 runs (even if it was the top score) for twice out at 17.5 !! Six Test of his career to go and we have not yet seen the greatest Indian opener yet :)

The weather Turns

The Run-up-to the second Test The first Test ended on 30th June. With the advent of July, the weather improved. The sun came out as did the spirits of the Indians who had already been in England for just over two months. India played three games before the second Test - two against Lancashire and one against Derbyshire. They matched Lancashire's 400 plus with a similar score of their own in a drawn game.

Merchant scored 70 bating at number three

. In the return match,

Merchant carried his bat through both innings - a very rare feat indeed. (must check who else has done it at FC level) - scoring 135* out of 234 and 77* out of 161

. Nissar, CS Nayudu and Jehangir Khan ran through the Red Roses to land India their first win over a major county. The next game against Derbyshire was again low scoring.

Merchant got 23 and 75

as India declared to try and force a result. That did not happen but Merchant and his second innings opening partner Mushtaq Ali put on a dashing 76 runs (a new opening record for the Indians that season ??) and this was to be recalled in the Test match which was played at Old Trafford on 25th July.

India in England - 1936 - Ist Test

Old Trafford - 25 Jul 1936 England, surely shaken up by their poor first innings show in the first Test, brought back Hammond for the second Test. India won the toss, decided to bat first and proceeded to lose Mushtaq Ali (run out) at 18. Surprisingly, Amar Singh came in next.

Merchant went for 33

and despite forties by Wazir Ali and Ramaswami, India collapsed for 203. Allen got only 2 this time. Verity and Robins picked up six. After Nissar's customary clean bowling of an opener, England really piled up the runs. Hammond scored 167 and England were all out for 571 at the stroke of tea on the second day. By the way, 210 overs had been bowled in five sessions of cricket at 21 per hour. Pacers and medium pacers bowled 128 of them !! It can be done. From after tea as Merchant and Mushtaq Ali came into face a deficit of 368 runs, till the close of play, the spectators were treated to a batting display whose brilliance is said to be unmatched by all those who were privileged to be present at Old Trafford that day. In two hours, Merchant and Mushtaq Ali put on 190 without being separated. Merchant was batting at close on 79 and Syed Mushtaq Ali on 105. That, I repeat when faced with a deficit of 368, a team which had already lost all but one of the Tests it had played so far and against an attack of Gubby Allen, Alf Gover, Hedley Verity, RWV Robins and Hamnmond. I must fish out some of the many essays that have been written about this display. Next day

Merchant too completed his first Test hundred in his fifth Test.

They put on 203 for the first wicket. Ramaswami continued his recent good form to score 60 and India from a hopeless situation went to a very honourable 390 for five.

Merchant had arrived as India's opening batsman. The 203 he and Mushtaq Ali put up remained a record for India in a Test in England for 43 years till Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan put on 213 at the Oval in that fabulous run chase of 1979.

So we have reached the stage where Merchant is transformed into a Test opening batsman. We need to quickly look at the rest of his Test career to see where he stands as far as the title of being the greatest (or second greatest) Indian Test opener is concerned. The 1936 tour continued. But Merchant struck a bad patch after the brilliance of the second Test.

He had scores of 18, 16, 1, 26*, 8 and 37 going into the last test at The Oval

. The Third Test saw another big innings by Hammond (216) as England scored 471.

Merchant scored 52 and 48 in a match India lost by 9 wickets.

And we come to the end of the busines end of the tour. How does Merchants 'balance sheet look ? He has played six of his career ten Tests till this stage and this is his record.

• Tests : 6
• Runs : 460
• Average : 38.33
• 100's : 1
• 50's : 2
• Highest : 114

By no stretch of imagination a great record. Yes he was part of a relatively weak batting side but to allow that consideration to elevate him beyond all limits would be going over board. He was not to play another Test series till after the WWII. Once again it was in England and the year was 1946. Merchant had an ordinary time in the first two Tests scoring, 12, 27, 78 and 0. So that at the end of his 8th Test, he stands even lower than where he stood at the end of his 6th.

• Tests : 8
• Runs : 577
• Average : 36.06
• 100's : 1
• 50's : 3
• Highest : 114

Surely this is not the record of someone who appears to stand just under the Don. Clearly we go overboard by allowing Merchant's first class record and its being second only to Bradman's to make us give much greater weightage to this, undoubtedly vary gifted player. Surely, in the absence of more data, we can at least say that its difficult to assess Merchant's position in relation to the other greats of later year since we are handicapped by so little exposure to the topmost level of the game and, more importantly, the less-than-earth-shattering nature of his achievements. Before anyone accuses me of being intellectually dishonest, I must assure my readers that I have no intention to ignore his last two Tests.

In the 3rd test of that tour Merchant scored 128

in a game doomed to be a draw due to weather. Only 13 wickets fell in the match. Ten of them Indian. Merchant's innings was in an Indian total of 331. This was followed

five years later by his highest Test score of 154,

in his last Test at Delhi's Feroze Shah Kotla. On a wicket which was meant for spinners (Mankad and leg spinner Shinde bowled 68.3 overs between them in England's innings of 203. England with Statham as their main bowler and four medium pacers in all (Ridgeway, Watkins and Shackleton besides Statham) struggled as Merchant and Hazare(164) made merry. England came into their own in the second innings with a laborious 368 in 221 overs !! The match was drawn - naturally. So what does it tell us of Vijay Madhav Thackersey a.k.a. Merchant as an opener. I am afraid it tells quite a bit but does not strengthen one's faith in his being in the class of Hobbs and Sutcliffe or even Gavaskar as an opener. It is possible that had he played more Test cricket (he could have gone to Australia after the war but his health did not permit) he may have scored many more hundreds and given us more solid evidence of his capacity to handle the top bowlers. But then again, he may not have. Surely the evidence is not conclusive. You be the judge.

PS : For those who may not know how Mr Vijay Thackersey became Vijay Merchant - the story goes like this. When young Vijay was sent to school for admission with a family retainer, the person filling up the form asked the servant who was the child's father. The servant said he was a merchant, since Thackersey's were big time merchants. The person wrote down the fathers name as Merchant and the young boy became Vijay Merchant !! CONCLUDED.

[SJS50]

Here is Merchant's complete list of Test scores.

• 23
• 30
• 54
• 17
• 26
• 28
• 35
• 0
• 33
• 114
• 52
• 48
• 12
• 27
• 78
• 0
• 128
• 154

The amazing thing about Merchant is that he seemed to get better as he got older. In that respect he is like Hobbs. In the last 14 seasons of his career, from 1938-39 to 1951-52, he scored almost 9000 runs in first class cricket at 91.9 !! 33 of his 45 hundreds came in the 89 matches he played during this period. He was clearly a very remarkable batsman. It cant be discounted that had he played more Test cricket at his peak, he would have scored lots more runs. Its just that it did not happen and the evidence of domestic cricket cant always be extrapolated to an international career with a great degree of certainty. His peak was the ten seasons - 9 at home between 1938-39 to 1945-46 and the 1946 summer in England. During this period he scored 7388 runs at 105.5. with 28 hundreds in 69 games. Incidentally, it can be very dicey to project Test performances based on first class cricket. Not only is the differences between the two grades of the game remarkable but one may also find that there is a cut off before which one could be a fabulous FC player but just beyond that lies the Test level where one may be found very wanting. There are many such examples in the game. Here is one from close to Merchant. Vijay Hazare was a more than competent first class bowler. His figures are

[B]Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BB	Ave	5wI	10wM	SRate	Econ[/B]
38447	1732	14645	595	8-90	[COLOR="DarkGreen"][B]24.61[/B][/COLOR]	27	3	[B][COLOR="DarkGreen"]65.60[/COLOR][/B]	2.27

Now compare this with his Test bowling figures.

[B]Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BB	Ave	5wI	10wM	SRate	Econ[/B]
2840	99	1220	20	4-29	[B][COLOR="DarkRed"]61.00[/COLOR][/B]	0	0	[B][COLOR="DarkRed"]142.00[/COLOR][/B]	2.57

Now look at Mankad's first class figures.

[B]Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BB	Ave	5wI	10wM	SRate	Econ[/B]
50080	2286	19183	782	8-35	[COLOR="DarkGreen"][B]24.53[/B][/COLOR]	38	9	[B][COLOR="DarkGreen"]64.12[/COLOR][/B]	2.29

Not very different from Hazare's first class figures. In fact they are almost identical. Now lets look at Mankad's Test figures.

[B]Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BB	Ave	5wI	10wM	SRate	Econ[/B]
14686	777	5236	162	8-52	[COLOR="DarkRed"][B]32.32[/B][/COLOR]	8	2	[B][COLOR="DarkRed"]90.65[/COLOR][/B]	2.13

See the HUGE gap between them when they come to international level. This is an extremely important factor when we are discussing cricketers in the context of their first class performances. So many times we are amazed at how one cricketer with such fantastic first class performances is unable to do well at Test level while another, comparable at first class level is also a success at Test level. We try to find the answer to it in non cricketing skill factors like confidence, temperament etc. But that may not always be the explanation. There is a subtle difference between what makes a successful first class cricketer and what makes a successful Test cricketer and everyone does not have it. Just because a batsman is scoring doubles triples and even quadruples at FC level does not mean he will be able to do the same at Test level. In the sub-continent, particularly, we tend to be shocked at why a player doing so well at the FC level is not a regular at Test level or if he does play, why he does not do so well. We have to understand that these players dont have it in them. Its clear that his best cricket (at least judging from his first class cricket) was played between the end of the 1936 and the start of the 1946 tours of England. In other words the ten year period during which he did not play any Test cricket. In fact it is the period from the last Test match in 1936 to the end of the 1946 season. It is sad that the war denied him, as it did many others, the chance to play the game at the highest level when at their peak. One can surmise that he would, therefore, also have had his greatest success at Test level during the same period. The point is whether we can take that for granted. He did make very large scores in first class cricket but he hadn't done that in the Test arena in the limited opportunities he got. He seemed to relish the English conditions more and more with time. The second part of his 1936 was better than the first and the 1946 tour much better than 1936. In fact the 1946 tour was the highlight of his entire career. He scored 2385 runs in all first class matches at 79.3. Only Compton and Washbrook scored more (jsut a few more) but they played more games. They averaged 61.6 and 68.6 respectively. So Merchant was, arguably the best batsman on view in England that summer. But there is another way to further look at those 1946 years. Outside the Test matches Merchant scored 2140 runs at 79.3. This is even higher than his career first class average of 71.64 (74.24 outside Tests). However, even in this, arguably his finest time, he scored just 245 runs in the three Tests at 49.0 with one hundred (128) and one fifty. Where is the minor Bradman in those Test figures that looms large in the first class figures. This is the point I was making with those Hazare and Mankad first class and Test bowling comparisons. Could it be, that Merchant, fully evolved, had become just too good for first class bowling sides (in India or in England) but for Test sides he was good, very good, but still a mortal. Well thats what his figures might indicate, 'incomplete' as they are due to a cruel intervention by war. Another thing. England had just one real bowler in that season to confront the Indians with - Alec Bedser. They had no bowlers to open the attack with him. They tried three different bowlers in three Test matches and they were all old men, very old for fast bowlers, at the very end of their careers and they were finished. These were Alf Gover, Bill Bowes and Bill Voce. Voce went to Australia that winter otherwise they played no more Tests in their careers. They also tried four other medium pacers to bowl after the first two. None of them bowled in more than one game. The only worthwhile new bal bowler England could find was Dick Pollard, who bowled first change in the second Test and did a great job taking 7 wickets in the match including 5 for 24 in the first innings but for reasons, I cant locate, he did not play again in that series. England just came up with a new attack (to accompany the constant Bedser) in every single Test of that series. Have a look. 1st Test

RAMP	Bowes
RAMP	[B]Bedser[/B]
RAMP	Smailes
RALS	Wright
RALS	Ikin

2nd Test

RAMP	Voce
[B]RAMP	Bedser[/B]
RAFM	Pollard
RALS	Wright
LAS	Compton
RALS	Ikin
RAMF	Hammond

3rd test

RAMF	Gover
[B]RAMP	Bedser[/B]
RAFM	Edrich
LAS	Compton
RALS	Smith
LAS	Langridge

Bedser is named second in each attack because inspite being, by a zillion miles, the best bowler in the side, the older players, considered faster, opened the attack, albeit for one Test each. Eight medium pacers (seven of them bowling in just one Test) and five spinners in a three Test series. England had one new ball bowler - albeit a great one - and nothing else. Their best spinner before the war had sadly died fighting. The Indian team, and Merchant did not have to face too much by way of potency in theis English attack. No wonder that Bedser got 24 wickets and Pollard who just played one Test, was next with seven. The bowling averages of the bowlers who opened the new ball attack for England need repeating.

• Bill Bowes : 73.0
• Bill Voce : 46.0
• Alf Gover : 56.0

The fact that Bedser got his 24 wickets (more than all the other 12 bowlers put together) at 12.4 each shows what might have been the fate of the Indians if Bedser had another bowler to help him.

[riwi999]

Extremely interesting, SJS. Gives us an incredible insight into Merchant's batting and how it evolved. I have always been fascinated by cricket of that period. While there is plenty out there about English and Aussie cricketers (mainly because that period has been best documented by English and Aussie historians and writers), there is not all that much about Indians. I remember reading a book by Sujit Mukherjee many years ago which does give some insight into Indian cricketers of that time. I have also spoken to older generations and I agree with you that most of them think Lala Amarnath was special. One thing: This 60 by Yuvaraj of Patiala in the Madras Test, 1933-34 was supposed to be a rigged innings, from what I have read. The Maharaja of Patiala was a huge patron of cricket and so the Yuvaraj was allowed to get some runs, just for fun. I read this online somewhere - will try to look for the link. I would like to nominate this (set of posts about Merchant) for POTW.

[Roshanrocks]

wat an incrediblely informative article Mr SJS :hatsoff: i postponed a site inspection just so i could finish the whole story..... super effort sir

[SJS50]

wat an incrediblely informative article Mr SJS :hatsoff: i postponed a site inspection just so i could finish the whole story..... super effort sir

That's a terrific compliment. Thanks :)