Mohinder Amarnath

Long before India knew of a man called Sourav Ganguly, Mohinder Amarnath owned the title “comeback king”. The career, which began in 1969, lasted 2 eventful decades and saw him achieve the highest of peaks and also sink to the lowest of troughs. Cricket ran in his blood; he is the son of India’s first post Independence captain Lala Amarnath, the brother of former Test cricketer

Surinder Amarnath and also Rajinder Amarnath, a former first class cricketer. He started his career as a medium pace bowler who could bat, but finished as one of the best batsmen produced by India.

After his debut series in 1969, he had to wait until 1975 to return to the side. He continued to be in and out of the side until the early 1980s, when he scaled new heights. In 1982-83, he played 11 away Tests against Pakistan and West Indies, and scored close to 1200 runs. Things got better in 1983,

when he played a major part in India’s successful World Cup campaign. His all-round performances in the semi-final and the final saw him get back to back Man of the Match awards, apart from being declared the Man of the Series.

However, the following year turned out to be quite contrary to the previous 2 seasons. In the 1984 West Indies tour of India, he managed only 1 run in 6 innings, a dismal show which got him the axe. However, he returned with a bang, coming back as a much improved batsman.

To many of his peers and rivals, Amarnath was one of the best batsman of his times. Sunil Gavaskar described him as the finest batsman in the world, while Imran Khan called him the best batsman in the 1982-83 season. Jimmy, as he was called, was known to be a brave person and scored his runs

on the toughest of tracks. His first century came on the fastest pitch in the world - Perth, and he went on to score 10 more tons against the best of bowlers. His batting skills coupled with accurate medium pace bowling made him one of the best all-rounders to come from India.

Post retirement, Amarnath worked with a young Bangladesh side in the early 90s, but was axed after they failed to qualify for the 1996 World Cup.

Interesting facts:

Amarnath is the only Indian to be dismissed handling the ball. He is also the only Indian to be dismissed obstructing the field in ODIs.

Amarnath, in his playing days, famously called the selectors “a bunch of jokers”. Little did he realise that he would become one later, as he is currently the selector for the North Zone.

By Karthik Lakshmanan