Lala Amarnath is dead

Recipient of Padma Bhushan, the octogenarian cricket legend had not been keeping good health lately. After a broken hip bone in February, he had shown signs of recovery but could not recover from the shock of his son-in-law Suresh Sharma’s sudden death in June and since then he was on liquid diet.

“We thought he was sleeping but after failing to get any response from him, the doctors were called in and they pronounced him dead,” Rajinder said.

Lala was the first Indian to score a century (118) against Jardine-led England team in 1933 in Bombay in the official Test.

The celebrated all-rounder played 24 Tests and scored 878 runs at the average of 24.38. He also took 45 wickets. His best figures were 5-96 against England at Old Trafford in 1946.

Lala retired from international cricket after leading India to a 2-1 win over arch-rivals Pakistan. He won only two of the 15 Tests that he captained. He drew seven and lost six.

After saying goodbye to test cricket, Lala became a selector while he continued to play in the Ranji Trophy until 1960-61

He was National selector for nine years (1952-60) and served thelast two years as chairman of the selection committee.