The Lion who shook the world with his dashing approach

From the alleged Bad Boy when he was sent back home from England in 1936 on disciplinary grounds, he rose to lead free India’s first cricket team. Later, the flamboyant cricketer led the team abroad on a tour to Australia in 1947-48 and dazzled his fans with 1,000 runs (average 100.20) in first class matches. His masterly 228 against Victoria, which fielded some of the top world bowlers of their time, is still talked about in the annals of Australian cricket.

In the Tests on the tour of Down Under, Lala headed the bowling averages. In all first class matches, he headed the batting averages. A fine feat by a visiting captain.

Lala is the only Indian mentioned in Sir Donald Bradman’s book The Art of Cricket for his astute wisdom as a captain and for his reading of any type of wicket.

Though he failed with the bat in the Tests, he scored heavily in the first class matches and his shrewd captaincy drew praise from Bradman while leading an Indian team to Australia in 1947.

Bradman had every reason to be impressed by Amarnath as the Indian captain put little known Kishenchand to bowl when the legendary batsman needed just one run to complete his century of centuries in first-class cricket. Bradman did achieve that landmark, but after some hesitation against a bowler about whom even the Indians did not know anything.

Born on September 11, 1911, of poor parents in Kapurthala district, Lala began taking keen interest in cricket at a young age. He played for Aligarh Muslim University. He then shifted to Lahore and his cricketing exploits started. He was always the darling of the Lahoris and this reporter was witness to an incident in 1983 when a taxi driver refused to accept money from Amarnath calling him Lahore ki shaan (pride of Lahore).

He was a member of the Indian team which toured England under the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram (Vizzy) and became a subject of controversy on the tour. He was sent back to India in the middle of the tour on charges of indiscipline. His promising career was thus rudely cut short.

Lala was, however, exonerated of the charges by the Beamont Inquiry committee, but by then he had already lost more than 12 years of his best cricketing years.

He also skippered the Indian team in the home series against the West Indies in 1948 and nearly won the Test in Bombay against the redoubtable Caribbeans.

Lala Amarnath earned the distinction of being the first Indian captain to win a series at home against Pakistan on their tour in 1952-53.

Always experimenting and ever trying to hoodwink the opposition, Amarnath’s move in the Test at Madras boomeranged, as Vijay Hazare once said: “Pakistan’s last pair was in with a few minutes left for play. As the skipper (Lala) did not want us to bat that day, he gave instructions to his bowlers not to get the last batsman out, and actually when the last batsman was plumb leg before wicket, no appeal was made in accordance with the plan. He must have thought that he would capture the last wicket easily the next morning, but unluckily the plan miscarried and the last pair added over 100 runs the next day.” This was not Lala’s first move which had misfired in his international and domestic career.

He led India a 2-1 victory against Pakistan, yet he did not play another Test again. He subsequently announced his retirement.

Lala won only two of the 15 Tests that he captained. He drew seven and lost six. In all, he played 24 Tests, 21 of them in the post-Independent era.

He scored 878 runs, including one century and four half-centuryies, in 24 Tests at an average of 24.38. He captured 45 wickets (average 32.91) with his best figure 5 for 96 against England at Old Trafford in 1946.

As a bowler, he notched up two records — taking four wickets for two runs and 20 years later claiming four wickets without conceding a run.

He was responsible for discovering several Indian cricketers who later hit the headlines. They included Ramakant Desai, Salim Durrani, ML Jaisimha, Vijay Mehra, Milkha Singh, VV Kumar, Nari Contractor, Faroukh Engineer and Budhi Kunderan.

After bidding saying goodbye to Test cricket, Amarnath continued to play in the Ranji Trophy until 1960-61. He scored 2,162 runs (average 39.30) and captured 190 wickets (14.41).

With the great all-rounder Vinoo Mankad as captain, he was manager of the Indian team that went to Pakistan in 1954. With neither side taking any chances, the five-Test series ended in a 0-0 draw and was rightly dubbed the Battle of the Snooze.

Besides serving as secretary to the Patiala Cricket Association, Lala became a selector in 1952 and retained the office until 1960. In 1958, he was elected to the selection committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and later became its chairman. His tenure as chairman was as controversial as his career in his playing days. There were some who went on saying that he was a “non-playing captain.”

Like Lala, his two sons also earned distinction in the game and brought laurels to the country. Surinder, a dashing left-handed batsman, like his father hit a century on his Test debut against the Kiwis while Mohinder remained the mainstay of the Indian team for a number of years as an all-rounder. In fact, Mohinder played a key role in India’s 1983 World Cup victory.

In his later days, Lala became a critic and reported the game for newspapers and All India Radio (AIR).

Though old age restricted his movements, Amarnath’s mind was as sharp as ever and he followed the Indian cricket team’s fortunes very keenly.

He was honoured by the government with Padma Bhushan for his services to the game.

Amarnath got his nickname `Lala’ which in Punjabi means `Lion’, when he was very young. The name stayed with him because a lion he was. Few people know that his real surname was Bharadwaj.