On this day (September 11) in 1911, Lala Amarnath, the player who scored the first Test century for India, was born. Lala Amarnath is known for his charismatic game in the history of Indian cricket. In the year 1933, Amarnath played the debut test match against England (India vs England) at the Bombay Gymkhana. He scored 118 runs in this match, which was the first Test century by any Indian. Amarnath was also the first Test captain of independent India. He led India to victory in the first official Test series played in 1952-53 against Pakistan (India vs Pakistan) under his captaincy. India won this series 2-1.
Lala Amarnath played a total of 24 Test matches in his career, in which he scored a total of 878 runs. He has a total of 1 century and 4 half-centuries to his name. Apart from this, he has scored 10426 runs in 186 first class matches at an average of 41. He has scored 31 centuries and 39 half-centuries.
Don Bradman was out
Lala Amarnath used to bowl with very accurate line length, he is the only bowler in the world who has done the feat of hitting Sir Don Bradman. In 1947, Amarnath hit Bradman during the Brisbane Test. Amarnath has 45 wickets in Test cricket and 463 wickets in first-class cricket.
12 years away from international cricket due to controversy
Due to a dispute, Lala Amarnath could not play international cricket for 12 years. In fact, during the England tour in 1936, Captain Vizianagaram’s Maharaj Kumar had controversially sent Lala Amarnath back home due to ‘indiscipline’. Amarnath had alleged that he was thrown out due to political reasons. After this Lala Amarnath had to wait for 12 years to play the next Test. During this, he kept amassing runs and then in the year 1946 he got a place in Team India for the tour of England.
Lala Amarnath died on 5 August 2000 at the age of 88. His sons Surinder, Mohinder and Rajinder also made cricket their career like their father. Surinder has played 9 Test matches for India while Mohinder has played 69 Test matches.
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