Lala Amarnath: Facts and Feats

Lala Amaranath's Test career spanned twenty seasons from 1933-34 to 1952-53. He made his Test debut under the leadership of Col. CK Nayudu at Gymkhana Ground, Bombay in the first ever Test match played in India, against England, in the 1933-34 series. He made his debut along with four other cricketers, LP Jai, RJD Jameshedji, VM Merchant and L Ramji. Lala wrote himself into the record books by making a second innings hundred, 118 to be precise, to become the first Indian batsman to register a Test hundred. In the first innings he had scored 38.

To recall his performance on test debut with the mode of dismissal

First    innings     :: lbw b Nichols        38
Second   innings     :: c Nichols b Clarke   118

With the leather, he bowled just two overs for two runs without capturing a wicket.

In the company of his skipper CK Nayudu, he added 186 runs for the third wicket after India had lost two wickets cheaply for 21 runs in their second innings. Nayudu made 67 in the three figure partnership, the first ever for India in the annals of Test cricket.

This Test had other highlights also, being the first ever which included play on a Sunday. L Amar Singh and L Ramji achieve the distinction of becoming the first pair of brothers to represent India. Valentine of England, also making his Test debut, scored 136.

Apart from his only Test hundred, Lala has scored four fifties, which are listed as under

01 50 in    SI at Lord's      Vs England     1946
02 62 in    FI at Delhi       Vs West Indies 1948-49
03 58* in   SI at Bombay      Vs West Indies 1948-49
04 61* in   SI at Lucknow     Vs Pakistan    1952-53

He has captured five plus wickets twice which are listed thus

01 5-118 in FI at Lord's      Vs England  1946
02 5-96  in FI at Manchester  Vs England  1946

Lala became the first Indian allrounder to register a fifty and capture five wickets in an innings in the same Test match. At Lord's against England in 1946, he captured five wickets conceding 118 runs in England's first innings. His victims were

L Hutton       c Nayudu   b Amarnath  07
C Washbrook    c Mankad    b Amarnath  27
DCS Compton                b Amarnath  00
WR Hammond                 b Amarnath  33
TF Smailes     c Mankad    b Amarnath  25

After being dismissed without scoring in the first innings - leg before wicket to AV Bedser, he made an exact fifty in the second innings batting at number 8, before he was bowled by Smailes.

Lala's feat had an added charisma to it, being achieved at Lord's, the Mecca of cricket.

He returned five for 118 at Lord's after bowling a marathon 57 overs, becoming the second Indian bowler to bowl 50 plus overs in a Test innings, after Amar Singh at Calcutta in 1933-34.

However his best bowling effort in an innings and in a match was reserved for the next Test at Manchester, reading as under.

First innings   51 Overs 17 maidens  96 runs  5 wickets
Second innings  30 Overs 09 maidens  71 runs  3 wickets

His total aggregate of eight wickets for 167 runs was his best match bowling effort, while his 5 wickets for 96 runs remains the best innings bowling effort.

Lala's career Test statistics read thus
Tests             24
Innings           40
Not outs          04
Runs              878
Highest Score     118
Average           24.38
Fifties           04
Centuries         01
Catches           13
Wickets              45
Runs                 1481
Average              32.91
Best innings effort  5-96
Five wickets      02
Ten wickets       00
Best Match effort 8-167

Lala led India in 15 Tests of which he won two, lost six and drew seven. He won the toss in only four Tests. He led India in five Tests each against Australia, West Indies and Pakistan. Lala is the first Indian captain to lead the country in ten or more Tests. He was the fourth Indian captain to lead India, after CK Nayudu, Maharaj Kumar of Vizianagaram and Iftiqar Ali Khan Pataudi.

Lala represented five states in Ranji Trophy - Punjab, Gujarat, Patiala, Uttar Pradesh and Railways. Indian Cricket records his performance in Ranji Trophy thus

Matches     41
Innings     57
Not outs    02
Runs        2162
Highest     155*
Average     39.31
Balls       9138
Maidens     558
Runs        2738
Wickets     190
Average     14.41

Rajinder Pal who made his Test debut along with Bhagwat Chandrasekhar against England at Bombay in 1963-64, encountered me with a question on Lala: What is so special about Lala's appearances in Ranji Trophy? I was spot on to answer him that he has played for five states, the first to do so in Ranji Trophy. Rajinder Pal was to say that the answer was half correct and gave me the correct answer, that Lala not only played for five states, but captained them too! A great tribute for Lala and I stood corrected, courtesy, Rajinder Pal.

Lala's first class career spanned from 1929 to 1963 and his career figures as recorded in The Wisden Book of Cricket Records read thus

Innings     281
Not outs    33
Runs        10323
Highest     262
Average     41.62
Centuries   31

Lala was the first Indian batsman to register centuries in each innings on English soil. Representing Indians against Essex at Brent Wood in 1936, he made 130 and 107.

Lala scored four double hundreds in his first class career, which are listed thus

241   Hindus            Vs Rest           Bombay      1938-39
262   India in England  Vs Rest of India  Calcutta    1946-47
228*  Indians           Vs Victoria       Melbourne   1947-48
223*  North Zone        Vs West Indians   Patiala     1948-49

Lala scored 1000 plus runs in a season in Australia. He shared this distinction with Vijay Hazare in 1947-48 season. The exploits of these two Indian batsmen, who remain the only two batsmen to aggregate 1000 plus runs in a season in Australia read as under;

Lala Amarnath
Innings     23
Not outs    03
Runs        1162
Highest     228*
Average     58.10
Hundreds    05
Vijay Hazare
Innings     23
Not outs    01
Runs        1056
Highest     145
Average     48.00
Hundreds    04

Lala has scored 1000 plus in a domestic season also. The details of his feat read thus

Season      1935-36
Innings     21
Not outs    03
Runs        1071
Highest     149*
Average     59.50
Hundreds    02

Lala's name appears as the sixth bowler in the world who has captured four wickets in an innings without conceding a run. The complete list reads thus

Sir FHH Bathurst  2     2  0  4  Eng         Vs    Kent, Lord's                1843
JR Napier         3.2   3  0  4  Lancashire  Vs    Yorkshire at Sheffield      1888
A Hearne          5     5  0  4  Kent        Vs    Somerset Taunton           1893
AF Bortland       0.5   0  0  4  Natal       Vs    Griqualand West Kimberley  1926-27
LC Eastman        2.1   2  0  4  Essex       Vs    Somerset Weston-s-Mare     1934
L Amarnath        7     7  0  4  Railways    Vs    Patiala Patiala            1958-59

Lala's feat of 7-7-0-4 is the only instance of an Indian bowler capturing four wickets without conceding a run.

Lala had another outstanding bowling analysis in his first class career. Playing for Southern Punjab against Patiala at Patiala, in 1938-39, he captured four wickets conceding two runs in seven overs. His 7-7-0-4 in 1958-59 was an improvement over his figures of 7-5-2-4 in 1938-39. An interesting observation is that both the feats were achieved against Patiala at Patiala.

Lala turned out for India in unofficial Tests too and his career figures in these read as under:

Matches        12
Runs           695
Average        31.59
Highest        123
Centuries      02
Fifties        02
Catches        05
Wickets        14
Average        25.07
Five wkts      00
Ten wkts       00
Best Bowling   3-41

He breathed his last on 05.08.2000, living an exact 88 years 11 months and 24 days, his date of birth being 11.09.1911.