ML Jaisimha: A Profile (8 July 1999)

8 July 1999

ML Jaisimha: A Profile

Blessington Thomas

Born at Secunderabad on 3rd March 1939. Died on 7th July 1999.

ML Jaisimha made his Ranji Tropy debut for Hyderabad in 1954-55 against Andhra and scored 90 runs and took 3 wickets for 51 runs. He played 23 seasons without a break in Ranji Trophy and 12 years in Duleep Trophy besides representing India in 13 test series.

He captained Hyderabad for 14 successive seasons from 1963-64 till his retirement in 1976-77. He captained South Zone in Duleep Trophy for 7 years from 1963-64 to 1969-70, sharing the trophy for the first year and winning a further three times.

Jaisimha's first three test matches were noteworthy. In 1959, he played his first test at Lord's, the Mecca of cricket. His second test was against Australia at Calcutta in 1959-60 when he was at the crease at one time or the other on all five days. On the first day he had 2 not out, scored 20 not out in India's first innings on the second day. On the third day he was 0 not out, on the fourth day he was 59 not out and on the last day in India's second innings he scored 74. In his third test he was run out for 99 against Pakistan at Kanpur during the 1960-61 series. On eight occasions he opened the batting and the bowling in test cricket.

During 1964-65, Jaisimha scored 1401 runs in Indian first class cricket, including 713 (seventh highest aggregate in Ranji Trophy history) with five centuries, three of them in succession. In 1967-68, he joined the Indian team and later was part of the tour to Australia. His first test match was at Brisbane. He scored 101 and 74 in that test.

ML Jaisimha was made Honorary Life Member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC, England) in 1978. Jaisimha has scored over 12,700 runs in his first class career, playing 237 first class games, 374 innings averaging 36.52 with 259 being his highest score, made against Bengal in a Ranji Trophy Knock-Out match. He made 30 centuries and 61 half-centuries.

He claimed over 400 victims averaging 30.75, claiming 5 or more wickets on 16 occassions and 10 or more wickets in a match on 10 occasions. He also caught over 150 catches.

Tests in India 2 On Tours (Including one in a test) 2 Ranji Trophy 17 Irani Cup 1 Un-Official Tests 1 Other First Class (1963-64 to 1972-73) 1 Duleep Trophy 4 Moin -Ud- Dowlah 2 Total 30

1 259 v Bengal 1964-65 Ranji Trophy 2 179 v Andhra 1967-68 Ranji Trophy 3 175 v Central Zone 1970-71 Duleep Trophy 4 171 v West Zone 1966-67 Duleep Trophy 5 164 v Kerala 1959-60 Ranji Trophy 6 160 v North Zone 1965-66 Duleep Trophy 7 154 v Kerala 1964-65 Ranji Trophy 8 153 v Uttar Pradesh 1964-65 Ranji Trophy 9 151* v State Bank of India 1963-64 Moin-Ud-Dowlah 10 138 v Madras(Now Tamil Nadu) 1958-59 Ranji Trophy 11 138 v Kerala 1975-76 Ranji Trophy 12 131 v Ceylon (Now Sri Lanka) 1964-65 Un-Official Test at Hyderabad 13 131 v East Zone 1970-71 Duleep Trophy 14 129 v England 1964-64 Test Match at Calcutta 15 127 v England 1961-62 Test Match at Delhi 16 127 v Kerala 1970-71 Ranji Trophy 17 124 v Andhra 1959-60 Ranji Trophy 18 124 v Andhra 1962-63 Ranji Trophy 19 117 v Maharashtra 1973-74 Ranji Trophy 20 111 v State Bank of India - Moin-Ud-Dowlah 21 110 v Mysore(Now Karnataka) 1962-63 Ranji Trophy 22 109 v Madras 1964-65 Ranji Trophy 23 108 v Guyana (West Indies) 1961-62 24 106* v Kerala 1973-74 Ranji Trophy 25 105 v Bombay(Now Mumbai) 1959-60 Irani Trophy 26 103 v Andhra 1974-75 Ranji Trophy 27 102 v President's XI 1967-68 (Kenya Relief) 28 101 v Kerala 1963-64 Ranji Trophy 29 101 v Australia 1967-68 Brisbane 30 100* v Mysore 1958-59 Ranji Trophy

Batting M I NO Runs HS Ave 100 Ranji Trophy 90 125 12 5226 259 46.24 17 Irani Cup 5 9 0 204 105 22.66 1 Tests 39 71 4 2056 129 30.68 3 Duleep Trophy 23 33 1 1456 175 45.40 4

Bowling Overs Runs Wkts Avg Cts Ranji Trophy 1973 5161 235 21.11 71 Irani Cup 61 245 1 245.00 4 Tests 249.3 829 9 92.11 17 Duleep Trophy 301.5 82 31 29.29 18

Source :: Blessington Thomas