A dream Test debut
Partab Ramchand - 12 November 2001

When the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) team came to India in 1933-34, there were a number of young players ready to don the India cap. Among them was Nanik Bharadwaj Amarnath, better known as Lala. Indeed, after seeing Amarnath make a scintillating 109 for Southern Punjab against the touring squad in Amritsar - he came in when the score was 12/3 ­ Alec Hosie, one of the selectors, hailed Amarnath as the Bradman of India. Not unexpectedly, when the team for the first Test at Bombay was announced, Amarnath was a popular inclusion.

From various close-in positions, Jardine could only watch the fireworks in awe. Amarnath had raced to 83 in only 78 minutes when Nayudu appeared to give him some advice, as a result of which he slowed down and proceeded sedately to his century that nevertheless came up in only 117 minutes.

He walked in jauntily at No. 3 and top-scored with 38 in India's first innings total of 219. But this was just a prelude to a colourful display of pyrotechnics in the second innings. As Mushtaq Ali, who was one of the reserves in the match, recalls in his autobiography Cricket Delightful : "In daring and audacity, it was incomparable with any other innings I saw him play. It was indeed one of the grandest Test hundreds I have seen by anyone anywhere."

Amarnath again went in at No 3. Facing a deficit of 219 runs, India lost openers JG Navle and Wazir Ali to Nobby Clark for 21. Despite the dire situation that his side was in, Amarnath straightaway went for the bowling, an approach typical of the man. He batted in such daring fashion that Douglas Jardine soon dispensed with his close-set field and spread them around the outfield like a man opening his umbrella in the face of a sudden shower. Indeed, on the Bombay Gymkhana ground that memorable December day, there was a shower of runs flowing in gay profusion from Amarnath's bat. Even the great CK Nayudu, no slouch when it came to attacking batsmanship, just seemed to stand by and watch happily from the other end as the hot-blooded youth from Punjab made Clark, Morris Nichols, Hedley Verity and James Langridge look no better than the club bowlers he faced in local cricket.

From various close-in positions, Jardine could only watch the fireworks in awe. Amarnath had raced to 83 in only 78 minutes when Nayudu appeared to give him some advice, as a result of which he slowed down and proceeded sedately to his century that nevertheless came up in only 117 minutes. By the end of the third day, out of a total of 169 for two, Amarnath was unbeaten on 102.

The crowd surged on to the ground to garland him, and it was said that women were tearing off their earrings and other jewelry and throwing it at him. Maharajas made gifts of money and the country hailed him as a hero. The two contrasting companions ­ at 38, Nayudu was very much the big name of the day while Amarnath at 22 was the fast-rising young star ­ carried on the next morning before a crowd estimated at about 45,000. They added 186 runs for the third wicket before Nayudu was out for 67. A run later, Amarnath was dismissed for 118, made in three-and-a-half hours, with a very high proportion of his runs ­ 84 ­ coming from boundary hits. Amarnath thus completed a double feat ­ he was the first Indian to make a Test century and was also the first to hit a hundred in his maiden Test.

© CricInfo

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