Who is India’s oldest living Test cricketer? (05 February 2002)

Morapakkam Joysam Gopalan, or MJ Gopalan, is 92 years and 243 days old today (February 5, 2002), according to official records. India's oldest living Test cricketer by a long way, he is only four days younger than the oldest living cricketer in the world - New Zealand’s Gordon Lindsay Weir.

But then again, Gopalan might be older than Weir. His family members maintain that he was born on June 6, 1906. Gopalan himself told CricInfo on his last birthday - "I don't know how the school where I studied listed my year of birth as 1909 but that stuck."

Gopalan played one Test against England at Calcutta in 1933-34. A double international, he was also a member of an Indian hockey team led by Dhyan Chand, rated by many to be the Don Bradman of world hockey. Gopalan may have gained greater honours had he pursued India’s national game, but in 1936, he spurned a chance to be a part of a subsequently gold-medal-winning Olympic hockey squad to tour England with his cricketing colleagues. Sadly, though, the all-rounder did not play a single international match during that tour.

The veteran former cricketer, incidentally, has the unique honour of bowling the first delivery in the Ranji Trophy, India’s premier domestic tournament.

For more details on all the above facts check out [ StatsGuru ]

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