Narendra Hirwani, born on October 18, 1968, in Gorakhpur of Uttar Pradesh, is a former Indian Cricketer. He was a leg-spinner and his specialty was Leg-break googly and also played as a right-handed batsman. Narendra Hirwani is most popular for his exceptional debut in Test Cricket. He was an achiever in domestic cricket, taking 723 wickets in 167 matches. Narendra Hirwani hailed from a wealthy family in Gorakhpur. His father had a brick factory. When Narendra Hirwani was in his teens, he shifted to Indore. There he took coaching from the famous Madhya Pradesh cricketer, Sanjay Jagdale. Hirwani`s inaugural first-class cricket match was for Madhya Pradesh, was phenomenal. Only at the tender age of 16, he gathered 5 wickets. Narendra Hirwani kept on improving his prowess. He obtained 23 wickets in an Under-19 three Test series, against Australia, during the next season.

Test Cricket Career of Narendra Hirwani
A major turning point in his early career was certainly his performance in India U-25 against the visitor team of West Indies, in 1987-88. Although, he was unable to achieve success in the first innings, in the second innings, the spin-expert, Narendra Hirwani, grabbed 6 wickets with ease. Narendra Hirwani`s stunning feats got him invited for joining the Test team of Indian cricket. 19 year old Hirwani`s fascinating debut in Test was indeed a promising. In this India vs. West Indies Test, held at Madras (presently Chennai), from 11-15 January, 1988, he captured 16 wickets, and created a record.

He has played 17 Test matches and taken 66 wickets, by losing out 1987 runs out of 4298 balls. Hirwani`s bowling average is 30.10 and economy is 2.77. His last Test match was played against South Africa, held at Kolkata, from November 27th to December 1st, 1996

ODI Career of Narendra Hirwani
His ODI debut was in the India vs. West Indies at Gwalior, on January 22, 1988. However, he could not maintain this fabulous form at the time of the West Indies tour in 1989-90. He failed disappointingly and could hardly benefit the team with his leg-spin, even in the spin-friendly wicket of the Port of Spain. Narendra Hirwani was not that skilled to make the ball loop for the spin, since his speed was less. Still, occasionally, he could place himself on the high pedestals of glory. The last league match of the 1991-92 World Cup Series is an instance of such remarkable deed. In his entire career, Narendra Hirwani has played 18 ODIs, where he has achieved 23 wickets and gave 719 runs in 960 balls. His bowling average in ODI is 31.26 and his last ODI match was against Australia, in Melbourne, on January 18th, 1992.

Narendra Hirwani facilitated Team India in fulfilling their set target of defeating the competent West Indies, to qualify for the final match. His splendid bowling, for the time being, became instrumental for reaching the desired destination. India needed to beat West Indies to qualify for the final. Hirwani`s flipper-attack stumped off the main batting strength, Brian Lara, and the zealous Richie Richardson, was rendered LBW by his puzzling leg-break. Yet, Narendra Hirwani could not earn for himself a place in the Indian Team that played in the subsequent World Cup.

Later Career of Narendra Hirwani
After 4 years of his 19991-92 achievement, Hirwani was provided the opportunity to show his mettle in the Test against New Zealand. He annexed 6 wickets for 59, even in this rain-worsened match. In 1996, Narendra Hirwani ventured to England. Again, in his own country, he was featured in two Tests against South Africa. Moreover, Hirwani was included in the echelon of 14, chosen to play against Australia, but Narendra did not get selected in the team of the core 11. But domestic cricket is the circuit where Narendra Hirwani, exhibited his best. Alone in the Ranji Trophy tournament, he had set the dazzling statistics of 400 wickets for Madhya Pradesh. He announced his retirement from First-class cricket, by the close of the 2005-06 seasons.

Cricket Statistics
Batting and Fielding Averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	17	22	12	54	17	5.40			0	0	6	0	5	0
ODIs	18	7	3	8	4	2.00	29	27.58	0	0	0	0	2	0
First-class	167	189	75	1179	59	10.34			0	1			49	0
List A	70	33	17	121	25	7.56			0	0			14	0

Bowling Averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	17	28	4298	1987	66	8/61	16/136	30.10	2.77	65.1	2	4	1
ODIs	18	18	960	719	23	4/43	4/43	31.26	4.49	41.7	3	0	0
First-class	167		42890	19801	732	8/52		27.05	2.77	58.5		54	10
List A	70		3561	2561	75	4/42	4/42	34.14	4.31	47.4	4	0	0

It should be noted, that Narendra Hirwani has gathered a total of 66 wickets in the 17 Tests since debut. This fairly talented player has in fact given cricket-lovers, some of the wonderful bowling glimpses in Indian cricket. Hirwani retired in the year 2006, concluding a 23-year long first-class cricket career. In 2008, he was appointed in the National Selection Panel.