![]() His international cricket career included two tours of England upon which he scored over 4,000 runs. Apart from cricket, he was also closely associated with the Hindoostan Spinning & Weaving Mills (Thakersey Group) Cricketing Career of Vijay Merchant Domestic Cricket Vijay was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra to a rich family in 1911. He played some scintillating cricket for his college, Sydenham College, Mumbai. He made some great contributions and played immense role in all the tournaments for his college. He also continued to play for Sydenham and in 1931 he set the record in Bombay inter-collegiate cricket by scoring 504 runs and taking 29 wickets. His success in the domestic tournaments helped him to secure a place in the Indian Team. Through his entire career, Merchant was involved in a rivalry with the other great Indian batsman of the era, Vijay Hazare. International Career The Test career of Vijay Merchant spanned for over 18 years, but he could play in only 10 Tests for India. Some of the best playing years were lost due to the Second World War, when no international cricket was played. He missed the West Indies and Australian tour due to poor health. However, Vijay Merchant went on to score 154 (his highest test score) in his last Test match against England in Delhi. His retirement was kind of forced due to an injury which he suffered. All ten matches of Merchant's Test career were against England. He, after retirement, went on to become a cricket administrator, broadcaster, writer and national selector, and charitable advocate of the handicapped. Batting and Fielding Averages
Bowling Averages
Legacy of Vijay Merchant Though Merchant featured in only 10 Test matches for India, but he is considered as one of the greatest batsman of his era. His record is especially impressive as his runs came at a time of uncovered wickets. Merchant was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1937. Vijay Merchant is also the oldest Indian player to score a test century (154 at an age of 40 years 21 days from India vs. England match in 1951-52). |
More Articles in Indian Cricket Players (298) | |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||