Ashok Omprakash Malhotra, born on January 26, 1957, in Amritsar, of Punjab, grew up into a right-hand middle order batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler. In the course of his entire sports career, he has played under the banner of the major teams, namely India, West Bengal and Haryana. He has played in 7 Tests and 20 One-Day Internationals, ranging from 1982 to 1986.
Cricket Career of Ashok Malhotra
The 5th Test of the India Vs England Test series, at Madras (now Chennai) in 1982, was the occasion for his Test debut. Although he didn`t bat or bowl in the first innings, in the second innings he batted and was running out, adding 31 runs.
His 1983-84`s deeds against West Indies, was definitely good, compared to his previous attempts. He fetched considerably better scores of 32, 72 not out, 20 and 30. His individual score was the maximum in terms of the total team output of 90 in that particular Test. Yet Ashok Malhotra underwent a relegation to the background, only waiting for his comeback in a Test against England in 1984-85.
Ashok Malhotra can boast of himself as a member of the victorious Indian team of World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985. Ashok Malhotra remained at the helm of affairs in domestic cricket. His Ranji Trophy cumulative total is 7274 runs made at an impressive average of 52.49. He has attained this level with 18 noteworthy hundreds. His peak of excellence was 258 not out for Bengal against Hyderabad in 1989-90.
Batting and Fielding Averages
| Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 6s | Ct | St | |
| Tests | 7 | 10 | 1 | 226 | 72* | 25.11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| ODIs | 20 | 19 | 4 | 457 | 65 | 30.46 | 645 | 70.85 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| First-class | 156 | 227 | 35 | 9784 | 258* | 50.95 | 24 | 52 | 80 | 0 | |||
| List A | 70 | 64 | 10 | 1755 | 87 | 32.50 | 0 | 10 | 23 | 0 |
Bowling Averages
| Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
| Tests | 7 | 2 | 18 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - | 1.00 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ODIs | 20 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 0.00 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| First-class | 156 | 509 | 347 | 1 | 1/37 | 347.00 | 4.09 | 509.0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| List A | 70 | 346 | 259 | 6 | 3/49 | 3/49 | 43.16 | 4.49 | 57.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Life After Cricket for Ashok Malhotra
Ashok Malhotra earned the honourable position of a Test selector, later in his life. He runs one of the prestigious Cricket Academies in Kolkata, which is located near Dhakuria Lake. His academy called Ashok Malhotra Cricket Academy, is a training institute which efficiently moulds the budding cricketers, aged between 5-19 years, to serve Indian cricket.
It is evident that Ashok Malhotra is augmenting the cricket-fever that exists in India, to the optimal limits.
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