C. K. Nayudu
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 India (IND) |
||
 |
||
| Batting style | Right-hand bat (RHB) | |
| Bowling type | Right-arm slow medium | |
| Tests | First-class | |
| Matches | 7 | 207 |
| Runs scored | 350 | 11,825 |
| Batting average | 25.00 | 35.94 |
| 100s/50s | 0/2 | 26/58 |
| Top score | 81 | 200 |
| Balls bowled | 858 | 25,798 |
| Wickets | 9 | 411 |
| Bowling average | 42.88 | 29.28 |
| 5 wickets in innings | - | 12 |
| 10 wickets in match | - | 2 |
| Best bowling | 3/40 | 744 |
| Catches/stumpings | 4 | 170/1 |
|
Test debut: 25 June 1932 |
||
Cottari Kanakaiya "CK" Nayudu pronunciation (born 31 October 1895 in Nagpur, India; died 14 November 1967, Indore, India) was the first captain of India in Test cricket.
CK Nayudu was tall right handed batsman, and a useful change bowler. He was a batsman who could hit the ball tremendously hard, and as a leader that he became famous. He was the first cricketer to be honoured with the Padma Bhushan.
Contents |
[edit] Early career
Nayudu's mother tongue was Telugu, but he grew up in Nagpur and played almost all his cricket in the central India. He showed tremendous promise as a schoolboy cricketer.
He was a popular cricketer ever since he made his first class debut in 1916. For Hindus against Europeans, he came in to bat at No.9 with his team at 79 for 7. He blocked his first three balls and hit the fourth for six. That established a reputation that lasted till the end of his career. He played first-class cricket regularly till 1958, and returned for one last time in 1963 at the age of 68. No one else has played at least a first-class match in six decades. In 1923, the ruler of Holkar invited him to Indore and made him a captain in his army.
Arthur Gilligan lead the first MCC tour to India in the 1926-27 season. For Hindus at Bombay Gymkhana, Nayudu hit 153 in 116 minutes with 11 sixes. One of the sixes, off Bob Wyatt, landed on the roof of the Gymkhana.
[edit] 1932
India made its first Test tour of England in 1932. The Maharaja of Patiala was picked as the captain, Ghanshyamsinhji of Limbdi as vice-captain and the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram took the new post of deputy vice-captain. Two weeks before the trip, Patiala dropped out on reasons of health and the Maharaja of Porbandar took over. Nayudu took part in all twenty six of the first-class matches on the tour, scoring 1,618 runs at an average of 40.45 in the first-class matches and 1,842 overall, and taking 65 wickets. Wisden chose him as a Cricketer of the Year the next year. CK hit 32 sixes, which was the most by anyone in the season. Playing at Edgbaston, he hit a ball into the River Rhea. The river forms the boundary between Warwickshire and Worcestershire, so CK in effect hit the ball into the next county.
Limbdi was a decent cricketer, but Porbander was not. Just before India's inaugural Test, while making a hundred against Eastern counties, Limbdi suffered a back injury which ruled him out of the Test. Porbander decided that Nayudu should be the captain but not everyone was ready to accept. At 4 am on the morning of the Test, a group of players woke Porabander up to say they would not play unless Nayudu was demoted. Hectic parleys followed between those in England and India, and finally Patiala ordered that Nayudu was the captain and the other players had to play under him.
India's first Test began on the 25th of June, 1932. Douglas Jardine won the toss and elected to bat. A week earlier, the English openers Percy Holmes and Herbert Sutcliffe had set a world record of 555 while playing for Yorkshire. Here, in the first ball of his second over Mohammad Nissar yorked Sutcliffe. The last ball of the over sent Holmes' off stump flying. With the score at 19, Lall Singh ran out Frank Woolley. England recovered to 259 allout with Jardine scoring 79. Nayudu damaged his hand badly while trying to catch Les Ames. In trying to hook Bill Voce he skied a catch to Walter Robins at short leg. After being 153 for 4 India conceded a lead of 71 and at the end lost by 158 runs.
In the 1933-34, Douglas Jardine visited India with a formidable, though not full strength, MCC team. For Punjab Governor's XI, Nayudu scored a hundred against them. CK was retained as the captain of the Test series. The first ever Test in India, held at the Bombay Gymkhana between December 15 and 18, were watched by over a 100,000 spectators. India conceded a lead of over 200 but in the second innings Lala Amarnath scored a brilliant hundred and added 186 for the third wicket with Nayudu. For once, Nayudu was outscored by his partner.
India lost the series by two Tests to nil. Towards the end of the tour, Vizzy captained a team that defeated MCC by 14 runs. It was a minor match and Jardine had not taken it seriously. But this win was to have important consequences in Indian cricket history.
[edit] 6 Decades in Cricket
He is one of the few cricketers to have played the first class game in six different decades. He made his last appearance in the Ranji Trophy in 1956-57, aged 62, scoring 52 in his last innings for Uttar Pradesh. Earlier in the season he made 84 against Rajasthan, striking Vinoo Mankad for two sixes. His final outing was in a charity match in 1963-64, when he played for the Maharashtra Governor's XI against the Maharashtra Chief Minister's XI. [2]
[edit] References
- Mihir Bose, A History of Indian Cricket, 1990 edition
- Captains galore
[edit] External links
| Preceded by First |
Indian National Test Cricket Captain 1932-1933/4 |
Succeeded by Maharajkumar of Vizianagram |
