Nanik Amarnath Bhardwaj (English: Nanik Amarnath Bhardwaj; Born- 11 September, 1911, Kapurthala, Punjab; Died- 5 August, 2000, Delhi) was one of the great and renowned cricketers of India. He has the distinction of scoring the first century from India in international cricket. Lala Amarnath was the first all-rounder of India, who troubled his opponents not only with the bat but also with the ball.
He was awarded the ‘Padma Bhushan’ in the field of sports by the ‘Government of India’ in 1991. On his demise, the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee described him as an “icon of Indian cricket” in his condolence message. Lala was a right-handed batsman and medium-pace fast bowler.
Lala Amarnath was born on 11 September 1911 in Kapurthala, Punjab. His original name was ‘Nani Amarnath Bhardwaj’. His two sons Surinder Amarnath and Mohinder Amarnath have also been famous cricketers of India. His level of play and character cannot be confined to statistics. He played a total of 40 innings between 1933 and 1953 against England, West Indies, Australia and Pakistan, scoring 878 runs at an average of about 25 and taking 45 wickets. Lala Amarnath started his cricket career as a wicketkeeper batsman, but apart from batting, he was also known for swing bowling. The golden years of his sports career were wasted due to the Second World War, as happened with great batsmen Don Bradman and Len Hutton.
When cricket was taking roots in India, in 1933, 20-year-old Lala Amarnath, playing his first Test match at Bombay Gymkhana, drew everyone’s attention with his genius by scoring 118 runs in just 180 balls against Douglas Jardine’s English team. This was also the first Test century in Indian cricket history and was scored against great bowlers like Hadlee Variety, Stanley Nichols, Edward Clarke and James Langridge. This innings is still considered one of the best innings in Indian cricket history. Then his contemporary Russi Modi had written – “The few lucky people who saw this innings will never forget it. Those who could not see it should always regret it.”
In the 1938 Pentangular Tournament held in Mumbai, Lala Amarnath played a memorable innings of 241 runs while playing for the Hindus, which was remembered for a long time. Two years earlier, Lala was embroiled in a controversy due to disagreements with Maharaj Kumar Vijayanagaram, the captain of the Indian team that went to England, due to which he had to return to India leaving the tour midway. After the investigation of this controversy, Maharaj Kumar Vijayanagaram was criticized a lot and Lala Amarnath’s reputation only increased.
As the first captain of independent India, Lala Amarnath led the Indian team on the Australian tour. There he played some great innings. On his 228 not out innings played against Victoria, Vic Richardson wrote for an Indian newspaper that – “This innings will always be etched in my memory along with Donald Bradman’s 339 played in Leeds in 1930 and Stan McCabe’s 182 in Sydney. The specialty of these three innings was that the bowling of the opposing teams was at its best. The whole of Australia is discussing Lala Amarnath and has the same reverence for him as it had for Don Bradman.”
It is worth mentioning here that Vic Richardson was the maternal grandfather of Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell. Critics of players like Jack Fingleton and Dilip Singh ji also wrote praises about Lala Amarnath’s game and his charismatic personality. During the tour of West Indies team in 1948, he had an argument with the then BCCI secretary Anthony DeMello, as a result of which he was not even included in the team in the next tours. Former captain Lala Amarnath’s career was as brilliant as it was controversial. Following are some interesting facts related to him[2],
Lala Amarnath was not only the first batsman from India but also from Asia to score a century in Test cricket. He scored this century on 17 December 1933, the third day of the ongoing Test match against England at Mumbai’s Gymkhana Ground. He scored 118 runs in the second innings. Lala Amarnath’s century was also special because it was his first Test match and he scored the highest for his team in both innings. However, his century in the second innings could not save the team from defeat. India lost this match by 9 wickets. Lala Amarnath had also scored the highest 38 runs for his team in the first innings.
Lala Amarnath was not only a great batsman, but he was also a brilliant bowler. He took 5 wickets in both innings of a Test match during the 1946 tour of England. He also took 4 wickets thrice. Later Lala became the captain of the Indian cricket team and under his leadership India won a Test series for the first time in 1952-1953. India won this series 2-1 against its famous rival Pakistan. Lala Amarnath’s Test career lasted for 19 years. He played his last Test match against Pakistan in Kolkata in December 1952. During this time he played a total of 24 Test matches, in which he scored 4 half-centuries apart from a century. He also took a total of 45 wickets.
All the three sons of former captain Lala Amarnath, who scored the first century for India in Test cricket, also got the opportunity to play Test cricket. Among them Mohinder Amarnath later became the captain of the Indian team. Lala Amarnath was the only bowler who achieved the feat of getting the greatest batsman of cricket, Australia’s Sir Don Bradman out hit wicket. Bradman was hit wicket only once in his unmatched career. Lala Amarnath also has the distinction of becoming the first Test captain of the Indian cricket team in independent India. The team toured Australia under his leadership. In the year 1936, Lala went on a tour of England, but he had to return from there without playing a match.
During the 1936 tour of England, the team captain Maharaj Kumar sent Lala Amarnath back to his country due to indiscipline. Lala could not play a single Test match. Later Lala and many others alleged that this was being done due to politics. Maharaj Kumar was made the captain for the 1936 tour. India defeated Pakistan for the first time in Test cricket under the captaincy of Lala Amarnath. In 1952, the Pakistan team that came to India to play a five-match Test series was defeated by Team India by an innings and 70 runs in the first Test match played in Delhi.
