Meet Vinoo Mankad, one of India's best-ever all-rounders
There is no other Indian cricketer who has set as many long-enduring test records as him. Vinoo Mankad was part of the highest first-wicket partnership, scored the fastest 1,000 runs, and got the fastest 100 wickets. He is one of the four cricketers to have batted at each spot and also the only Indian to have a match titled after him. However, when, in 2005, Virender Sehwag came close to breaking Mankad's partnership record, he had no idea that there was, in fact, a record to be broken. Unfortunately, most of us have been just as oblivious to his achievements.
Mankad, whose full name is Mulvantrai Himmatlal Mankad, was an incredible all-rounder (right-hand bat/slow left-arm orthodox). As per IANS, he played a key role in leading India to its first Test victory against England in Chennai. Born in 1977 in Jamnagar, Gujarat, he had played his first unofficial Tests against the visiting England XI, led by Lord Tennyson, in 1937. However, World War II delayed his professional cricket career by nearly a decade.
He played around 44 tests between 1946 and 1958 and scored a total of 2,109 runs. He scored five centuries and took a total of 162 wickets during this period. He was also made the captain of the team during 1955–56 and 1958–59. He also became the first Indian to score a double century when he made 231 runs against New Zealand in Madras in 1956. This was also the highest national score by an individual until Gavaskar broke his record, coincidentally also in Madras. He was also the first Indian to get 100 wickets and had eight five-wicket hauls.
According to IANS, his 231 was part of a 413-run first-wicket partnership with Pankaj Roy, which remained the world record till 2008 until—rather aptly—a New Zealand opening duo broke it, surpassing it by only two runs. He was quite popular in the 1950s for his stylish yet powerful batting and left many bowling arsenals bemused at his capability of bowling six different kinds of deliveries in one over.
One such occasion was recalled by an IANS reporter’s father, who said,
My father remembers hearing about (in those non-TV days), when during a Test match at Lord's in 1952, Mankad kept Sir Len Hutton from scoring for over half an hour. As the crowd booed the batsman, the Yorkshireman challenged them to come in and see if they could fare better.
Though India lost the Test, this match came to be known as 'Mankad’s Match'. He scored around 72 on the first day at Lord’s and then bowled 73 overs in England's first innings, in which he took five for 196. He came in again and made what at the time was India's highest individual score in Test cricket—184—in just under five hours.
According to IANS, in his Legendary Indian Cricketers, famous commentator Ravi Chaturvedi remarked,
Hair parted in the middle, shirt buttons open to the midriff, light-skinned, his green eyes enhanced by 'kajal' (eye-liner), he was pleasant to befriend, but very unpleasant with the ball, and when he replaced the ball with the bat he was equally good. He could chip, chop, cut, drive, hook, punch, sweep, and smote any ball to any part of the field. However, he got most of his runs through square-cuts and placements to leg.
On his death in 1978, the Wisden obituary termed him "one of the greatest all-rounders that India has ever produced." Such an incredible cricketer deserves all the accolades and should definitely be reminisced in our cricket-loving country.
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