भारत का पहला टेस्ट खिलाडी -अमर सिंह

Full- name Ladhabhai Nakum Amar Singh

Born- December 4, 1910, Rajkot, Gujarat

Died- May 21, 1940, Jamnagar, Gujarat (aged 29 years 169 days)

Major teams- India, Hindus, Maharaja of Patiala's XI, Nawanagar, Western India

Batting style- Right-hand bat

Bowling style- Right-arm fast-medium

Education- Alfred High School

Relation Brother - L Ramji, Nephew - VL Nakum


Batting and fielding averages
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 6s Ct St
Tests 7 14 1 292 51 22.46 0 1 2 3 0
First-class 92 150 12 3344 140* 24.23 5 18 77 0
Bowling averages
Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10
Tests 7 13 2182 858 28 7/86 8/141 30.64 2.35 77.9 1 2 0
First-class 92 23689 9286 506 8/23 18.35 2.35 46.8 42 14
Career statistics
Test debut England v India at Lord's, Jun 25-28, 1932 scorecard
Last Test England v India at The Oval, Aug 15-18, 1936 scorecard
Test statistics

First-class span 1931/32 - 1939/40
Profile
"There is no better bowler in the world today than Amar Singh,'' said Len Hutton in an informal chat with pressmen at Madras in 1970. It was 34 years since the legendary England opening batsman had faced the Indian medium pace bowler while playing for Yorkshire. And it is the perfect tribute to Amar Singh that Hutton still remembered the hard time that the Indian, then a member of the 1936 Indian team, gave him. Another England great Wally Hammond described Amar Singh's bowling as "he came off the pitch like the crack of doom". Indeed, Amar Singh, along with Md Nissar was the first great Indian bowler for his accuracy, stamina and ability to make the ball move alarmingly off the air or cut it devastatingly off the pitch. He played in all the seven Tests before the war. In the first Test in 1932 he took four wickets and hit an attacking 51, coming in at No 9. Against England in 1933-34, he was the country's best bowler taking four for 106 off 54.5 overs in the second Test at Calcutta. In the final Test at Madras, in the absence of Nissar, he had to work overtime and rose to the occasion with a bag of seven for 86 off 44.4 overs in the first innings. Going in at No. 4, he scored a hard hitting 48. Amar Singh was however at his best in England where the conditions suited him. In 1932, he took 111 wickets (20.78) and made 641 runs (22.89) in the first class matches. By 1936 he was a popular Lancashire League professional and was released only for a few games for the Indian touring team. In the first Test, he took 6 for 35 in the first innings. In the second Test he again displayed his batting prowess by hitting an unbeaten 48 to help India draw the game. In the final Test at the Oval he scored a valuable 44 going in at No. 4 thus proving beyond doubt that he could be classified as an allrounder. At home, he was at his best against Lord Tennyson's team in 1937-38 when he bagged 36 wickets (16.66) in the five unofficial Tests. In a short but brilliant Ranji Trophy career for Western India and Nawanagar he took 105 wickets at 15.56 apiece.
He died in 1940 at the age of 29 after a fever contracted after a long swim developed into typhoid.
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Ladha Amar Singh was one of India's finest new ball bowlers ever and with Mohammed Nissar he formed a formidable opening combination for India in the 1930's. He could swing the ball either way but it was his fast movement off the wicket that was lethal. A crowdpuller with both bat and ball, there was never a dull moment when he was in the thick of the action. Tragically he died of pneumonia on this day in 1940 when he was a mere 29 years old.

Growing up in the town of Jamnagar, Amar Singh played for the now defunct Nawanagar in the Ranji Trophy and his abilities were first spotted by the eagle eye of his princely ruler, the Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, Ranjitsinhji himself, in a trial match in Delhi before the 1932 tour of England. Amar Singh finished the tour with a remarkable 111 wickets at 20.78 but his finest exhibition with the ball came at Lord's in 1936 after being released by Colne, for whom he played in the Lancashire League, for the three Test series. He grabbed 6-35 to skittle out England for 134, which was the first time in Test cricket that India led on first innings.

In the 1933-34 series at Madras, deprived of the support of Nissar, he put in another hostile effort that netted figures of 7/86 in a marathon 44.4 overs in England's first innings. With no other strike bowlers in the side apart from Nissar, Amar Singh was often used as a workhorse, being bowled into the ground. At Calcutta in the same series he turned his arm over for a staggering 54.5 overs, taking 4/106.

Lord Tennyson's team which visited India for five unofficial Tests in 1937-38 found Amar Singh a real handful as he repeatedly ran through them to finish with 36 wickets in the series at 16.66. Indeed Joe Hardstaff jnr, a classy bat who came on that tour, rated him as the best bowler in the world at the time after Bill O'Reilly.

Amar Singh was also a strokeful albeit inconsistent late order batsman and to him goes the honour of making India's first Test half century, at Lords in 1932. A sizzling 131 not out batting at No.10 against Lancashire in 1932 was evidence of his dangerous striking ability. A genuine all rounder he was the first player to complete the double of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in the Ranji Trophy. His brother Ladha Ramji also represented India and was even quicker than Amar Singh but without the discipline and control of the latter. Amar was a close friend of Vijay Merchant and both named their sons after each other.

We shall leave the last word to Wally Hammond, whom he bowled for 35 in India's first Test in 1932. According to Hammond, then in the prime of his abilities, Amar Singh was "as dangerous an opening bowler as I have ever seen, coming off the pitch like the crack of doom."
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