Hazare Vijay Image 1 Baroda 1948

Description

Sangli, in the then Bombay Presidency of British India, born all-rounder Vijay Hazare was primarily a right-hand batsman who also bowled right-hand medium pace. and did much to put the country’s batsmanship on the map of world cricket. Along with Vijay Merchant, he brought to Indian cricket a determination and a studied approach that complemented its flamboyance. A “shy, retiring” man (according to Wisden in 1952), it was widely thought that he was not a natural captain and that his batting suffered as a result, and he captained India in 14 of his 30 Test matches. His rival, Vijay Merchant said that the captaincy prevented Hazare from becoming India’s finest batsman: “It was one of the tragedies of cricket.” He had made his first class debut for Maharashtra in 1934, but he was truly India’s first post-war cricketing legend.

Even so, Hazare’s Test record is very respectable: He played 30 Test matches for India between his debut against England at Lord’s in June 1946 and his final Test against The West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica in March 1953, during which he amassed 2,192 runs with a batting average of 47.65, including 7 centuries and 9 half centuries. His first class record is even more impressive, with a batting average of 58.38 for his 18,740 runs (he holds the highest first class aggregate for an Indian player after Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid). He scored 60 first class centuries (including 7 in Tests), the fourth highest for an Indian player and 10 first class double centuries (including six during the Second World War, when India was the only Test cricket playing country to continue holding its domestic first class cricket competition without interruption). He made his highest Test score of 164 not out against England in Delhi in November 1951. In his first match as captain against England abroad, when India were four down without a run scored against Fred Trueman bowling at his fastest, Hazare stopped the rot for a while, scoring 56 at Headingley in June 1952.

Hazare’s most productive domestic season was in 1943-44 when he scored 1,423 runs. He made scores of 248, 59, 309, 101, 223 and 87, reaching 1,000 runs in only four matches.

His bowling record was more modest, and he took 595 first class wickets (including 20 in Tests, and Donald Bradman’s wicket three times) at a bowling average of 24.61. On the Indian domestic circuit, Hazare played for Maharashtra from 1934 to 1942, Central India from 1935 to 1939, Baroda from 1941 to 1961 and Holkar in 1957 and 1958.

Some of his notable achievements include:

– First Indian batsman to score a triple century in first class cricket (considering KS Duleepsinhji as an English cricketer)
– First Indian to score two triple centuries:the first, his highest score, was 316 not out for Maharashtra against Poona in 1939-40, the second was 309 out of 387 for The Rest against The Hindus at Bombay in 1943-44. Despite his innings, The Rest lost the match by an innings. It included a partnership of 300 with his brother, Vivek Hazare. Vijay scored 266 (88.6% of the partnership) of the 300 runs while Vivek contributed 21. Hazare scored 79.84% of his team’s score, then a world record, and it is the second highest individual score in a losing cause. The Rest’s total is the smallest completed innings to contain a triple century.
– First Indian to score a century in each innings of a Test match (116 and 145 on successive days against Australia in Adelaide in January 1948, which was the same team that became known as “The Invincibles” – perhaps his most celebrated achievement, despite which Australia won by an innings and 16 runs. In that match a memorable Hazare delivery surprised and bowled Don Bradman, though not before Bradman had scored his double century.
– Against England at Kanpur in 1951-52, Hazare also became the first Indian batsman to score a pair (a duck in both innings)
– First Indian player to score a century in three successive Test matches
– First Indian player to make fifty centuries in his first class career
– Highest partnership for any wicket in first-class cricket (577 runs with Gul Mahomed for Baroda against Holkar in the Final of the Ranji Trophy at Baroda in 1947. This record stood for many years, and was only broken in 2006 by Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who put on 624 for Sri Lanka against South Africa.
– First Indian player to complete 1,000 Test Runs

It was said of him “Vijay Hazare defies cricket canons by holding the handle of the bat with one hand at the top and one at the bottom”. In his autobiography Hazare said: “Purists would grumble at my stance. My hands are said to be too far apart on the handle of the bat to permit a free swing. And they say that as my bat is held firmly between the pads, almost locked between them, my strokeplay must suffer. Grimmett must have seen both these peculiarities of mine. Yet, beyond making a few corrections, he strongly advised me against changing my grip and stance.”

In retirement, he was for a short while an Indian Test cricket selector. He has been honoured with a trophy in his name, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, a zonal cricket tournament in India. He and Jasu Patel were the first cricketers to be honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India.

Besides his brother also playing first class cricket, his son Ranjit, two nephews SS and VV Hazare and his grandson KR Hazare all played first class cricket

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