Mohinder Amarnath

Mohinder Amarnath

Personal information
Full name	Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj
Born	24 September 1950 (1950-09-24) (age 61) Patiala, India
Nickname	Jimmy
Batting style	Right hand bat
Bowling style	Right arm medium
Relations	Lala Amarnath, Surinder Amarnath
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 69)	24 December 1969 v Australia
Last Test	11 January 1988 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 85)	7 June 1975 v England
Last ODI	30 October 1989 v West Indies
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	ODIs
Matches	69	85
Runs scored	4378	1924
Batting average	42.50	30.53
100s/50s	11/24	2/13
Top score	138	102*
Balls bowled	3676	2730
Wickets	32	46
Bowling average	55.68	42.84
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	0
Best bowling	4/63	3/12
Catches/stumpings	47/–	23/–
Source: [1], 8 October 2009

Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj  pronunciation (help·info) (born 24 September 1950) is a former Indian cricketer (1969–1989) and current cricket analyst. He is commonly known as "Jimmy". He is the son of Lala Amarnath, the first post-independence captain of India. His brother Surinder Amarnath was a Test player. His brother Rajinder Amarnath is a former first class cricket and current cricket coach.

Mohinder made his debut against Australia at Chennai in December 1969. Mohinder was seen, in the latter part of his career, as the finest Indian batsman against express pace. Both Imran Khan and Malcolm Marshall have praised his batsmanship, courage and ability to endure and master pain. In 1982-83 Mohinder played 11 Test matches against Pakistan (5) and the West Indies (6) and scored over 1000 runs in the two series.

In his "Idols", Sunil Gavaskar described Mohinder Amarnath as the finest batsman in the world.

He made his first test century at Perth at the WACA (the fastest and bounciest wicket in the world) batting against Jeff Thomson at his fastest. He followed this test century with another 10 against top class fast bowling.

Imran Khan regarded Mohinder so highly that in his "All Round View" he went on record to say that in the 1982-83 season, Mohinder was quite simply the best batsman in the world. Imran further went on to state that Mohinder should have played non-stop for India rght from his debut in 1969 to the time he retired. Mohinder never had a steady place in the Indian test side. Others would play much worse than he did and never be dropped.

Mohinder is known as the come back man of Indian cricket. During his two decades at the top, he was dropped from the Indian side on several occasions and every time he fought his way back with sterling performances. After his debut series he had to wait until 1975 to make it into the team.

Mohinder made his debut in 1969 as a quick-bowling all rounder but at his peak, he was a top order batsman who always played at No. 3 for India. He was also handy with the ball, swinging and cutting the ball with great skill and control.

Mohinder Amarnath played 69 Tests scoring 4,378 runs at an batting average of 42.50, with 11 hundreds and 24 fifties, and claimed 32 wickets at a bowling average of 55.68 apiece. In 85 One Day Internationals, he scored 1,924 runs at an average of 30.53 and a highest score of 102 n.o. and claimed 46 wickets at 42.84 apiece. Mohinder Amarnath is also the one and only Indian who has been dismissed on handling the ball. He was dismissed on 9 February 1986 also making him the first one to be dismissed for handling the ball in One-Day Internationals. He is also the only Indian to be dismissed for obstructing the field in One-Day Internationals.

1983 World Cup Performance

Mohinder Amarnath is known for his legendary performance in the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He was awarded "Man of the Match" in the finals and semi-finals, having led India to their first ever One Day International title.As a result of his splendid performance in the world cup, he was awarded the " Man of the series" award as well.

In the semi-finals against England his accurate seam bowling fetched him the top-order wickets of David Gower and Mike Gatting. He gave away only 27 runs in his 12 overs, for an average of 2.25 an over, the lowest among all Indian bowlers. Returning to bat, he scored 46 runs to give India a solid start. He was named the Man of the Match.

In the finals India batted first against the West Indies which arguably boasted the world's best bowling attack. The team did not fare well, with the entire team being dismissed for a low score of 183 in 54.4 overs, well short of the allotted 60 overs. Amarnath's calm and composed batting against West Indian fast bowling gave the Indian innings some much needed stability, lasting the longest of all Indian batsmen. He occupied the crease for the longest period (80 balls) and scored 26 runs. Though normally in limited over matches a long stint at the crease in not necessarily a good thing, given that India did not last the entire 60 overs Amarnath's innings gave the batsmen at the other end the opportunity to score. Kris Srikkanth top-scored with 38 runs, followed by Sandeep Patil (27 runs) and Amarnath. After the poor batting performance India's chances were deemed almost non-existent. However the Indian bowling exploited the weather and pitch conditions perfectly to bowl out the West Indies for 140, thus winning the finals by 43 runs. Amarnath and Madan Lal were the joint highest wicket takers with 3 wickets each. As he had been in the semi-finals, Amarnath was once again the most economical bowler, conceding only 12 runs in his 7 overs for an average of 1.71 per over. Again, just like the semi-finals, Amarnath was declared the Man of the Match.

Character and Courage

Amarnath was noted for his personality, courage and determination. West Indian cricketing great Vivian Richards called him "one of the nicest men to have ever played the game" and former Australian Test opening batsman David Boon said "Concede didn't seem to be in his vocabulary" [2].

Gideon Haigh writing in The Age says: "In an era replete with fast bowling and unrestricted in use of the bouncer, he never stopped hooking - despite many incentives to do so. He received a hairline fracture of the skull from Richard Hadlee, was knocked unconscious by Imran Khan, had teeth knocked out by Malcolm Marshall and was hit in the jaw so painfully by Jeff Thomson in Perth that he could eat only ice cream for lunch. 'What separated Jimmy from the others,' Michael Holding said, 'was his great ability to withstand pain . . . A fast bowler knows when a batsman is in pain. But Jimmy would stand up and continue.' " [3]

In the Bridgetown Test during India's tour of the West Indies in 1982-83, Amarnath had to retire for stitches after being hit on the head. On returning to the game, he faced one of history's most lethal fast bowlers Michael Holding. It was a given that Holding would try to intimidate Amarnath by bowling a bouncer, and indeed he did so. While most would expect that a batsman in such a situation would do the prudent thing and duck, instead Amarnath stood his ground and hooked the ball to the boundary. However the West Indies bowling attack would wreak their most lethal vengeance upon Amarnath during their 1983/84 tour of India by restricting him to only 1 run in six innings, during which Holding scalped Amarnath three times for a duck.

Amarnath was noted for his conflicts with the Indian cricketing political establishment, famously having called the selectors a "bunch of jokers" [4]. This often resulted in his exclusion from the Indian team also.

External links

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Mohinder Amarnath

Mohinder Amarnath's career performance graph.

Persondata
Name	Amarnath, Mohinder
Alternative names
Short description	Cricketer
Date of birth	24 September 1950
Place of birth	Patiala, India
Date of death
Place of death