Vijay Hazare Birth Anniversary: Interesting facts about the cricketer who led India to its first Test win – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Friday, 11 March, 2022 marks the 107th birth anniversary of India’s legendary cricketer Vijay Samuel Hazare.

Born in 1915, the classy right-handed batter captained India 14 times and led the country to its first Test match win against England in 1952 at Chennai.

India had won the match by an innings and eight runs and the five-match series ended in a 1-1 draw.

The cricketer is also remembered for his brilliant performance during India’s first tour of Australia in 1947-48, where he smashed centuries in each innings of the Adelaide Test against Sir Don Bradman’s Australian team.

Hazare made 2,192 runs in the 30 Test matches that he played and his record in First-Class cricket stands even taller. In 238 matches, Hazare amassed 18,740 runs at an average of 58.38, which includes 60 centuries and 73 fifties.

The great cricketer also has 595 wickets to his name in First-Class cricket, with an average of 24.61, which includes 27 five-wicket hauls and 3 ten-wicket hauls (in a match).

— Hazare was the first Indian batter to score a triple century in First-Class cricket. The phenomenal cricketer made 316 for Maharashtra against Baroda in Poona in 1939-40.

Here are some other facts about the iconic cricketer:

— Hazare is also the first Indian batter to score centuries in three successive Test matches.

— The legendary cricketer is also the first Indian player to have completed 1,000 Test runs.

— While cricket had stopped during the Second World War, Hazare is credited to have kept the game alive in the country and scored six First-Class double centuries during WWII, when India held domestic First-Class competitions.

— He made 1,423 runs in just one domestic season, which was in 1943-44.

— Hazare’s partnership of 577 runs with Gul Mohammad for Baroda during the 1947 Ranji Trophy final was one of the highest for any wicket. The record was broken only after 59 years, in the year 2006, when Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene’s partnership put up a 624-run stand for Sri Lanka.

— Hazare, along with Jasu Patel also became the first Indian cricketer to be honoured with the Padma Shri in 1960.

— For his contributions to Indian cricket, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), named its 50-overs domestic tournament, ‘Vijay Hazare Trophy’, after the legendary Indian cricketer.

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