Mohinder Amarnath

Right from his debut in 1969, Mohinder Amarnath has seen the ups and downs of cricket like nobody else has. He had an absolute roller coaster ride with gigantic peaks and disappointing lows. Hailing from a family of Test cricketers, Amarnath too took to the game very early on. A batsman who bowled a bit of gentle medium pace, he went on to be known as the comeback man of Indian cricket thanks to the several re-entries he made into the side.

Tremendous grit and determination is what defined Amarnath in his playing days. After a debut in a home series against Australia, he had to wait a couple of years before making his first comeback. The 1982-83 season would turn out to be the brightest purple patch in his career, scoring well over 1100 runs in two away Test series against the mighty Windies and arch rivals Pakistan. He followed this up with match winning performances in the semi-finals and finals of the 1983 World Cup. After this wonderful season, Amarnath saw a total slump in form with only a run in three Tests against West Indies at home, which saw him being dropped again. A determined Jimmy worked hard on his batting and fitness, to script another comeback story.

Early in his career he was not a natural against the quickies but later on he developed to become a very good player of the short pitch stuff. Amarnath has had his fair share of blows against the pacers, blows to the head, knocked out teeth, fractured jaws and countless hits to the ribs but never has been an instance where Amarnath has shown pain on the field. This attitude of his earned the respect of his peers and opposition, especially the likes of fast bowlers. The lethal Michael Holding felt that it was this quality of his that made Amarnath different from others.

After a prolonged career, he had a brief stint with Bangladesh as a coach during the 90’s until he was sacked in 1996 as they failed to qualify for the World Cup that year. He was appointed a consultant to the Bengal Ranji team back in 2008 and also continues to work as an analyst with various broadcasting and news channels.