Dattaram Hindlekar

Dattaram Dharmaji Hindlekar pronunciationⓘ (1 January 1909 – 30 March 1949) was a cricketer who kept wicket for India in Test cricket.

Dattaram Hindlekar
Personal information
Full name
Dattaram Dharmaji Kanaji Hindlekar
Born(1909-01-01)1 January 1909
Bombay (now Mumbai), Bombay Presidency, British India
Died30 March 1949(1949-03-30) (aged 40)
Bombay, Maharashtra, India
BattingRight-handed
RoleWicket-keeper-batsman
RelationsVijay Manjrekar (nephew)
Sanjay Manjrekar (great-nephew)
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 22)27 June 1936 v England
Last Test17 August 1946 v England
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1934–1946Bombay
Career statistics
Competition Tests First-class
Matches 4 96
Runs scored 71 2,439
Batting average 14.20 17.05
100s/50s 0/0 1/9
Top score 26 135
Catches/stumpings 3/0 128/59
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 23 March 2019

Cricket career

Hindlekar toured England in 1936 and 1946 as India's first-choice wicket-keeper. A right-handed batsman, he wore his cap at a "bewildered angle" and "stood with his toes pointing up at an angle of 45 degrees".[1] He opened in the First Test at Lord's in 1936, but chipped a bone in his finger and suffered from blurred vision.[2][3] This injury and his subsequent exclusion from the next Test led to the famous opening partnership between Vijay Merchant and Mushtaq Ali.[4]

He was an unexpected selection for the 1946 tour. Injuries limited his appearances here as well. In the Manchester Test, he went in last and batted out 13 minutes with Ranga Sohoni to save the match. He is one of only four players (the others being Wilfred Rhodes, Syd Gregory, and Vinoo Mankad) to have batted in every position in the batting order in Test cricket.[5]

Personal life

Hindlekar was born in a Marathi family in Bombay,[6] the son of a farmer from Ratnagiri in Maharashtra. He worked in the Bombay Port Trust for a salary of ₹ 80 a month. His means were so limited that he could not afford to buy a pair of gloves, and used to visit Khershed Meherhomji and borrow his.[7] He was the uncle of Vijay Manjrekar and great-uncle of Sanjay Manjrekar.[2]

Hindlekar died at the age of 40 for want of proper treatment. It was only at a very late stage of his illness that he was moved to the Arthur Road Hospital in Bombay. He was survived by his wife and their seven children. After his death the BCCI and Bombay Cricket Association issued appeals for contributions to help his family, but there was little response. The Bombay Port Trust then organised a cabaret dance on 6 August 1949 which raised a little over Rs. 7,000. Almost every major Indian cricketer of the time attended the dance.[8]

References
  1. Martin-Jenkins, Christopher, World Cricketers: A biographical dictionary (1996), Oxford University Press, p. 434
  2. "Dattaram Hindlekar – India Cricket – Cricket Players and Officials – ESPNcricinfo". ESPNcricinfo. 18 January 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  3. All Set For the Test, Liverpool Echo, 14 August 1936 (via newspapers.com)
  4. England v India, Second Test, Manchester, 25–28 July 1936
  5. Chaturvedi, Ravi (2009). Legendary Indian Cricketers. Prabhat Prakashan. p. 220. ISBN 9788184300758. Retrieved 10 August 2022.
  6. Cashman, Richard (1980). Patrons, Players and the Crowd: The Phenomenon of Indian Cricket. Orient Longman Limited. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-8364-0630-6. Of the early Test cricketers from Bombay, Dattaram Hindlekar and Janardan Navle were the only Marathi speakers. Others – Sorabji Colah, Jenni Irani, Rustomji Jamshedji, Khershed Meherhomji, Rusi Modi, Phiroze Palia, Vijay Merchant, L. P. Jai and Ramesh Divecha – were all Gujarati Parsees or Gujarati Hindus.
  7. Richard Cashman, Patrons, Players and the Crowd (1979), p. 89
  8. Majumdar, Boria, Twenty-Two Yards to Freedom(2004), p. 100
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