Mohinder Amarnath fondly known as ‘Jimmy’ was a player known for his staunch resilience and fearlessness. In an era where the West Indian bowlers made the batters squirm with their pace, Mohinder Amarnath took them on with disdain. His ability to pull and hook the ball even without a helmet earned him lots of fans.
Coming from a cricketing family, Mohinder son of Lala Amarnath was known to be a terrific batter and a very deceptive bowler. His brother Surinder Amarnath also played 10 Tests and 3 ODI games for India. While his other brother Rajinder played a few seasons for Haryana. Surinder’s son Digvijay happens to be the nephew of Mohinder who went on to play a few games for the Sri Lankan domestic side in 2015.
Apart from his all-round skills, Mohinder Amarnath was known to make comebacks to the Indian side. This feat soon earned him the moniker “Comeback man of Indian cricket”. For any cricket fan, every lasting visual of the cricketer will be his wicket of Michael Holding in the finals of the 1983 World Cup to help India win the title.
Jimmy Amarnath: The man who knew no fear
Born on the 24th of September 1950, Mohinder ‘Jimmy’ Amarnath was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps. His debut came at the age of 19 in the Chennai Test versus Australia. A very young Mohinder Amarnath went wicketless in the first innings and scored 16 not out. In the 2nd innings, he got the scalps of Keith Stackpole and Ian Chappell and scored a duck with the bat.
His next Test match came 7 years later before getting dropped again in 1979 and making his comeback in 1982. The year 1983 was special for Amarnath as he scored more than 1000 runs. Centuries in Pakistan and the West Indies made the world sit up and take notice. That year he scored 4 centuries and 7 half-centuries. His final Test came in 1988 against West Indies where he scored a sum total of 4 runs and went wicketless. That game was famous for Narendra Hirwani picking 16/136 runs.
In the ODI format, Amarnath made his debut in 1975 during the first-ever World Cup. The youngster went on to pick the wicket of John Jameson for 21 and didn’t get to bat. Amarnath scored 237 runs during the 1983 ODI World Cup and also went on to pick 8 wickets with the best of 3/12 coming in the finals. His final ODI game came at the age of 39 against West Indies where he scored 15 and didn’t bowl.
By the end of his career, Mohinder Amarnath had played 69 test matches and scored 4378 runs with 11 tons and 24 fifties. He also picked 32 wickets with a best of 4/63. In 85 ODI matches, he scored 1924 runs with 2 centuries and 13 fifties with 46 wickets with a best of 3/12.
In the first-class format, he played 248 games scoring more than 13,000 runs with 30 centuries and 67 fifties and also picking 277 wickets with a best of 7/27. The former World Cup winner also played 109 List A games where he scored 2701 runs with 2 centuries and 18 fifties and picked 61 wickets with the ball. During his long career, Mohinder Amarnath played for Delhi, Baroda, Punjab, and Durham.
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