The Bradmanian triplets of India

Cricket has undergone unparalleled changes in last 100 years, but even today the yardstick of batsmanship remains Bradman scale. Sir Donald Bradman donned all the possible batting records in his days. No other player than Don has dominated the respective sporting field and emerged so many miles ahead of the contemporaries. His jaw dropping Test average of 99.94 was followed by two of his peers – George Headly (60.83) and Herbert Sutcliff (60.73) – a whopping 40 runs per inning behind him.

‘Donald got a Duck’ in his last innings, that kept him away from the perfect figure of 100 Test batting average. Even ages after his retirement batsmen are dying to chance a comparison with the grandeur of Don. Let us read into the stories of three Indian Batsmen who finished ‘Being Next to Bradman’ in three different monumental records of the greatest batsman of all times!

Vijay Merchant – First Class Cricket Average of 71.64

One of my friends asked, “What was his business?” and I said, “This Merchant traded in runs.” Vijay Merchant’s compelling First Class Cricket batting average is next to Bradman’s record of 95.14, which remains unbroken as yet. Vijay Merchant retired from all forms of Cricket in the year 1951 owing to shoulder injury. Ever since then, no other batsman has been able to eclipse his figures even after so many cricketing generations have passed on.

In 150 First class matches he amassed 13470 runs. Much like Bradman, he played only in England apart from at home, and scored heavily in both parts of the world. In his first Tour to England in 1935-36 he amassed mountains of runs mesmerizing the cricketing world to earn him Wisden Cricketer of the Year Award in the following year. With 3,639 runs at a staggering average of 98.35, it won’t be exaggeration to call Merchant the Bradman of Ranji Trophy.

When he missed the tour to Australia in 1948 due to bad health, Bradman was upset and was prompted to say, “Worst of all, we were denied the sight of Vijay Merchant, who must surely have claims to be the greatest of all Indian players”. That was the kind of respect he commanded from the Don himself. A player’s greatness can be assessed by his achievements and respect earned from the contemporary best in the business. Vijay Merchant, surely should be adored as one of the greatest forefathers of Indian Cricket.

Bhausaheb Baburao Nimbalkar (B B Nimbalkar): 443 not out

Little did the on field players know of Bradman’s record of highest innings score by a batsman (452) in First Class Cricket, when Maharashtra were playing against Kathiawar (now probably Saurashtra) in a Ranji Trophy encounter at Pune in Dec 1948. In reply to Kathiawar’s 238 all out in the first innings Maharashtra had amassed 826 for 4, riding on superfast 443 not out with one and a half day still remaining in the 4 day game.

Mauled, demoralized and frustrated by the onslaught, Captain of Kathiawar – Thakore Saheb of Rajkot – decided to concede the game with Nimbalkar oblivious of being only 9 runs away from the World Record. When the Maharashtra team captain YN Gokhale came to know about the record, he personally went to Kathiawar camp to request Thakore Saheb not to leave the game and give an opportunity to an Indian to break the record of Bradman.

Thakore Saheb didn’t pay heed and left immediately, leaving the whole Maharashtra camp in dismay. But what followed thereafter was so remarkable that whenever Bhausaheb narrated the incident, had tears of happiness in his eyes. The very next day of the unfortunate conclusion of the eventful match, Bhausaheb Nimbalkar received a telegram from none other than Don Bradman himself, to congratulate him for his unique feat and say words of encouragement to play such a knock again and be mindful of breaking the record next time.

With this kind of emotional touch statistics won’t ever be numerical drudgery. In the future, only Hanif Mohammad (499) and Brian Lara (501 not out) managed to surpass Nimbalkar and Bradman.

Sehwag’s 292 against Sri Lanka at Brabourne in Dec 2009

Scoring 300 is colossal, mammoth task in Test Cricket and that every batsman dreams of accomplishing this distinction. That there have been only 27 triple centuries in the 139 years of Test Cricket history helps us gauge the rarity of this achievement. Where this merit has eluded many great batters in the game, those who have scored triples multiple times command and deserve extra special accolades.

Only four batsmen have been able to achieve it with first batter ever to do so being Bradman (334 and 304) followed by Brian Lara (400* present World record and 375), Chris Gayle (317 and 333) and Virender Sehwag (309 and 319). But when Sehwag got out on 292 against Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium in 2009 Mumbai Test, he became only batsman after Bradman to have scored two triples and a 290’s score.

Earlier in 1932 Bradman had remained 299 not out against South Africa in Adelaide Test missing a third triple by a whisker when he ran out of partners. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been present at the Brabourne stadium, hoping to witness Sehwag make history that day. While we were enjoying the euphoria amongst the knowledgeable crowd of Mumbai, who already had sniffed the possibility of record being broken, unfortunately Sehwag got out to Muthaiyya Murlidharan.

Though he missed the record, he achieved the tag of ‘Being Next to Bradman’ with respect to this unique feat not replicated by anyone else, as yet. No need to say that entertainment stored in that Viru’s knock of 293 off just 254 balls was stupefying. His 319 against South Africa at Chennai in 2008 came in just 304 balls remains only Test triple scored with strike rate of more than run-a-ball. In that match he reached 300 in just 278 balls which is a World Record of fastest triple in test Cricket. Sehwag was truly one of his own kinds! Hats off to him!

Viru made his Test debut few months after the sad demise of the great batsman; else Bradman would definitely have given a pat on his back. He deserved it so much. All the three deserve a salute for their heroics. May their performances inspire the budding cricketing generation.

Three Cheers for this Bradmanian Triplet!