Ritesh Misra, Surat, 11 November 2024
Colonel C.K.Nayudu made his first class cricket debut in 1915 at the age of 20. He kept on playing cricket for the next 48 years, out of which regular cricket was till the age of 63 when he played Ranji Trophy for Uttar Pradesh. It is a tribute to his cricketing ability and fitness that at the age of 63 he hit Vinoo Mankad for two sixes and he scored 52 in his last Ranji Trophy innings. When he was 57 years old, he was the captain of the Ranji Trophy winning team, when Holkar defeated Bengal. He retired at a high after that win but 5 years later was requested to come back and play for Uttar Pradesh, which he did. He is certainly one of our greatest cricketers.
How is he a Colonel? At the age of 28, the ruler of Holkar invited him to stay at Indore and made him Colonel of the Holkar Army. He served Holkar cricket with distinction, and in 8 out of 9 years he led Holkar to the Ranji finals, and they were champions four times. He played 7 test matches and his last test match was at 41, in which he scored 81. In first class cricket, he had almost 12000 runs with 26 hundreds, and his highest score of 200 was scored when he was 51, which is a tribute to his fitness. He also took more than 400 wickets in first class cricket.
When India got test status in 1932, C.K. Nayudu was our first captain and there is a history as to how he became Captain. Those days BCCI had no money. Rajas and Maharajas were the patrons and there was a bidding war. Maharaja of Vizianagaram offered 40,000 rupees but was outbid by the Maharaja of Patiala who offered 50,000 rupees. However, since the tour of England was for several months and had 26 matches including the one Test, both these Maharajas opted out. The captaincy went to the Maharaja of Porbander who was the Indian captain for the tour of England. However, in the practice matches itself it was clear that it would not be easy for him to play competitive matches. As leading journalist and author Ayaz Memom says, “The Maharaja of Porbander had more Rolls Royces than runs”. Anyway, the Maharaja did a great service to Indian cricket by offering to sit out since he recognized the lack of his cricketing ability. The captaincy went to C.K.Nayudu just a day before the Test. Some players tried to revolt and even called up the Maharaja of Patiala who, however, directed that it will be CK only and those who oppose his captaincy will never play for India again. That settled the matter and it was the Colonel who captained India in its historic first Test.
He was Commander in Chief of the Holkar army. He was the common man who became King. Cricket historian Boria Mazumdar calls him the fst super hero of Indian cricket. Colonel was called the Black Bradman and was the first Indian player to win the Wisden Cricketer of the year award.
Colonel was known for his sixes and he was the first player to whom the crowd demanded sixes by chanting, “CK Sixer, CK Sixer” and he tried to oblige. Decades later, Dilip Vengsarkar in an Irani trophy match hit a flurry of sixes and the commentator, Lala Amarnath said that he was reminded of Colonel C.K. Nayudu and the nickname stuck. Versus a stong MCC team led by Gilligan he hit 153 with 11 6s and 13 4s. Reportedly after seeing this knock, Gilligan said that India is ready for test cricket. The MCC also presented him with a silver bat for this innings.
The cricketing giant was always in touch with the game. He was Vice-President of the BCCI and he was also Chairman of the selection committee. He is a highly decorated and awarded cricketer and has received the Padma Bhushan. In fact, he is the first cricketer to be awarded the Padma Bhushan and he is also the first cricketer to endorse a product (Bathgate Liver tonic) as a model in 1941. The Lifetime Achievement award of the BCCI is named after him and the BCCI U-23 tournament is also named after him.
We have many cricketing families most famous of which are the Amarnaths and Mankads. However, the first Indian cricketing family was that of C.K. Nayudu. His brother C.S. Nayudu played test cricket as well while another brother C.L. Nayudu played Ranji trophy. One of his sons, Prakash Nayudu, who was an IPS officer played Ranji Trophy for MP and was a national Table-tennis champion while another son C.N.Nayudu played Ranji Trophy as well. His nephew D Govindraj also played Ranji Trophy and took almost 200 wickets. Another nephew D. Inderraj also played Ranji Trophy. His grandson, Vijay Nayudu, too played 47 Ranji Trophy matches for Madhya Pradesh.
Sir, You are an Icon of India. Much respect and regards.
