Dattaram Dharmaji Hindlekar (1 January 1909 – 30 March 1949) was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who kept wicket for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

Cricket career

Hindlekar toured

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

and

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

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". He opened in the First Test at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in 1936, but chipped a bone in his finger and suffered from blurred vision. This injury and his subsequent exclusion from the next Test led to the famous opening partnership between

Vijay Merchant Vijay Singh Madhavji Merchant , real name Vijay Madhav Thackersey (12 October 1911 – 27 October 1987) was an Indian cricketer. A right-hand batter and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, Merchant played first-class cricket for Bombay c ...

and

Mushtaq Ali Syed Mushtaq Ali (; 17 December 1914 – 18 June 2005) was an Indian cricketer, a right-handed opening batsman who holds the distinction of scoring the first overseas Test century by an Indian player when he scored 112 against England at Old Tr ...

. He was an unexpected selection for the 1946 tour. Injuries limited his appearances here as well. In the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Test, he went in last and batted out 13 minutes with

Ranga Sohoni Sriranga Wasudev 'Ranga' Sohoni (5 March 1918 – 19 May 1993) was an Indian international cricketer. He was an all-rounder, batting well under pressure and bowling relentlessly on South Asian surfaces. International Cricket Sohoni toured Eng ...

to save the match. He is one of only four players (the others being

Wilfred Rhodes Wilfred Rhodes (29 October 1877 – 8 July 1973) was an English professional cricketer who played 58 Test matches for England between 1899 and 1930. In Tests, Rhodes took 127 wickets and scored 2,325 runs, becoming the first Englishman t ...

Syd Gregory Sydney Edward Gregory (14 April 1870 – 1 August 1929), sometimes known as Edward Sydney Gregory, was a cricketer who played for New South Wales and Australia. At the time of his retirement, he had played a world-record 58 Test matches duri ...

, and

Vinoo Mankad Mulvantrai Himmatlal "Vinoo" Mankad (; 12 April 1917 – 21 August 1978) was an Indian cricketer who appeared in 44 Test matches for India between 1946 and 1959. He was best known for his world record setting opening partnership of 413 runs wi ...

) to have batted in every position in the batting order in Test cricket.

Personal life

Hindlekar was born in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, the son of a farmer from

Ratnagiri Ratnagiri (IAST:Ratnāgirī ; �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a port city on the Arabian Sea coast in Ratnagiri District in the southwestern part of Maharashtra, India. The district is a part of Konkan division of Maharashtra. The city is known for ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. He worked in the

Bombay Port Trust Mumbai Port Trust (also known as the Bombay Port Trust) is a port which lies midway on the West coast of India, on the natural deep-water harbour of Mumbai (Bombay) in Maharashtra.The harbour spread over is protected by the mainland of Konkan t ...

for a salary of Rs.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 Khershedji Rustomji Meherhomji (; 9 August 1911 – 10 February 1982) was an Indian cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper. Meherhomji toured England in 1936 and played in the Test at Manchester. He represented Parsis in Bombay Pentangular and ...

and borrow his. He was the uncle of

Vijay Manjrekar Vijay Laxman Manjrekar (26 September 1931 – 18 October 1983) was an Indian cricketer who played 55 Tests. He represented several teams (Andhra, Bengal, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh) in his first-class career. A small man, ...

and great-uncle of

Sanjay Manjrekar Sanjay Vijay Manjrekar (born 12 July 1965) is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He played international cricket for India from 1987 until 1996 as a right-handed middle order batsman. Domestic career Manjrekar was born in Mang ...

. 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 The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the worl ...

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. Majumdar, Boria, ''Twenty-Two Yards to Freedom''(2004), p. 100

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hindlekar, Dattaram Indian cricketers India Test cricketers Mumbai cricketers Hindus cricketers Rajasthan cricketers West Zone cricketers 1909 births 1949 deaths Cricketers from Mumbai People from Ratnagiri Wicket-keepers