Ramesh Chand Saxena (20 September 1944 – 16 August 2011) was an Indian

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 str ...

er who played in one

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in 1967. He was a great batsman in the Bihar Ranji Team and was a mentor to many upcoming cricketers from Bihar and Jharkhand.

Life and career

Saxena made his first-class debut for

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

vs Southern Punjab as a 16-year-old in the 1960/61 season, hitting an unbeaten 113 in his first first-class innings. He played for Delhi until 1965–66, then moved to

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

, playing for them from 1966–67 to 1981–82. He also played for North Zone and

East Zone The East Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents eastern India in the Duleep Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Inter Zonal. It is a composite team of five first-class Indian teams from eastern India competing in the Ranj ...

in the

Duleep Trophy The Duleep Trophy, also known as Mastercard Duleep trophy due to sponsorship reasons, is a domestic first-class cricket competition played in India. Named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji of Nawanagar (also known as 'Duleep'), the competition wa ...

. His highest score was 202

not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

for Bihar against

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...

in 1969–70. He had the reputation of one of the best players of spin bowling in India. Saxena made his Test debut for India in a match against England in Leeds in 1967. England batted first and declared on 550/4, with

Geoffrey Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

scoring an unbeaten 246 and Saxena bowling 2 wicketless overs. He then opened with

Farokh Engineer Farokh Maneksha Engineer (born 25 February 1938) is an Indian former cricketer. He played 46 Test matches for India, played first-class cricket for Bombay in India from 1959 to 1975 and for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England from 1968 ...

in India's innings, but was out for just 9 as India were bowled out for 164 and forced to follow on. India put in an improved performance in the second innings, posting 510, but Saxena, batting at 7, only contributed 16. England then knocked off the required runs to seal a 6 wicket victory. He toured Australia and New Zealand with the Indian team later that year but did not play in any of the eight Test matches. He captained Bihar for five seasons and also captained

several times in the

. He served as a Test selector in the 1980s.''Wisden'', 2012, p. 220. He died in hospital after suffering a stroke and consequent illnesses. He left a wife and two sons.

References

External links

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"Remembering Ramesh Saxena" by Clayton Murzello
1944 births 2011 deaths Cricketers from Delhi India Test cricketers Indian cricketers East Zone cricketers Bihar cricketers Delhi cricketers North Zone cricketers State Bank of India cricketers Indian Starlets cricketers {{India-cricket-bio-1940s-stub