Colonel Hemchandra "Hemu" Ramachandra Adhikari (31 July 1919 – 25 October 2003) 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 striki ...

er, representing his country as both a player and a coach in a career that spanned three decades.

Life and career

A talented right-handed batsman and occasional leg spin bowler, he made his

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

debut as a teenager before the outbreak of

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in the 1936/37 domestic season. He immediately demonstrated his abilities on the local stage but due to the war, and his role in the Indian armed forces, his career was interrupted. Adhikari made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut as a 28-year-old in 1947 on India's tour of Australia and immediately established himself as an important member of the squad, although his continued official role in the army restricted his availability for the team. Very good at playing

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and courageous against

fast bowling Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

, Adhikari had some fine moments playing for India, including a national record 109- run last wicket partnership with Ghulam Ahmed in a Test against regional rivals

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. He captained India in one Test as he neared his fortieth birthday, scoring 63 and 40 while batting and taking three important wickets in a drawn game against

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. Adhikari took to coaching after retiring from first-class cricket - with a very good

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 41.74 - and was in charge of the Indian team as they established themselves on the world stage. He helped guide India to their first series win in England in 1971 and was a major reason behind the development of such outstanding cricketers as

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...

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and

Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...

. Some felt his history with military helped him as a coach, with former national team spin bowler Bapu Nadkarni saying "Adhikari was a disciplined man. Being a military man, he would not bother about what anybody else thought." Col Hemu Adhikari was the mentor of another military man & famous cricket coach from Hyderabad Mirza Rehmat Ullah Baig (M.R Baig), who was a Ranji Cricketer from Services and served as an assistant coach under the mentorship of Col Hemu Adhikari. After his death in October 2003, at age 84, tributes flooded in for the popular Indian, with Indian cricket writer

Suresh Menon Suresh Menon (born 10 January 1967) is an Indian actor, comedian and television personality. Career Menon has appeared in movies including Grand Masti, ''Phir Hera Pheri'', '' Partner'', ''Fool N Final'', '' Krazzy 4'', '' Deewane Huye Pagal' ...

saying "Adhikari was not a big man yet he was a presence. He will be remembered for his role in Indian cricket's self-confidence movement that began with that series win in 1971."

Career bests

Test matches

Test Debut: vs

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, 1947/48
Last Test: vs West Indies,

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, 1958/59 *Adhikari's best Test batting score of 114 not out was made against West Indies, Delhi, 1948/49 *His best Test bowling figures of 3 for 68 came against West Indies, Delhi, 1958/59 *His Test captaincy record was: 1 match, 1 draw

First-class

*Adhikari's best first-class batting score was 230 not out

External links and references

*
HowSTAT! statistical profile of Hemu Adhikari
* ttp://www.cricketnext.com/features/legends/legends010.htm Article on Adhikari {{DEFAULTSORT:Adhikari, Hemu 1919 births 2003 deaths Baroda cricketers India Test cricketers India Test cricket captains Indian cricketers Services cricketers Hindus cricketers Gujarat cricketers West Zone cricketers North Zone cricketers Cricketers from Pune Indian cricket coaches