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RIP Vijay Mehra

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Vijay Mehra who opened for Delhi, North Zone and India in the sixties and seventies passed away today. He was 68.

Vijay Mehra is the first test cricketer I actually played with.

It was the winter of 1966-67. The Indian team for the summer tour to England was to be selected later and Vijay Mehra came to our club (Madras cricket Club, New Delhi) for nets. Before the first batsman went into the nets, Mehra went in wearing just his batting gloves and with his bat went in and asked a nervous sikh school boy to bowl to him. I measured out my run and ambled in to bowl my flighted off spinners. Mehra went on the front foot to push the ball on the off side. It spun sharply on pitching, went through his bat and pad and bowled him.

He looked up at me smiled indulgently and nodded in acknowledgement, put the stump back and took guard.

I came in and bowled again. Three balls later, I bowled him again as he tried to play my flighted deliveries on the off side.

He came out and asked my coach to make sure I bowled to him when he batted.

I was over the moon and thought if I never did anything else in my life, I had done enough to talk about for the rest of my life :)

I played quite a bit with him in the Delhi league in later years. He wasnt a great test class batsman but a very heavy scorer in the North Zone and played with a very strong bias for the off side.

He was a simple Punjabi and a gentleman to the core. I dont remember him ever speaking in anything but soft tones which was very refreshing for us since international cricketers were not many in the North and one had got used to arrogance even if they had played Ranji Trophy.

RIP
 

archie mac

International Coach
I don't think he ever came to Australia, but just read that he started as one of the youngest ever Test cricketers:)
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Fusion said:
SJS, sounds like he was a great person to have known. RIP.
He was a simple guy and was very approachable. I would address him respectfully as Mr Mehra but was always disappointed that he never remembered me as the young boy who bowled to him in the nets that first day :D

I had given up off spin and was mainly a batsman when he came to Ferozeshah Kotla one day as I was knocking just before going in to bat. My coach told me later that he asked, "who is that young boy? He drives very well off both feet. Thats rare for a Delhi boy"

I was delighted but very disappointed that he did not remember me. :) I played against him quite a few times after that.

After he realised he was not going to play for India any more, he seemed to lose interest in the game and played indifferently in those league games.

His batting was defensive and he played very straight and rarely lifted the ball off the carpet. Cover and off drives and cuts are what comes to mind when I try to recall his batting. All played with very careful movement of the feet. He wasnt great against real fast bowling although one of his two test fifties came against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1962.

His test record isnt a disaster but he was played very infrequently playing just 8 tests between 1955 and 1964. He was only 26 when he played his last game. He wasnt a batsman for whom you copuld say it was grave injustice done to him but it was clear that if he was from Bombay and not Punjab and then Delhi he may have played some more.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
AussieDominance said:
sounds like a great bloke who didnt deserve to die RIP
By the way, his second fifty was also a 62 against England at eden gardens in 1962 when he batted for most of the innings with a broken right thumb.
 

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