As former India and Mumbai batting stalwart turns 65 today, we bring you some statistical facts of his 116-Test career in which he scored 6,868 runs and 17 centuries.
Former Indian cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar poses with his wife Manali during IPL 2016. Picture/ AFP
Dilip Vengsarkar scored his first 50 in Test cricket after 19 innings - 78 against Australia in the second innings of the fifth and final Test at Adelaide in 1977-78. However, he had scores of 48, 49, 48 and 44 earlier in the series.
He scored his first Test century after 29 innings - an unbeaten 157 against the West Indies at Kolkata in 1978-79. He got a pair in the next Test at Madras but carved a hundred in the following Test at New Delhi.
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In the same series, while getting to his first three-figure score in Test cricket, Vengsarkar partnered his captain Sunil Gavaskar for a massive second-wicket stand of 344 at the Eden Gardens. This was then India’s highest partnership for any wicket after Pankaj Roy and Vinoo Mankad’s 413 record opening wicket stand against New Zealand in 1955-56.
Vengsarkar scored Test hundreds only in India and England. The closest he came to reaching the three-figure mark in other countries was when he scored 94 against West Indies at Antigua in 1982-83 and 98 not out against Sri Lanka at Colombo (SSC ground) in 1985-86.
He is the only overseas batsman to score three centuries at Lord’s, the spiritual home of cricket.
No Indian batsman apart from Vengsarkar has scored two Test centuries to help his team win a series in England. He scored hundreds at Lord’s and Leeds to help India trounce England 2-0 in 1986.
Vengsarkar put up an impressive show with the bat in the first series as Test captain - against the West Indies at home in 1987-88. Taking over from Kapil Dev, he aggregated 305 runs with the help of two centuries at an average of 101.67. His figures for the series would have been greater had he not got injured in the third Test at Kolkata where he got his second century of the series.
Finally, can you guess the ground on which Vengsarkar enjoyed the best average among the numerous venues he graced in his Test career? Wankhede, Eden or MCG? It is Headingley in Leeds, where he averaged 228.00 in two Tests!
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