Amar Singh was India’s new ball bowler in the first test match India ever played along with Mohammad Nissar who was even quicker. He played only for 4 years and appeared only in 7 test matches, due to the World War. He picked up 28 wickets at 30.64, including two 5 wicket hauls with 7 for 86 being his best. In his 92 first class matches, he picked up 506 wickets at 18 including 42 five wicket hauls and 14 times ten wickets or more in the match. He was lethal both in the air and off the track. He was also an attacking batsman and the first Indian test fifty is registered against his name. Had him been alive even after the war, he would have played more matches for India. He died in 1940 from typhoid and pneumonia at the age of 29.
Some comments from some of the greatest players of all time will justify his abilities. Len Hutton in 1970 said: “There is no better bowler in the world today than Amar Singh.� Wally Hammond once commented: “Amar Singh was as dangerous an opening bowler as I have ever seen; he came off the pitch like the crack of doom�. The former Indian opener Mushtaq Ali, in the 1970’s said: “I do see hundreds of cricketers today who are equal to some of the great stalwarts of yesteryear, but I don't see a second Amar Singh in any of them.�
One more thing to be said, his brother Ladha Ramji was also a fast bowler. He was so fast that some of the deliveries he bowled went for 6 byes! In a friendly match against an English club in India, one of Ramji’s deliveries hit the batsman on his chest and he fell down. He was then taken to a hospital in Porbandar, then in Bombay and finally was sent back to England, where he died. In some of the matches he played, the authorities even asked him to cut down his pace and bowl slow. Ramji made only enemies with his real fast deliveries and he wasn’t considered for selection only because the authorities didn’t like him. He played only one test match for India where he couldn’t do anything as he was given only short spells. He died at the age of 48 from diabetes, following his refusal to amputate one of his legs. It is said that he used to drink about 45 cups of tea everyday!
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