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India's Jack Hobbs
Considered as one of India's finest batsmen ever, Vijay Hazare played at the top level for 6 years.
The former Indian captain Vijay Hazare, who led the country to their first ever Test victory, died on December 18, 2004 following a prolonged illness.
Aged 89, Hazare was suffering from intestinal cancer and breathed his last at a private clinic where he was kept on life support system.
Born on March 11, 1915 in Sangli, Maharashtra, Hazare played for Maharashtra, Central India and Baroda in the domestic circuit.
Considered as one of India's finest batsmen ever, Hazare played at the highest level for six years - between 1946 to 52 - during which he represented India in 30 Tests scoring 2,192 runs at an impressive average of 47.65 runs. He was India's greatest cricketers and the mainstay of India's batting after the second World War.
He scored seven centuries - two of them coming in the same match against Australia at Adelaide in 1947-48, and two more in his first two matches as captain, against England in 1951.
An effective right-arm medium pacer, Hazare captured 20 wickets at 61 run apiece.
He had a fabulous first-class career record averaging 58.38. He amassed 18,740 runs in 238 matches that included 60 centuries.
The highlight of Hazare's first-class career was the two triple centuries he scored, 316 not out and 309 - the latter being more memorable since it came out of the side's total score of 387.
His wicket-taking abilities got him a whopping 595 wickets in first-class matches at an average of 24.61.
The man, who was immensely talented with the bat, however only had moderate success as captain of the Indian team.
In 14 matches he captained, India won just one Test - against England - while losing five. The remaining eight matches ended in draws.
