It is the dream of every cricket player to represent their country and make their families proud. While there have been few instances where both Indian father-son duos have played cricket for India at the highest level. So, let’s look at the five Indian father-son cricketers who represented India at the highest level.
1. Lala Amarnath-Mohinder Amarnath
This is the most iconic father-son duo to have played for India. Both Lala Amarnath and Mohinder Amarnath‘s contributions to Indian cricket are unparalleled. Lala Amarnath was India’s first cricket captain after independence and captained India in the first Test series win against Pakistan in 1952. He was also the first batsman ever to score a century for India in Test cricket.
Mohinder featured in 69 Tests, in which he scored 4378 runs, including 11 centuries, and also took 32 wickets. He was a part of the team that lifted the historic 1983 World Cup at Lord’s. Mohinder Amarnath is widely known for his incredible performance in the 1983 World Cup. He was awarded as the Man of the match in the semi-finals and finals.
2. Roger Binny-Stuart Binny
Roger Binny was one of India’s finest all-rounders in the limited-overs cricket during the decade of the 80s. He is widely known for his contribution to the historic 1983 world cup winning campaign. Roger was the leading wicket-taker for India with 18 wickets in the World Cup. And then again in the 1985 World Series Cricket Championship in Australia, he repeated this feat and went on to take 17 wickets in the series.
Much like his father, Stuart Binny was a handy seam all-rounder. Stuart didn’t have an impactful career as Roger as he played only six Tests and fourteen ODIs in the Indian jersey. Stuart Binny is widely remembered for his extraordinary bowling spell where he took 6/4 against Bangladesh.
3. Vijay Manjrekar-Sanjay Manjrekar
Vijay played 55 tests in which he scored 3208 runs at an average of 39 including 7 tons and 15 fifties. He was a fine cutter and a great hooker of the ball. He played for six different teams in the Ranji Trophy and scored 3,734 runs at an average of 57.44
Although Sanjay Manjrekar had a very average international career. He scored 2,043 Test runs at an average of 37.14 including four centuries and 1,994 ODI runs at an average of 33.23. Manjrekar has 10,000+ runs in First-Class cricket.
4. Sunil Gavaskar-Rohan Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the world. The Little Master was the first Test batsman to score 10,000 Test runs and has 34 centuries by his name in Tests. He was also the first person to score centuries in both innings of a Test match three times.
When your father achieved a lot, then there is always pressure on you as a son. Expectations are huge. Rohan Gavaskar played 11 ODIs for India and managed to score a fifty. Though Rohan is among one of the greatest batsmen to have played for West Bengal in Ranji Trophy. He was a left-handed batsman and slow left-arm unorthodox bowler.
5. Yograj Singh-Yuvraj Singh
This father-son duo is a bit different from others we have seen till now. As in this case, the son played 17 years of international cricket. While Yograj, who was a right-arm medium-fast bowler played just one Test and six ODIs for India and then he entered into cinema world.
Yuvraj was regarded as one of the best middle-order ever played for India. A match-winner, who was one of the main reasons behind India’s WT20 win in South Africa in 2007 and also the World Cup win in 2011. Yuvraj has featured in 304 ODIs and scored 8701 runs including 14 tons and 52 fifties.