Premangsu Chatterjee takes 10 for 20, best First-Class figures by an Indian

Premangsu Chatterjee's 10 for 20 are the best First-Class figures after Hedley Verity's 10 for 10.

January 28, 1957. Having taken four wickets the previous afternoon, Premangsu Chatterjee added six more to his tally to finish with 10 for 20 — the best First-Class figures by an Indian. Abhishek Mukherjee recalls an extraordinary feat by an unheralded swing merchant.

Premangsu Chatterjee was, by no means, a seamer who made the opposition sit up in cold sweat. He was a medium pace bowler, and even that was an exaggeration. The fact that he bowled in glasses probably made him look more innocuous.

But Chatterjee had those two weapons that made him stand out among Indian bowlers of his generations: his control was impeccable, and he could make use of the slightest gust of wind, even with the old ball. Sujit Mukherjee wrote in Autobiography of an Unknown Cricketer that Chatterjee “befuddled many batting sides at Eden Gardens”. In an interview with PTI, Chuni Goswami commented that Chatterjee “was a great swinger of the ball”.

Eden Gardens had traditionally helped seamers, especially in the early days, when the breeze from the Hooghly traditionally aided swing bowling. Chatterjee was a master of swing, but his most famous feat — his famous 10 for 20 — came at the relatively obscure National Sports Council of Assam Ground, Jorhat, a ground hosting only its third First-Class match.

After being one of the also-rans, Chatterjee burst into prominence in the Ranji Trophy semi-final of 1955-56, where he routed Madhya Pradesh single-handedly at his favourite Eden Gardens. Chatterjee claimed 7 for 50 and 8 for 59, and the tourists lost by 10 wickets. He followed it with 7 for 101 in the final against Bombay at Brabourne Stadium (after opening batting), but the hosts were too strong a side.

Chatterjee finished the season with 26 wickets at 13.88 and was named an Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year. The first match of the next season was against Assam.

To be fair to the Assamese, Bengal had an excellent team that season. Not only did they boast of Pankaj Roy and Probir Sen, they also had Dattu Phadkar playing for them. Surjuram Girdhari, former Bengal cricketer, bowled tirelessly to reduce Bengal to 257 for 7.

Sunit Shome, known mostly for his brisk medium-pace, rose to the occasion. He added 72 with Shanti Ghosal and 145 with Kalyan Biswas before Girdhari ran through his defence. Shome scored 122 —the only time he crossed 30 in First-Class cricket.

Bengal finished on 505. Amalendu Guha Roy and Girdhari returned to pavilion at stumps on Day Two. They returned at stumps on Day Three as well, — the difference being that Assam were following on.

Nineteen overs on the trot

Thankfully, Chatterjee had to bowl a short burst before stumps on Day Two. KK Baishya was trapped leg-before; Madhurya Barua was bowled, and D Barua, the captain, was trapped leg-before. Abani Hazarika, promoted (perhaps with the aim to protect Girdhari) was bowled as well.

There was no way out. Girdhari emerged at 12 for 4; he and Guha Roy remained there at stumps, and three more runs were added.

Poor Guha Roy could not add to his overnight score of four, and was caught by Shome. It was the only wicket where Chatterjee needed the help of a fielder. Siba Gogoi helped Girdhari add a crucial 14 before he was bowled. Tapan Barua helped put up 16 more, but Chatterjee ran through, getting Girdhari LBW and bowling Barua, Aswani Rajbanshi, and Gangaram Das.

Chatterjee finished with incredible figures of 19-11-20-10. Six men were bowled and three leg-before, and M Talukdar was the only one who survived his wrath. They remain the third-best First-Class figures and the best by an Indian.

Best figures in First-Class cricket

	Figures	For	Against	Venue	Season
Hedley Verity	19.4-16-10-10	Yorkshire	Nottinghamshire	Headingley	1932
George Geary	16.2-8-18-10	Leicestershire	Glamorgan	Pontypridd	1929
Premangsu Chatterjee	19-11-20-10	Bengal	Assam	Jorhat	1956-57

Note: William Lillywhite (Players XI vs Gentlemen XVI, Lord’s, 1837), Edmund Hinkly (Kent vs England, Lord’s, 1848), and John Wisden (North vs South, Lord’s, 1850 — all bowled) have also claimed 10 wickets in an innings, but the runs they conceded were not chronicled.

Best figures by Indians in First-Class cricket

	Figures	For	Against	Venue	Season
Premangsu Chatterjee	19-11-20-10	Bengal	Assam	Jorhat	1956-57
Debasis Mohanty	19-5-46-10	East Zone	West Zone	Agartala	2000-01
Anil Kumble	26.3-9-74-10	India	Pakistan	Kotla	1998-99

Chatterjee bowled continuously (though he had a change of ends), and got commendable support at the other end, mostly from Phadkar. Between them, Phadkar, Biswas, and Shome had figures of 19-15-14-0, which meant that there were 20 byes and/or leg-byes. It was certainly not a good day for Sen.

Girdhari resists, Phadkar breaks

A deficit of 451 was too much for Assam to handle, but they fought bravely, finishing Day Three on 167 for 3. Unfortunately, Girdhari ran out of support next day. He scored a round 100, but Assam could add a mere 78 on Day Four.

Phadkar was the wrecker-in-chief with 7 for 65. Chatterjee bowled economically (38 from 28 overs), but there was no luck for him: the other three wickets went to the wily Ghosal. Bengal won by an innings and 206 runs, and Chatterjee had his name etched permanently in history.

What followed?

– Chatterjee continued to torment oppositions, especially the “lesser” sides, in Ranji Trophy. He had another excellent match against Bombay in the Ranji Trophy final of 1958-59 (6 for 76 in the first innings), but once again, Bombay turned out to be too strong. He finished with 134 wickets from 32 matches at a remarkable 17.75.
– On a side note, Girdhari, who had earlier played for Sind, Maharashtra, Western India, Kathiawar, and Bengal, finished his career at Assam. A tally of 2,436 runs at 36.90 and 196 wickets at 20.39 from 48 matches was exceptional by any standards. He had possibly done enough to merit a Test cap.

Brief scores:

Bengal 505 (Dattu Phadkar 51, Probir Sen 83, Sunit Shome 122, Shanti Ghosal 46, Kalyan Biswas 69*; Aswani Rajbanshi 3 for 213, Surjuram Girdhari 7 for 157) beat Assam 54 (Premangsu Chatterjee 10 for 20) and 245 (KK Baisya 42, Surjuram Girdhari 100; Dattu Phadkar 7 for 65, Shanti Ghosal 3 for 42) by an innings and 206 runs.

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)

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