Amol Muzumdar kept on waiting for a place in the Indian team and never got a call. After all, it was the evening of his cricketing career without making a national debut.
In 1988, Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli shared a world record partnership of 664 in the Haris Shield tournament in Mumbai. Both of them had done wonders while playing for Shardashram School. Sachin became a cricket great At the same time, Kambli was lost after glowing. Apart from these, there was another batsman who became an amazing cricketer but could never play for India. The interesting thing is that when Sachin-Kambli was doing a record breaking partnership, he was waiting in the dressing room wearing a cricketer pad. If either of Kambli-Sachin was out, the same would go to batting. But this could not happen. Then he could not play for India either. This cricketer was Amol Muzumdar. Today’s talk in ‘Jaane Jaane Jaane Woh People’.
Mazumdar was 13 years old during the Sachin-Kablani partnership. He kept on waiting while wearing a pad. During this time he also practiced in Nets. Later Sharadashram declared the innings for 748 runs. In such a situation, Majumdar removed the pads without batting. Later, the same happened with Amol Majumdar. He kept waiting for a place in the Indian team and never got a call. After all, it was the evening of his cricketing career without making a national debut. Amol Majumdar made his first class debut in the 1993–94 Ranji Trophy season.
In this match against Haryana, Majumdar played an amazing innings of 260 runs. Also set the world record for highest score in first class debut. This record is still intact today. Even after this, Majumdar continued his amazing batting. Soon he was called the next Sachin Tendulkar. He then became the vice-captain of the Indian Under-19 team.
Amol Majumdar played cricket at the wrong time?
Along with Majumdar, Rahul Dravid also emerged in domestic cricket rapidly. Both played together against England A in 1995. Three unofficial Tests and three ODIs were played. India A lost 3–0 in Tests. Majumdar failed in them. Dravid’s bat went on there. India lost 2-1 in ODI series. But Mazumdar scored here. He scored 79 and 69 runs. Sourav Ganguly was also a part of this team and he did not run in both the series.
After this, the Indian team was to be selected for the tour of England in 1996. There was talk of youngsters being selected in the team. Prior to this, the stage of testing the youth was prepared through the Duleep Trophy of 1995-96. Along with Dravid, Majumdar, Ganguly and VVS Laxman also participated in it. In this tournament, Laxman scored the highest number of 395 runs. Dravid was second with 353 runs and Majumdar was third with 333 runs. He also scored a double century against North Zone. At the same time, Ganguly scored 308 runs.
When Team India was selected for the Test series against England, Dravid and Ganguly were named in it. Dravid because he was consistently scoring everywhere. At the same time, Ganguly probably got priority as a left-handed batsman. In addition, he also scored well. In the Duleep Trophy, he scored 171 runs in front of the strong bowling attack of West Zone. Due to this also his pan became heavy. But with this, Majumdar kept coming in the team. It is believed that this was the closest chance of his arrival in Team India.
There was no vacancy in the place where we used to play
After this there was no place in the Indian team. Sourav Ganguly and Dravid took full advantage of the opportunities met and confirmed their place. Mazumdar used to bat on number three or four. When these positions were confirmed to be replaced by Dravid and Sachin, Majumdar’s claim became weak. There was definitely an opportunity in Team India at number five but Laxman made it his own with an innings of 281 runs against Australia in the 2001 Test.
In later conditions, Majumdar severed ties with Mumbai. He first played for Assam and led this team to the Elite Division. Then when he tried to play for Mumbai again, he was asked to wait a year. In such a situation, after waiting, Majumdar joined Andhra. In the 2012–13 season, he played for Andhra, scoring close to 1000 runs at an average of around 80.
This was said when the team did not come to India
Amol Mazumdar scored consecutive runs in domestic cricket. He scored more than 11 thousand runs in 171 first class matches with 30 centuries and 60 half-centuries. During 1993-94 to 2002-03, he scored 6051 runs in 90 matches at an average of more than 50. His colleagues in Mumbai, Wasim Jaffer, Sairaj Bahule and Nilesh Kulkarni also played for India. After leaving cricket, Amol Majumdar is now active in coaching. He has been a batting coach against spin in the South African team. At the same time, Rajasthan Royals also have batting coaches.
In the year 2020, in a conversation with Ravichandran Ashwin, Majumdar spoke about not being selected in Team India. He said that in the first few years of Ranji Trophy, he scored at an average of 82. In such a situation, when not elected, there was a lot of disappointment. During this time, he had made up his mind to quit cricket. For a month, he did not even touch the cricket bat for a month. He gave up many matches. But then he started playing again after his father explained.
