Chetan Chauhan

One of the most courageous opening batsmen in Indian cricket, Chetan Chauhan will be chiefly remembered as Sunil Gavaskar's partner in numerous Tests in the '70s and early '80s. Until the Sehwag-Gambhir combine came along, the pair was the most successful Indian opening duo in Test cricket with ten century partnerships.

Chauhan had technical limitations and his strokeplay was not exactly fluent. But no one could question his courage, his defence and his ability to get behind the line of the ball. He was always a difficult batsman to dislodge and his patience and dogged qualities stood India in very good stead in 40 Tests in the period 1969 to 1981. He made his debut as a 22-year-old against New Zealand at Mumbai and also played against Australia the same season. He was recalled for two Tests against England in 1972-73 but his most prolific period began when he was chosen for the tour of Australia in 1977-78.

The crowning glory of the Gavaskar-Chauhan partnership came at The Oval in 1979 when they put on 213, breaking the famous long-standing record of Merchant and Mushtaq Ali who put on 203 runs at Old Trafford in 1936. Chauhan's share was 80. He was unlucky not to get a Test hundred, though his aggregate in Tests exceeded 2000 runs (he was the first player in Test history to score more than 2000 runs without a hundred).

He was a heavy run-getter in domestic cricket, and represented Maharashtra and Delhi in the Ranji Trophy competition. After retiring, Chauhan became a selector from North Zone and was elected to Parliament on a BJP ticket. He died in August 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, from complications arising out of the disease.
Partab Ramchand