Chetan Pratap Singh Chauhan (; 21 July 1947 – 16 August 2020) was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played 40 Test matches for

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He played Ranji Trophy for Maharashtra and Delhi. Chauhan played most of his international cricket in the late 1970s and was the regular opening partner of Sunil Gavaskar during that period. Chetan Chauhan was appointed Chairman of NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) from June 2016 to June 2017. He was also twice elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, in 1991 and 1998. From 2018 to 2020, he was minister for youth and sports in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. On 12 July 2020, he was admitted to hospital after testing positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. He died due to complications and multiple organ failure on 16 August 2020 at the age of 73.

Early days

Chauhan was born in Uttar Pradesh in a

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Rajput family. The family moved to

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

in 1960 where Chauhan's father, an army officer, was transferred. He took his bachelor's degrees at Wadia College in Pune. There he was coached by the former

player Kamal Bhandarkar. Chauhan represented Pune University in the Rohinton Baria Trophy in 1966–67 and was selected to represent West Zone for the interzonal Vizzy Trophy in the same season. He scored 103 against North Zone and 88 & 63 against South Zone in the final. His opening partner in the second innings was Sunil Gavaskar. More success in the Vizzy trophy in 1967 led to his selection in the Maharashtra Ranji team. Chauhan's first hundred came next year when he was first in and last out against

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

on a rain affected wicket where the first six wickets fell for 52. He scored 103 against South Zone in the Duleep Trophy final against five Test bowlers and was selected to play for India in 1969–70.

Test cricket

Chauhan made his Test debut against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

at the

. He took 25 minutes to score his first run, a square cut for four off Bruce Taylor. His next scoring shot was a

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

for six off the same bowler. Chauhan was dropped after two Tests, made an appearance against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

later in the season, failed, and was dropped again for three years. Chauhan scored 873 runs in the 1972–73 Ranji season for Maharashtra which was then the second highest aggregate for a season. This included double hundreds in consecutive matches against Gujarat and Vidarbha. Chauhan and Madhu Gupte shared an opening stand of 405 in the latter match. In between the double hundreds, he played two Tests against England. He failed and did not play a Test for another five years. He moved to

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

and the North Zone in 1975. One appearance against

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in an unofficial Test ended in failure. In 1976–77, he scored 158 against Haryana (with a fractured jaw), 200 v Punjab, 147 v Karnataka and 150 against the Central Zone. Another Duleep trophy hundred early in the next season found him a place in the team to Australia.

Comeback

Chauhan scored 157 against Victoria in his first match of the tour. It took him 516 minutes and included just two fours. Paul Hibbert of Victoria had scored a hundred earlier in the match without a single boundary. Chauhan returned to the Indian team for the second Test at

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and hit 88 in his very first innings. From then he missed only one Test until the end of his career and, except for one occasion, opened with Gavaskar every time. At

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against

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they added 192, and 117 & 153 against

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. In England in 1979, they put on 213 in the second innings at The Oval when India missed the target of 438 by nine runs. Against Australia in 1980–81, Chauhan scored 249 runs in three Tests to Gavaskar's 118. He missed a hundred by three runs in

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. At

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in the next Test, he scored 85 and added 165 with Gavaskar before the latter was given out lbw to Dennis Lillee. Gavaskar, the captain, disputed the decision on the way out and ordered Chauhan to leave the field with him. An embarrassing situation was avoided when the Indian manager Wing Cmdr. Shahid Durrani persuaded Chauhan to return. Touring New Zealand after the trip to Australia, Chauhan scored 78 in the second Test and 36 & 7 in the third.

Later years

Chauhan was dropped after the tour and never selected for another Test match. He added 3022 runs with Gavaskar in their 59 opening stands, ten of which were over 100. He scored 2084 runs in his career with 16 fifties but without a century. His last first class match was the Ranji final against Bombay in 1985 where he scored 98 and 54 with a fractured finger. He also served as the Cricket coach of Indian team. Chauhan received the Arjuna award in 1981.

Career in politics

Chauhan was a member of the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. He was a member of the Lok Sabha (lower house of the parliament) from Amroha in 1991 and 1998. He lost the elections from the same constituency in 1996, 1999 and 2004, finishing fourth on the last occasion. He then also made his comeback in the politics by defeating Alley Hasan of

Bahujan Samaj Party The Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP) is a political party in India that was formed to represent Bahujans (literally means "community in majority"), referring to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes (OBC), along with Religious ...

in 1998 General Elections by defeating him by more than 35,000 votes. In 2017 he was elected to Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from Naugawan Sadat and made a minister in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's government.

Accomplishments

* Chauhan was the first Test cricketer to finish his Test career with over 2000 runs but without a century. As of 13 February 2022, Shane Warne (3154 runs) and Niroshan Dickwella (2443 runs) are the only other players with a similar record. * Chauhan had 11 century stands with Gavaskar but one of them was for the fourth wicket. At

against the

in 1978–79 they opened together, but Chauhan retired early in the innings and came back at the fall of the third wicke

Death

In July 2020, Chauhan tested positive for

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of , according to Indian government ...

, and a month later he was placed on a ventilator following

multiple organ failure Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is altered organ function in an acutely ill patient requiring immediate medical intervention. There are different stages of organ dysfunction for certain different organs, both in acute and in chronic ...

. On 16 August 2020, he died in Gurugram at the age of 73.

References

Sources

* Sujit Mukherjee, ''Matched Winners'', Orient Longman (1996), p 105-119 * Indian Express, 26 September 1969

External links

*
Indian parliamentary biography

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chauhan, Chetan 1947 births 2020 deaths Delhi cricketers Indian cricketers 20th-century Indian sportsmen India One Day International cricketers India Test cricketers North Zone cricketers Maharashtra cricketers West Zone cricketers Uttar Pradesh MLAs 2017–2022 Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Uttar Pradesh People from Amroha district People from Bareilly Cricketers from Uttar Pradesh Recipients of the Arjuna Award Indian sportsperson-politicians India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1998–1999 Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh Yogi ministry State cabinet ministers of Uttar Pradesh Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India Deaths from multiple organ failure Cricketers from Delhi