Farokh Maneksha Engineer (born 25 February 1938) is an Indian former

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. He was a

wicket-keeper-batsman In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

, usually an

opening batsman In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., if ...

, who represented

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 ...

in 46 Test matches from 1961 to 1975. In

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

, he played for

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 ...

from 1959/60 to 1974/75, for West Zone from 1961/62 to 1974/75, and for

Lancashire County Cricket Club Lancashire Cricket Club represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire in Cricket in England, English cricket. The club has held first-class cricket, first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's ho ...

from 1968 to 1976. He was the first-choice wicket-keeper for the Rest of the World team which toured England in 1970 and Australia in 1971–72. Engineer is the last male member of the

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

community to have played for India, although Arzan Nagwaswalla was selected for the international squad in 2021.

Early life

Education and beginning of cricket career

Engineer was born 25 February 1938 into a

family in

. His father Manecksha was a doctor by profession, and his mother, Minnie was a housewife. Engineer studied at the Don Bosco High School in Matunga and later at Podar College, also in Matunga. Engineer became a student at the

University of Bombay University of Mumbai is a public university, public List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, state university in Mumbai. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest univ ...

and, in 1958/59, played cricket for both their team and the Indian Universities team. He joined

in 1959, though he continued to play for the Universities until 1961/62. During his childhood, Engineer's first ambition was to be a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. However, he developed a love for sports from his father who played

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and was himself a club cricketer. Farokh's older brother, Darius, was also a good club cricketer. He once took Farokh to the East Stand of the

Brabourne Stadium The Brabourne Stadium is an international cricket stadium in Mumbai in Western India, built in the British Bombay era. It is the home ground of the Mumbai men's and Mumbai women's cricket team, women's cricket teams. It can accommodate 50,000 pe ...

, where they saw

Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most of his ca ...

fielding. Farokh called to Compton who gave him a piece of chewing gum which he saved as his prized possession for many years. His father enrolled him in Dadar Parsi Colony Sporting Club where he learned the nuances of the game from the seniors and later became a regular member of the team.

Test career

NOTE: ''All content in this section was moved to workspace because of sourcing and POV issues. A rewrite is in progress''. Engineer played in 46 Test matches for

from 1961/62 to 1974/75. He also played in five ODIs, all in 1974/75. He scored 2,611 runs in Tests, including two centuries with a highest score of 121. He took 66 catches and completed 16 stumpings.

Debut

Engineer made his Test debut on 1 December 1961 when India played

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at the Modi Stadium in

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

. It was the second Test of the 1961/62 series. Engineer replaced Budhi Kunderan as wicket-keeper in the Indian team, and these two players competed for the role until Kunderan's retirement in 1967.India v England 1961, Second Test
CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 January 2024. The first Test, played three weeks earlier, had been drawn. India, captained by

Nari Contractor Nariman Jamshedji "Nari" Contractor (; born 7 March 1934) is a former Indian cricketer, who was a left-handed opening batsman. Contractor made his debut in 1955 and played till 1962 when his professional career ended after a serious injury. He w ...

, won the toss at Kanpur and batted first. Engineer was ninth man in at 414/7 and joined Polly Umrigar. They added 53 for the eighth wicket until Engineer was stumped by John Murray for 33. Contractor declared as soon as the wicket fell with India on 467/8 and Umrigar 147

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

. Engineer's first dismissal as a Test wicket-keeper was England opener Peter Richardson, whom he caught off

Subhash Gupte Subhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte (Marathi: सुभाष गुप्ते) (; 11 December 1929 – 31 May 2002) was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers, EAS Prasanna and Jim Laker pronounced him the best ...

for 22. Engineer later caught David Allen off Chandu Borde. England were all out for 244 and Contractor enforced the

follow-on In cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team who batted f ...

. With well over a day's play remaining, India hoped to dismiss England again and win the match, but England recovered well to score 497/5 with centuries by Geoff Pullar, Ken Barrington, and their captain Ted Dexter. The match ended in a draw.

Lancashire

In 1968, when English cricket allowed its county clubs to sign overseas players, Engineer joined

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

alongside West Indies batsman

Clive Lloyd Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese- British former cricketer and captain of the West Indies cricket team. Lloyd is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in ...

. He spent nine seasons there, until he retired in 1976.Farokh Engineer
CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 December 2023. Lancashire had not won a major honour since 1950 but, while Engineer and Lloyd played for them, they became a highly successful limited overs team, winning the Gillette Cup four times and the John Player League twice. Engineer was playing for Lancashire in 1970 when he was selected as wicket-keeper for the

Rest of the World Within sports and games played at the international competitive level, the Rest of the World refers to a team of players from many countries of origin that compete against a single individual or a team from a single group, such as a club or coun ...

team, captained by

Garfield Sobers The Right Excellent Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, NH, AO, OCC (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a Barbadian born former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowle ...

, which played five unofficial Tests against England that summer. Engineer also played for the Rest of the World cricket team in Australia in 1971–72. He enjoyed life in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and, having married a local lady, decided to settle there after his retirement from playing. Lancashire granted him a testimonial in 1976, his final season, which raised £26,519. He became a vice-president of the club in later years. On 24 January 2024, at a Naman Awards ceremony, the BCCI announced that the Colonel C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on both Engineer and Ravi Shastri.

In popular culture

The

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

film '' 83'', released in 2021, was about India's first

Cricket World Cup The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is a quadrennial world cup for cricket in One Day International (ODI) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and consid ...

in 1983. It depicts Engineer, resident in England at the time, as one of the TV commentators. The film features

Boman Irani Boman Irani (born 2 December 1959) is an Indian actor and comedian who works primarily in Hindi-language films. One of the most popular character actors in Hindi cinema, he has featured in over 100 films, and is the recipient of a Filmfare Awar ...

as Engineer and is directed and produced by Kabir Khan and

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to films, the Government of France made him a Knight of the Ordre ...

respectively.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Engineer, Farokh 1938 births Living people Indian cricketers 20th-century Indian sportsmen India Test cricketers India One Day International cricketers Mumbai cricketers West Zone cricketers Lancashire cricketers Indian expatriate cricketers in England Indian Universities cricketers Indian Starlets cricketers Indian cricket commentators Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Cricketers from Mumbai Parsi people from Mumbai Parsi sportspeople Wicket-keepers