Nirode Ranjan "Putu" Chowdhury (23 May 1923,

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...

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 ...

– 14 December 1979,

Durgapur Durgapur (), is an industrial hub and a planned urban agglomeration in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is stands on the northern bank of the Damodar river and located in Paschim Bardhaman district. Durgapur is a major centre for producin ...

) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

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 one of the earliest known test cricketers from Bengal. A medium pace bowler, Putu Chowdhury had an outstanding start to his career. Playing for

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

, he took 11, 9 and 10 wickets in his first three matches. In 1944–45, he took a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against Bengal Governor's XI in

Eden Gardens Eden Gardens is an international cricket stadium in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Established in 1864, it is the oldest and second-largest cricket stadium in India and third-largest in the world. The stadium currently has a capacity of 68,000. ...

which included the wickets of

Vinoo Mankad Mulvantrai Himmatlal "Vinoo" Mankad (; 12 April 1917 – 21 August 1978) was a former Captain of Indian cricket team and appeared in 44 Test matches for India between 1946 and 1959. He was best known for his world record setting opening partn ...

Mushtaq Ali Syed Mushtaq Ali (; 17 December 1914 – 18 June 2005) was an Indian cricketer, a right-handed opening batsman who holds the distinction of scoring the first overseas Test century by an Indian player when he scored 112 against England at Old Tr ...

and

Lala Amarnath Lala Amarnath Bhardwaj (11 September 1911 – 5 August 2000) was an Indian cricketer. He is considered to be the father figure of Indian cricket. He scored the first ever century for India in Test Cricket in 1933. He was independent India's fir ...

. He started his career with Bihar, moved in 1944 to

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, where he played most of his cricket, and returned to Bihar in 1955 towards the end of his career. He made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

in 1948/49. He took only one wicket but brilliantly ran out

Everton Weekes Sir Everton DeCourcy Weekes, Order of St Michael and St George, KCMG, Gold Crown of Merit, GCM, Order of the British Empire, OBE (26 February 19251 July 2020) was a cricketer from Barbados. A right-handed batsman, he was known as one of the har ...

who had scored hundreds in his five previous innings, and had reached 90 here. Weekes cut

to gully, started to run and was sent back. Chowdhury sent the throw to wicket keeper

Probir Sen Probir Kumar "Khokhan" Sen (; 31 May 1926 – 27 January 1970) was an Indian cricketer who represented his country in 14 Tests from 1948 to 1952. He was born in an eminent business family, to Amiya Sen and Basanti Sen. Biography Probir Sen, kn ...

who ran Weekes out. In 1951, he spent some time in

Alf Gover Alfred Richard Gover (29 February 1908 – 7 October 2001) was an English Test cricketer. He was the mainstay of the Surrey bowling attack during the 1930s and played four Tests before and after the Second World War. He also founded and ran ...

's cricket school in England. He played a Test against

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 home in 1951–52 without success and toured England in 1952 without playing in a Test. His bowling action was sometimes considered

suspect In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U. ...

, especially while bowling his faster ball. He was allotted a benefit match which could not be played. He was a coach in the

steel plant in the later years. His Test bowling average of 205.00 is the second worst for India, after

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar "Sunny" Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ born 10 July 1949), is a former captain of the Indian national cricket team who represented India national cricket team, India and Mumbai crick ...

's 206.00.ESPNcricinfo profile
/ref>

References

* Obituary in '' Indian Cricket 1980''

External links

ESPNcricinfo Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chowdhury, Nirode 1923 births 1979 deaths Bengal cricketers Bihar cricketers India Test cricketers Indian cricketers East Zone cricketers Sportspeople from Jamshedpur Cricketers from Jharkhand