Surjuram Kahojia Girdhari (14 April 1920 – 15 April 2006) played

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 ...

in India from 1940 to 1960, and then played club cricket in England.

Career in western India

S.K. Girdhari made his first-class debut in 1940-41 for

Sind Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind or Scinde) is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest provin ...

, playing principally as an off-spinner. In his second match, in 1941-42, batting at number 10, he made 93; thereafter he usually batted higher up the order. In 1944-45 for

Western India Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of western states of India, Republic of India. The Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative divisions of India, Adminis ...

against

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

he scored 44 and 149 and took 1 for 19 and 5 for 23. A few weeks later, in a 12-a-side first-class match, he took 8 for 60. He played for a Rest of India team against the India to England Touring Team in 1946-47. After Partition, Girdhari played a season for

Kathiawar Kathiawar (), also known as Saurashtra, is a peninsula in the south-western Gujarat state in India, bordering the Arabian Sea and covering about . It is bounded by the Kutch district in the north, the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest, and by the ...

in 1947-48. He took 3 for 29 and 8 for 55 and made 40 not out and 14 not out in a low-scoring victory over Gujarat. In his next match he took 2 for 63 and 6 for 63 in a two-wicket victory over

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

Career in eastern India

The next season, Girdhari moved across the country 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 ...

. In 1948-49 he took 5 for 31 and 1 for 42 when East Zone inflicted the only defeat on the touring West Indians. 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 ...

final in 1952-53 he made 45 and 58 not out, and took 2 for 102 and, in the second innings, as Bengal vainly strove to dismiss

Holkar The Holkars (pronunciation: �o(ː)ɭkəɾ were the ruling house of the Indore State of the Maratha Confederacy, and earlier held the rank of Subahdar under Peshwa Baji Rao I of the Maratha Empire. When the Maratha Confederacy began to we ...

to win the match, and Holkar held on for a draw and the trophy, he had figures of 36–27–17–3. In 1954-55 Girdhari moved even further east to play for

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. Against

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 his first match, when 40 wickets fell for 330 runs on a "treacherous pitch" at

Jorhat Jorhat ( /) is a major city in Upper Assam division, Upper Assam and among the fastest growing urban centres in the state of Assam in India. Etymology Jorhat ("jor" means twin and "hat" means market) means two hats or mandis - "Masorhaat" and ...

, he top-scored in each innings with 14 and 46, and took 6 for 20 and 6 for 46, but Bihar still won by 46 runs. In an innings defeat to Bengal in 1956-57 he took 7 for 157 and again top-scored in each innings with 14 and 100. Against

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

in 1957-58 he scored a career-best 229 not out, which remained the individual record score for Assam until 1991-92. Girdhari returned to Bengal for a final season in 1959-60, scoring 129 not out and taking 6 for 37 and 1 for 24 in an innings victory over Orissa.

Career in England

Girdhari played a season as a professional with

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

in the Lancashire League in 1958, scoring 314 runs at 22.42 and taking 38 wickets at 14.76. Girdhari is "best remembered as an immaculately dressed and polite presence at Netherfield, where he played when they joined the Northern League in 1959".''Wisden'' 2007, p. 1550. His all-round performance of 112 not out and 9 for 51 for Netherfield against Kendal in 1961 remains a club record. He settled in England permanently.

References

External links

S.K. Girdhari at CricketArchive
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Girdhari, S.K. 1920 births 2006 deaths Indian cricketers 20th-century Indian sportsmen Cricketers from Karachi Sindh cricketers Saurashtra cricketers Bengal cricketers Assam cricketers East Zone cricketers Indian Sindhi people Indian expatriates in the United Kingdom