From Arjun Tendulkar to Samit Dravid: The Famous Father-son Duos of Indian Cricket

They say cricket is a religion in India, but it is much more than that for the one billion people who live it day in and day out. Only a handful get a chance to represent the country on the biggest stage and there are even few who pass on the legacy to their sons.

There are few talented star kids who are following in the steps of their illustrious fathers and are showing immense potential for the future.

Sachin Tendulkar and Arjun Tendulkar

Son of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar – he has been creating wave after wave for some time now in the domestic circuit. Unlike his father, Arjun is a left-arm fast bowler and he looks up to the likes of Mitchell Starc and Ben Stokes.

Arjun had recently impressed one and all with his bowling in the Cooch Behar Trophy. Now the 18-year-old has grabbed the eyeballs due to his all-round performance in the ongoing Spirit of Cricket Global Challenge, organised by the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Playing for the Cricket Club of India (CCI) in a T20 match, Arjun hit 48 runs off just 27 balls and then picked up four wickets in as many overs.

Samit Dravid and Aryan Joshi

Rahul Dravid’s elder son Samit attracted attention recently by scoring a century in the Karnataka State Cricket Association’s (KSCA) BTR Cup Under-14 Inter-School tournament. Samit scored 150 for Mallya Aditi International School who beat Vivekananda School by a whopping 412 runs.

Another match-winning knock was played by son of former India spinner Sunil Joshi. Aryan smashed 154 and with Samit took their team to 500 for five in 50 overs. The opposition was bundled out for a paltry 88. Samit had earlier grabbed eyeballs when he struck a 125 in U-14 school cricket two years ago. He hit 14 boundaries in his innings.

In the past as well, there have been many father-son duos who donned the colours of India and did the nation proud and the aforementioned kids could very well go onto join these big names in the list.

Lala Amarnath and Mohinder Amarnath

The most illustrious father-son duo to have ever played for India are Lala Amarnath and Mohinder Amarnath. Lala holds the distinction of being the first Indian skipper post-independence, while as for Mohinder, he was part of the team that lifted the historic 1983 World Cup title at Lord’s.

Although, Lala played just 24 Tests in his career, his left a lasting impression on Indian cricket by also playing the roles of selector, coach and manager. Meanwhile, his son Mohinder featured in 69 Tests in which he scored 4378 runs, including 11 centuries as well.

Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi

Nawab of Pataudi Senior is the only player ever who has represented both India and England in the longest format of the game. Iftikhar slammed a ton on his Ashes debut at SCG and also played three matches for India after donning the English colours in three matches.

MAK Pataudi or Tiger Pataudi, as he was popularly known as because of his fearless leadership, led India in 40 Tests after being named the skipper at the young age of 21. Under his stewardship, India won their first overseas Test against New Zealand in 1967.

Vijay Manjrekar and Sanjay Manjrekar

Manjrekar Senior was regarded as one of the best players of fast bowling, when India didn’t have too many of them. After making his debut in 1952, Vijay featured in 55 Tests for the country in which he scored 3208 runs, which also included 7 tons and 15 fifties.

Although Sanjay Manjrekar never fulfilled the early promise that he showed with the bat, he carved out a more than decent career for himself. Sanjay played 37 Tests and 74 ODIs for India, in which he scored 2043 and 1994 runs respectively.

Sunil Gavaskar and Rohan Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar was regarded as one of the finest batsman in the world, let alone India. The Little Master broke record after record and set multiple new ones during his stay in the Indian Team. He became the first cricketer ever to breach the 10,000 run mark and 30 tons.

Following in the footsteps of his legendary father was always going to be difficult for Rohan Gavaskar but credit to him that he didn’t get bogged down and realised his dream of playing for India. Even though the left-handed batsman could not achieve the heights like his father, he played 11 ODIs and managed to score just one fifty.

Yograj Singh and Yuvraj Singh

This father-son duo is a bit different as in this case the son went onto have a hugely successful life as compared to his father. While Yograj featured in merely one Test and six ODIs for India, Yuvraj went onto become one of the most explosive batsman that the world have ever seen.

Yuvraj played a massive role in India’s WT20 win in South Africa in 2007 and also the World Cup win in 2011. Apart from these two win, Yuvraj also etched his name in history books by slamming six sixes in an over to Stuart Broad.

Roger Binny and Stuart Binny

Roger Binny was one of the most versatile all-rounders that Indian have ever seen. The highlight of Roger’s career was India’s title winning campaign at the 1983 World Cup, where he finished as the top wicket-taker (18).

Like his father, Stuart was a medium pacer and a middle-order batsman. Although, he featured in just six Tests and fourteen ODIs, he is best remembered for his stunning figures of 6/4 against Bangladesh in 2014.

Source: News18