India's first captain! Colonel Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu

Colonel Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu, who died at Indore on November 14, aged 72, captained India in their first Test match with England. That was at Lord's in 1932 when, despite a painful hand injury received when fielding, Nayudu made top score, 40, in the first innings. With six centuries, the highest of which was 162 from the Warwickshire bowling, he headed the batting averages for all matches with 37.59 and took 79 wickets. He also played in three Tests against England in 1933-34 and three in the tour of 1936, when he again exceeded 1,000 runs and dismissed 51 batsmen in first-class fixtures. As a small boy he played for the Hislop Collegiate High School, Nagpur, whom he captained, and while still at school appeared for Modi, of which club he also became captain. In 1926-27 at Bombay, he gained prominence by hitting 153 (including eleven 6's and thirteen 4's) out of 187 in just over a hundred minutes for Hindus against A. E. R. Gilligan's M.C.C. team. Though never on the winning side in a Test match, he helped Vizianagram to inflict by 14 runs the only defeat of the tour upon D. R. Jardine's powerful M.C.C. side in 1933-34, taking four wickets for 21 runs in the second innings. Tall and well proportioned, Nayudu was specially strong in driving, bowled accurately at slow-medium pace and was a fine fielder. He also shone at hockey and association football.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack

On the eve of the match, however, there was a protest.

The rest of the team didn't want to be captained by Nayudu, the son of a barrister

a man who brought legitimacy to the position having previously played in England.

He would later be recognised by Wisden as one of their cricketers of the year.

At the time though, until a monarch -- Maharaja of Patiala --

ordered the players to fall in line, India's first-ever Test match

was under threat of not happening at all.

CK Nayudu (left) and Lala Amarnath coming out to bat in a Test against England

in Bombay in 1933.