Premangsu Chatterjee Explained

Premangsu Chatterjee
Country:India
Fullname:Premangsu Mohan Chatterjee
Birth Date:10 August 1927
Birth Place:Cuttack, Bihar and Orissa Province, British India
Death Place:Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Batting:Left-handed
Bowling:Left-arm medium-pace
Club1:Bengal
Year1:1946-47 to 1959-60
Columns:1
Column1:First-class
Matches1:32
Runs1:727
Bat Avg1:18.64
100S/50S1:0/1
Top Score1:66
Deliveries1:6509
Wickets1:134
Bowl Avg1:17.75
Fivefor1:11
Tenfor1:2
Best Bowling1:10/20
Catches/Stumpings1:20/0
Source:http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/27893.html Cricinfo
Date:26 March
Year:2014

Premangsu Mohan Chatterjee (10 August 1927 – 12 July 2011) was an Indian first-class cricketer who represented Bengal as a left-arm medium bowler between 1946/47 and 1959/60, taking 134 first class wickets at 17.75. He was born at Cuttack, Orissa and died at Kolkata, West Bengal.[1]

In a Ranji Trophy match in Jorhat in January 1957, Chatterjee took all 10 wickets in Assam's first innings,[2] finishing with figures of 10 for 20.[3] This remains the best innings return ever achieved in first-class cricket outside the United Kingdom and the third best of all time.[4] The previous season he had taken 7 for 50 and 8 for 59 against Madhya Pradesh in a semi-final of the Ranji Trophy.[5]

Sujit Mukherjee described batting against him in a minor match in Calcutta:

The ball was by no means new when I went in, but I found it curving and dipping as if with a life of its own. Premangshu [''sic''] bowled round the wicket and barely at medium pace, but was apparently able to swing the ball all day on any ground in Calcutta ... three times I looked for the ball everywhere, and three times my bat was nowhere near the ball as it swung in, pitched and whisked away ... The fourth ball was of fuller length, way outside the off-stump, and I put my left leg right across and prepared to push it firmly away into the covers. I am sure I went through all the motions correctly, but again missed the ball – which, this time, did not miss my leg-stump.[6]

Chatterjee was later a cricket commentator in Bengali during Tests and major Ranji Trophy matches at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Former Bengal medium-pacer dies. 12 July 2011. ESPNcricinfo. 12 July 2011.
  2. Web site: Which Indian batsman made hundreds in five successive Tests this century? . ESPN Cricinfo . 19 November 2020.
  3. Web site: Assam v Bengal in 1956/57 . 2007-05-14 . CricketArchive..
  4. Web site: Best Figures in an Innings in First-Class Cricket . 28 September 2022. Cricinfo.
  5. Web site: Ranji Trophy, 1955/56, 1st Semi Final . Cricinfo . 28 September 2022.
  6. Sujit Mukherjee, Autobiography of an Unknown Cricketer, Ravi Dayal, Delhi, 1996, p. 84.
  7. Web site: Dhole . Pradip . Kamal Bhattacharya: Bengal's Ranji Trophy hero, iconic commentator . Cricket Country . 25 February 2021.