| Surjuram Girdhari | |
| Country: | India |
| Fullname: | Surjuram Kahojia Girdhari |
| Birth Date: | 14 April 1920 |
| Birth Place: | Karachi, British India |
| Death Place: | Kendal, Cumbria, England |
| Batting: | Right-handed |
| Bowling: | Right-arm off-spin |
| Club1: | Sind |
| Year1: | 1940-41 to 1943-44 |
| Club2: | Western India |
| Year2: | 1944-45 to 1945-46 |
| Club3: | Kathiawar |
| Year3: | 1946-47 to 1947-48 |
| Club4: | Bengal |
| Year4: | 1948-49 to 1952-53, 1959-60 |
| Club5: | East Zone |
| Year5: | 1948-49 to 1958-59 |
| Club6: | Assam |
| Year6: | 1954-55 to 1957-58 |
| Columns: | 1 |
| Column1: | First-class |
| Matches1: | 48 |
| Runs1: | 2436 |
| Bat Avg1: | 36.90 |
| 100S/50S1: | 4/9 |
| Top Score1: | 229 not out |
| Deliveries1: | 9239 |
| Wickets1: | 196 |
| Bowl Avg1: | 20.39 |
| Fivefor1: | 14 |
| Tenfor1: | 2 |
| Best Bowling1: | 8/55 |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 41/– |
| Source: | https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/38/38976/38976.html Cricket Archive |
| Date: | 12 January |
| Year: | 2015 |
Surjuram Kahojia Girdhari (14 April 1920 – 15 April 2006) played first-class cricket in India from 1940 to 1960, and then played club cricket in England.
S.K. Girdhari made his first-class debut in 1940-41 for Sind, 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 against Gujarat he scored 44 and 149 and took 1 for 19 and 5 for 23.[1] A few weeks later, in a 12-a-side first-class match, he took 8 for 60.[2] 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 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.[3] In his next match he took 2 for 63 and 6 for 63 in a two-wicket victory over Baroda.[4]
The next season, Girdhari moved across the country to Bengal. In 1948-49 he took 5 for 31 and 1 for 42 when East Zone inflicted the only defeat on the touring West Indians.[5] In the Ranji Trophy 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 to win the match, and Holkar held on for a draw and the trophy, he had figures of 36–27–17–3.[6]
In 1954-55 Girdhari moved even further east to play for Assam. Against Bihar in his first match, when 40 wickets fell for 330 runs on a "treacherous pitch"[7] at Jorhat, 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.[8] 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.[9] Against Orissa in 1957-58 he scored a career-best 229 not out, which remained the individual record score for Assam until 1991-92.[10]
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.[11]
Girdhari played a season as a professional with Accrington in the Lancashire League in 1958, scoring 314 runs at 22.42 and taking 38 wickets at 14.76.[12] Girdhari is "best remembered as an immaculately dressed and polite presence at Netherfield, where he played when they joined the Northern League in 1959".[13] His all-round performance of 112 not out and 9 for 51 for Netherfield against Kendal in 1961 remains a club record.[14] He settled in England permanently.[13]