Born on 11 September 1911, Lala Amarnath was a legendary Indian cricketer. He was India's first cricket captain after independence who captained the national squad in the first Test series victory against Pakistan in 1952. Amarnath was also the first batsman ever to score a ton for India in Test cricket.

He was always appreciated for being straight forward as well as an aggressive captain who possessed great team handling skills. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan award in 1991.

Some of his major career achievements:

• Played only 3 test matches before World War 2 and during the war, India played no official Test matches. However, he scored around 10,000 runs with 30 centuries in the first-class cricket during this time.
• He played another 21 Test Matches for India after the war.
• He is one of the prominent all-rounders for India who also served as the chairman of the Senior Selection Committee in BCCI.
• His sons Surinder & Mohinder Amarnath also became the great test players for India. Mohinder was also a part of the winning team of the historic 1983 World Cup.