Farokh Engineer

Indian cricketer (born 1938)

Farokh Engineer

Personal information

Full name|

Farokh Maneksha Engineer

Born|  (1938-02-25) 25 February 1938 (age 86)
Bombay, Bombay Province, British India
Batting| Right-handed
Role| Wicket-keeper-batsman
International information
National side|

* India (1961–1975)

Test debut (cap 102)| 1 December 1961 v England
Last Test| 23 January 1975 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 3)| 13 July 1974 v England
Last ODI| 14 June 1975 v New Zealand
Domestic team information
Years| Team
1959/60–1974/75| Bombay
1961/62–1974/75| West Zone
1968–1976| Lancashire
Career statistics
| Competition | Test | ODI | FC | LA

|
|
|
|

Matches | 46 | 5 | 335 | 160
Runs scored | 2,611 | 114 | 13,436 | 3,008
Batting average | 31.08 | 38.00 | 29.52 | 23.31
100s/50s | 2/16 | 0/1 | 13/69 | 0/12
Top score | 121 | 54* | 192 | 93
Catches/stumpings | 66/16 | 3/1 | 704/120 | 159/31

Source: CricketArchive (subscription required), 15 December 2023

Signature

Farokh Maneksha Engineer pronunciationⓘ (born 25 February 1938) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a wicket-keeper-batsman, usually an opening batsman, who represented India in 46 Test matches from 1961 to 1975. In first-class cricket, he played for Bombay from 1959/60 to 1974/75, for West Zone from 1961/62 to 1974/75, and for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1968 to 1976. He was the first-choice wicket-keeper for the Rest of the World team which toured England in 1970 and Australia in 1971–72.

Engineer is the last male member of the Parsi community to have played for India,[1] although Arzan Nagwaswalla was selected for the international squad in 2021.[2]

## Early life

[edit]

### Education and beginning of cricket career

[edit]

Engineer was born 25 February 1938 into a Parsi family in Bombay.[3][4] His father Manecksha was a doctor by profession, and his mother, Minnie was a housewife. Engineer studied at the Don Bosco High School in Matunga and later at Podar College, also in Matunga.[5] Engineer became a student at the University of Bombay and, in 1958/59, played cricket for both their team and the Indian Universities team. He joined Bombay in 1959, though he continued to play for the Universities until 1961/62.[6]

During his childhood, Engineer's first ambition was to be a pilot.[1] However, he developed a love for sports from his father who played tennis and was himself a club cricketer. Farokh's older brother, Darius, was also a good club cricketer. He once took Farokh to the East Stand of the Brabourne Stadium, where they saw Denis Compton fielding. Farokh called to Compton who gave him a piece of chewing gum which he saved as his prized possession for many years.[7] His father enrolled him in Dadar Parsi Colony Sporting Club where he learned the nuances of the game from the seniors and later became a regular member of the team.[3]

## Test career

[edit]

NOTE: All content in this section was moved to workspace because of sourcing and POV issues. A rewrite is in progress.

Engineer played in 46 Test matches for India from 1961/62 to 1974/75. He also played in five ODIs, all in 1974/75. He scored 2,611 runs in Tests, including two centuries with a highest score of 121. He took 66 catches and completed 16 stumpings.[8]

### Debut

[edit]

Engineer made his Test debut on 1 December 1961 when India played England at the Modi Stadium in Kanpur. It was the second Test of the 1961/62 series. Engineer replaced Budhi Kunderan as wicket-keeper in the Indian team, and these two players competed for the role until Kunderan's retirement in 1967.[9] The first Test, played three weeks earlier, had been drawn.[10] India, captained by Nari Contractor, won the toss at Kanpur and batted first. Engineer was ninth man in at 414/7 and joined Polly Umrigar. They added 53 for the eighth wicket until Engineer was stumped by John Murray for 33. Contractor declared as soon as the wicket fell with India on 467/8 and Umrigar 147 not out. Engineer's first dismissal as a Test wicket-keeper was England opener Peter Richardson, whom he caught off Subhash Gupte for 22. Engineer later caught David Allen off Chandu Borde. England were all out for 244 and Contractor enforced the follow-on. With well over a day's play remaining, India hoped to dismiss England again and win the match, but England recovered well to score 497/5 with centuries by Geoff Pullar, Ken Barrington, and their captain Ted Dexter. The match ended in a draw.[9]

## Lancashire

[edit]

> "He finds both cricket and life fun; he laughs easily and his jokes are often very funny but he can be grave. His appeals are as loud as anyone's yet off the field he is quietly spoken. As a batsman or wicketkeeper he is aggressive, yet he is a man of consideration and courtesy. There has always been a quality of generosity about his cricket and his way of life".

Farokh – The Cricketing Cavalier by John Arlott[11]

In 1968, when English cricket allowed its county clubs to sign overseas players, Engineer joined Lancashire alongside West Indies batsman Clive Lloyd. He spent nine seasons there, until he retired in 1976.[12] Lancashire had not won a major honour since 1950 but, while Engineer and Lloyd played for them, they became a highly successful limited overs team, winning the Gillette Cup four times and the John Player League twice.[3]

Engineer was playing for Lancashire in 1970 when he was selected as wicket-keeper for the Rest of the World team, captained by Garfield Sobers, which played five unofficial Tests against England that summer. Engineer also played for the Rest of the World cricket team in Australia in 1971–72.[3] He enjoyed life in Manchester and, having married a local lady, decided to settle there after his retirement from playing.[3] Lancashire granted him a testimonial in 1976, his final season, which raised £26,519.[12]

He became a vice-president of the club in later years.[3][13][14] On 24 January 2024, at a Naman Awards ceremony, the BCCI announced that the Colonel C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed on both Engineer and Ravi Shastri.[15][16]

## In popular culture

[edit]

The Bollywood film 83, released in 2021, was about India's first Cricket World Cup in 1983. It depicts Engineer, resident in England at the time, as one of the TV commentators. The film features Boman Irani as Engineer and is directed and produced by Kabir Khan and Anurag Kashyap respectively.[17][18]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Chaudhry, Ijaz (26 July 2012). "I was born to be a one-day player". Cricket Monthly.
2. ^ "In pictures. Parsi cricketers who have played for India". The Hindu. 9 May 2021.
3. ^ a b c d e f "18 facts about Farokh Engineer". Zoroastrians.net. 29 February 2016.
4. ^ Shiamak Unwalla (30 July 2015). "12 Parsis who played Test cricket for India". Cricket Country.
5. ^ "Notable Alumni. Don Bosco High School". Don Bosco High School, Matunga. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
6. ^ Teams Farokh Engineer has played for. CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 December 2023. (subscription required)
7. ^ Surti, Binaisha (6 June 2016). "A Few Good Men... Farokh Engineer". Parsi Times.
8. ^ Farokh Engineer. CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 December 2023. (subscription required)
9. ^ a b India v England 1961, Second Test. CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 January 2024. (subscription required)
10. ^ India v England 1961, First Test. CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 January 2024. (subscription required)
11. ^ "Farokh – The Cricketing Cavalier". MaxBooks. 27 August 2021.
12. ^ a b Farokh Engineer. CricketArchive. Retrieved 15 December 2023. (subscription required)
13. ^ "Dhoni reminds me of myself". Rediff on the Net. 10 May 2006.
14. ^ "A glimpse of Farokh Engineer's journey from England to India". Circle Of Cricket. 7 June 2017.
15. ^ Lifetime Achievement Awards. BCCI. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
16. ^ Bhattacharyya, Gautam (23 January 2024). ""Better late than never": Farokh Engineer on BCCI Lifetime Achievement award". National Herald. Retrieved 1 February 2025.
17. ^ "Boman Irani joins Ranveer Singh's '83' clan as Farokh Engineer1". Free Press Journal. 27 August 2019.
18. ^ "Boman Irani to play Farokh Engineer in '83'". Business Standard India. 27 August 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* Farokh Engineer at ESPNcricinfo

* v
* t
* e

Recipients of Padma Shri in Sports

1950s|

* Balbir Singh Sr. (1957)
* K. D. Singh (1958)
* Mihir Sen (1959)
* Milkha Singh (1959)

1960s|

* Vijay Hazare (1960)
* Jasu Patel (1960)
* Arati Saha (1960)
* Nari Contractor (1962)
* Sonam Gyatso (1962)
* Ramanathan Krishnan (1962)
* Gostha Pal (1962)
* Polly Umrigar (1962)
* Syed Mushtaq Ali (1963)
* M. J. Gopalan (1964)
* Nawang Gombu (1964)
* Charanjit Singh (1964)
* H. P. S. Ahluwalia (1965)
* Avtar Singh Cheema (1965)
* D. B. Deodhar (1965)
* Phu Dorjee (1965)
* Wilson Jones (1965)
* Verghese Kurien (1965)
* Harish Chandra Singh Rawat (1965)
* Chandra Prakash Vohra (1965)
* Sonam Wangyal (1965)
* Kishan Lal (1966)
* Narendra Kumar (1965)
* Shankar Lakshman (1967)
* Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (1967)
* Gurdial Singh (1967)
* Prithipal Singh (1967)
* Chandu Borde (1969)

1970s|

* Bishan Singh Bedi (1970)
* Moin-ul-Haq (1970)
* E. A. S. Prasanna (1970)
* Leslie Claudius (1971)
* Sailen Manna (1971)
* Ghaus Mohammad (1971)
* Chandgi Ram (1971)
* Kamaljeet Sandhu (1971)
* Gundappa Viswanath (1971)
* Harsh Vardhan Bahuguna (1972)
* B. S. Chandrasekhar (1972)
* Ajit Wadekar (1972)
* Farokh Engineer (1973)
* Pankaj Roy (1975)
* Roshan Lal Anand (1976)
* Meena Shah (1977)

1980s|

* Vasudevan Baskaran (1981)
* Syed Kirmani (1982)
* Kapil Dev (1982)
* Prakash Padukone (1982)
* Vijay Amritraj (1983)
* Bahadur Singh Chauhan (1983)
* Guru Hanuman (1983)
* Eliza Nelson (1983)
* Chand Ram (1983)
* Kaur Singh (1983)
* Raghubir Singh (1983)
* Satpal Singh (1983)
* M. D. Valsamma (1983)
* Geeta Zutshi (1983)
* Charles Borromeo (1984)
* Phu Dorjee (1984)
* Chuni Goswami (1984)
* D. K. Khullar (1984)
* Bachendri Pal (1984)
* Omprakesh Agrawal (1985)
* P. T. Usha (1985)
* Anupama Gokhale (1986)
* Swaroop Kishen (1986)
* Geet Sethi (1986)
* Mohammad Shahid (1986)
* Bhagyashree Thipsay (1987)
* Dilip Vengsarkar (1987)
* Viswanathan Anand (1988)
* Mohammad Azharuddin (1988)

1990s|

* Chandraprabha Aitwal (1990)
* P. K. Banerjee (1990)
* Premchand Degra (1990)
* Gulshan Rai (1990)
* Jaman Lal Sharma (1990)
* Taranath Narayan Shenoy (1990)
* Selma D'Silva (1991)
* Aspy Adajania (1992)
* Ajit Pal Singh (1992)
* Sriram Singh (1992)
* Hakam Singh (1992)
* Shiny Abraham (1998)
* Ramesh Krishnan (1998)
* Lila Ram (1998)
* Pargat Singh (1998)
* Karnam Malleswari (1999)
* Sachin Tendulkar (1999)

2000s|

* Santosh Yadav (2000)
* Mahesh Bhupathi (2001)
* Malathi Krishnamurthy Holla (2001)
* Bhuvneshwari Kumari (2001)
* Leander Paes (2001)
* Dhanraj Pillay (2001)
* Sunita Rani (2001)
* Diana Edulji (2002)
* Jaspal Rana (2002)
* Mukesh Kumar (2003)
* Gopal Purushottam Phadke (2003)
* Kanhaya Lal Pokhriyal (2003)
* Jyotirmoyee Sikdar (2003)
* Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (2003)
* K. M. Beenamol (2004)
* Gurmayum Anita Devi (2004)
* Rahul Dravid (2004)
* Sourav Ganguly (2004)
* Anju Bobby George (2004)
* S. P. Nimbalkar (2004)
* Dilip Tirkey (2004)
* Pullela Gopichand (2005)
* Anil Kumble (2005)
* Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (2005)
* Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (2005)
* Rachel Thomas (2005)
* Madhumita Bisht (2006)
* Mohan Singh Gunjyal (2006)
* Mary Kom (2006)
* Sania Mirza (2006)
* Bahadur Singh Sagoo (2006)
* Koneru Humpy (2007)
* Jeev Milkha Singh (2007)
* Bhaichung Bhutia (2008)
* Bula Choudhury (2008)
* Pankaj Advani (2009)
* MS Dhoni (2009)
* Balbir Singh Kullar (2009)
* Harbhajan Singh (2009)

2010s|

* Ramakant Achrekar (2010)
* Narain Karthikeyan (2010)
* Saina Nehwal (2010)
* Virender Sehwag (2010)
* Vijender Singh (2010)
* Ignace Tirkey (2010)
* Kunjarani Devi (2011)
* Sushil Kumar (2011)
* VVS Laxman (2011)
* Shital Mahajan (2011)
* Gagan Narang (2011)
* Krishna Poonia (2011)
* Harbhajan Singh (mountaineer) (2011)
* S. M. Arif (2012)
* Ravi Chaturvedi (2012)
* Jhulan Goswami (2012)
* Zafar Iqbal (field hockey) (2012)
* Devendra Jhajharia (2012)
* Limba Ram (2012)
* Prabhakar Vaidya (2012)
* Premlata Agrawal (2013)
* Yogeshwar Dutt (2013)
* Vijay Kumar (2013)
* Girisha Nagarajegowda (2013)
* Dingko Singh (2013)
* Bajrang Lal Takhar (2013)
* Anjum Chopra (2014)
* Sunil Dabas (2014)
* Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu (2014)
* Dipika Pallikal (2014)
* H. Boniface Prabhu (2014)
* Yuvraj Singh (2014)
* Mamta Sodha (2014)
* Saba Anjum Karim (2015)
* Mithali Raj (2015)
* P. V. Sindhu (2015)
* Sardara Singh (2015)
* Arunima Sinha (2015)
* Sushil Doshi (2016)
* Deepika Kumari (2016)
* Vikas Gowda (2017)
* Dipa Karmakar (2017)
* Virat Kohli (2017)
* Deepa Malik (2017)
* Sakshi Malik (2017)
* Shekhar Naik (2017)
* P. R. Sreejesh (2017)
* Mariyappan Thangavelu (2017)
* Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (2018)
* Somdev Devvarman (2018)
* Murlikant Petkar (2018)
* Srikanth Kidambi (2018)
* Sunil Chhetri (2019)
* Harika Dronavalli (2019)
* Gautam Gambhir (2019)
* Sharath Kamal (2019)
* Bombayla Devi Laishram (2019)
* Bajrang Punia (2019)
* Prashanti Singh (2019)
* Ajay Thakur (2019)

2020s|

* Oinam Bembem Devi (2020)
* M. P. Ganesh (2020)
* Zaheer Khan (2020)
* Jitu Rai (2020)
* Tarundeep Rai (2020)
* Rani Rampal (2020)
* Anitha Pauldurai (2021)
* Anshu Jamsenpa (2021)
* Mouma Das (2021)
* Sudha Singh (2021)
* Virender Singh (2021)
* K. Y. Venkatesh (2021)
* Sumit Antil (2022)
* Pramod Bhagat (2022)
* Neeraj Chopra (2022)
* Sankaranarayana Menon (2022)
* Faisal Ali Dar (2022)
* Vandana Katariya (2022)
* Avani Lekhara (2022)
* Brahmanand Sankhwalkar (2022)
* S. R. D. Prasad (2023)
* K. Shanathoiba Sharma (2023)
* Gurcharan Singh (2023)
* Joshna Chinappa (2024)
* Rohan Bopanna (2024)
* Purnima Mahato (2024)
* Harbinder Singh (2024)
* Satendra Singh Lohiya (2024)
* Gaurav Khanna (2024)
* Uday Vishwanath Deshpande (2024)
* Harvinder Singh (2025)
* I. M. Vijayan (2025)
* Ravichandran Ashwin (2025)
* Satyapal Singh (2025)

* v
* t
* e

India squad – 1975 Cricket World Cup

* 1 Venkataraghavan (c)
* 2 Solkar
* 3 Gaekwad
* 4 Ghavri
* 5 Patel
* 6 Viswanath
* 7 Gavaskar
* 8 Engineer (wk)
* 9 Abid Ali
* 10 Amarnath
* 11 Madan Lal
* 12 Bedi
* Coach: Ramchand

* v
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* e

World XI ODI cricketers – Rest of the World XI in Australia 1971/72

* 1 Sobers (c)
* 2 Ackerman
* 3 Asif Masood
* 4 Bedi
* 5 Cunis
* 6 Engineer (wk)
* 7 Gavaskar
* 8 Gifford
* 9 Greig
* 10 Hutton
* 11 Intikhab Alam
* 12 Kanhai
* 13 Lloyd
* 14 PM Pollock
* 15 RG Pollock
* 16 Taylor (wk)
* 17 Zaheer Abbas

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
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National|

* United States

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