Vijaysingh Madhavji Merchant is the real name for Vijay Madhavji Thakersey. He was an Indian cricketer born on 12th October 1911, and batted right handed and occasionally bowled right arm medium pace. Merchant played first class cricket for Mumbai Cricket Team and also 10 test matches for India between 1929 and 1951. Though his Test appearances were limited to only 10 matches, but his dominance in domestic circuit was quite appreciated by all and sundry. He had a batting average of 71.64 in the domestic circuits; it is second highest average by any batsman, just behind Don Bradman. He is often fondly regarded as the originator of the Bombay School of Batsmanship that placed more magnitude on right kind of technique, steely temperament, and conservative approach rather than free flow style of batting, a tradition broken, restructured and remoulded only after the arrival of a certain Sachin Tendulkar.

His international cricket career included two tours of England upon which he scored over 4,000 runs. Apart from cricket, he was also closely associated with the Hindoostan Spinning & Weaving Mills (Thakersey Group)

Cricketing Career of Vijay Merchant
Domestic Cricket
Vijay was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra to a rich family in 1911. He played some scintillating cricket for his college, Sydenham College, Mumbai. He made some great contributions and played immense role in all the tournaments for his college. He also continued to play for Sydenham and in 1931 he set the record in Bombay inter-collegiate cricket by scoring 504 runs and taking 29 wickets.

His success in the domestic tournaments helped him to secure a place in the Indian Team. Through his entire career, Merchant was involved in a rivalry with the other great Indian batsman of the era, Vijay Hazare.

International Career
The Test career of Vijay Merchant spanned for over 18 years, but he could play in only 10 Tests for India. Some of the best playing years were lost due to the Second World War, when no international cricket was played. He missed the West Indies and Australian tour due to poor health. However, Vijay Merchant went on to score 154 (his highest test score) in his last Test match against England in Delhi. His retirement was kind of forced due to an injury which he suffered. All ten matches of Merchant`s Test career were against England.

He, after retirement, went on to become a cricket administrator, broadcaster, writer and national selector, and charitable advocate of the handicapped.

Batting and Fielding Averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	6s	Ct	St
Tests	10	18	0	859	154	47.72	3	3	0	7	0
First-class	150	234	46	13470	359*	71.64	45	52		115	0

Bowling Averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	10	2	54	40	0	-	-	-	4.44	-	0	0	0
First-class	150		5087	2088	65	5/73		32.12	2.46	78.2		1	0

Legacy of Vijay Merchant
Though Merchant featured in only 10 Test matches for India, but he is considered as one of the greatest batsman of his era. His record is especially impressive as his runs came at a time of uncovered wickets. Merchant was one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1937. Vijay Merchant is also the oldest Indian player to score a test century (154 at an age of 40 years 21 days from India vs. England match in 1951-52).