by Abhishek Mukherjee

Vijay Rajindernath was Jan 7, 1928.

There are three things I should tell about him.

First, scorecards record him as N Rajindernath. I am yet to find out why.

Secondly, he played only one Test and stumped four batsman but did not hold a catch. This is still the world record for most Test stumpings without even one catch. Even in First-Class cricket he had 35 catches and 24 stumpings, a most unusual ratio.

The third is an anecdote, as narrated by Sujit Mukherjee, and it is more about Mukherjee than Rajindernath.

The two were teammates at Bihar. They once had a long partnership, during the course of which Rajindernath, the senior of the two (and a disciplinarian) insisted Mukherjee had only bread and soup during the lunch interval.

The Bengali did not like this at all (obviously). He finally got out to a casual stroke, and claimed that the hunger had got to him. With a vengeance, he finished all the biscuits he could find during the tea interval.