When we speak of Indian cricket’s great leaders, we usually start from Kapil Dev’s 1983, or Dhoni’s calm captaincy, or Kohli’s fire. But before all that, before India even had a flag of its own, there was one man who carried a nation’s spirit on his shoulders. Cottari Kankaiya Nayudu.
The first spark
Cricket in early 1900s India wasn’t really “Indian.” It was a borrowed game played under borrowed skies, with suits, cigars, and a sense of belonging that only the British enjoyed. Then came a tall, broad-shouldered man from Nagpur named Cottari Kankaiya Nayudu, or simply CK.
Born on October 31, 1895, he grew up when playing cricket as an Indian felt like a small act of defiance. His batting was loud and bold, full of swagger, nothing like the polite rhythm the English admired. Every six he struck carried a message: India was learning to stand tall.
Madras to Bombay: Rise of the big hitter
By the 1920s, CK had become an event in himself. His sixes didn’t just fetch runs; they fetched pride. In one famous game against the Europeans in Madras, he smashed 120 runs, including a hit that flew beyond the stadium wall and landed near a coconut tree nearly 150 yards away.
The crowd paused for a heartbeat and then exploded in cheers. In that moment, cricket became something more than a borrowed sport. It became India’s own sound of rebellion.
The MCC Tour: When world takes notice
In 1926, the Marylebone Cricket Club, the most powerful cricket institution in the world, came to India. CK, now in full bloom, met them with purpose. Against them in Bombay, he blasted 153 runs with 13 fours and 11 sixes. One of his shots went over the pavilion roof, another across Esplanade Road.
The next day, newspapers carried a cartoon showing terrified spectators hiding on a rooftop saying, “Don’t hit us, CK, we are not playing!”
That innings didn’t just win applause. It won recognition. For the first time, the cricketing world looked east and noticed India.
1932: India’s First Test
By 1932, the long struggle for recognition finally paid off. India was to play its first Test at Lord’s, and leading them was CK Nayudu.
He was 36, nursing a hand injury, but his pride stood firm. When England batted, Indian bowlers Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh destroyed the top order, stunning the crowd. But the real moment came when India batted. The lineup crumbled under pressure, but CK stood tall and top-scored with 40. Small number, big message. India belonged on this field.
Yet, the real story of that tour goes beyond that match. CK’s form was stunning throughout. He scored 1,618 runs at 40.45, with five centuries and 65 wickets at 25.53. Three knocks stood out: 101 against Middlesex, 162 against Warwickshire, and an unbeaten 130 against Somerset. All this while adjusting to England’s cold, swinging conditions.
From Warwickshire to Worcestershire: The Six That Crossed a River
One of those centuries has become cricketing folklore. Against Warwickshire at Birmingham, India was reeling at 91 for 7. CK walked in and turned the match around. With Nariman Marshall, he added 217 runs in just 140 minutes.
He scored 162 in three hours, with 13 fours and six sixes. And one of those sixes didn’t just clear the ground; it crossed the River Rea, landing in the next county. He had literally hit a ball from Warwickshire to Worcestershire. The story still sounds like myth, but records say it happened.
Leader who didn’t bow
Nayudu’s background in the army gave him a sense of order and discipline that shaped how he led. He expected the same from others, and not everyone liked that.
The worst came in 1936, during the England tour led by Maharajkumar of Vizianagram, or Vizzy. Vizzy’s money, not his skill, had earned him the captaincy. He was insecure and petty, and CK’s honesty was a threat to him.
Vizzy did everything to sideline Nayudu, even offering Test debuts to those who’d insult him. CK didn’t fight publicly. He stayed quiet, focused on the game, and earned the team’s respect in silence. His strength wasn’t in shouting back; it was in standing tall.
A career that refused to end
He began his first-class career in 1916-17 and continued till 1963-64. Almost five decades of cricket. 207 matches, 11,825 runs at 35.94, 26 centuries, and 411 wickets at 29.28.
There’s one story that still defines his grit. In a match against Maharashtra, at age 56, a bouncer from Dattu Phadkar struck him in the mouth, breaking several teeth. CK simply spat out the fragments, wiped the blood, and kept batting, scoring 66 runs. No drama. No fuss. Just pure will. That’s the kind of toughness that built Indian cricket before anyone even noticed.
India’s First Cricketer to Be Honoured by the Nation
Recognition finally came. In 1933, Wisden named him one of its Cricketers of the Year. And in 1956, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan, the first Indian cricketer ever to receive it.
Tributes to him are spread across the country. The CK Nayudu Trophy for Under-25s, a street named after him in Nagpur, a bronze statue at Vidarbha Cricket Association, a stand in Indore’s Nehru Stadium, a banquet hall at the Cricket Club of India named in his honour, and the lifetime achievement award that still carries his name.
Each of these is a small reminder that Indian cricket started with him.
The protector
When Partition tore the country apart in 1947, CK’s courage stepped beyond cricket again. A young Pakistani cricketer, Fazal Mahmood, found himself stranded in India during the chaos. CK took charge of his safety, escorting him through hostile roads to reach his family.
When a violent mob confronted them, CK didn’t flinch. He stood his ground, bat in hand, until the crowd stepped back. Years later, Fazal became one of Pakistan’s finest bowlers, but he never forgot the man who risked his life to protect him.
That act showed what kind of man he was, brave when it mattered, human when it counted.
A Legacy We Forgot to Celebrate
The silver bat given to him by the MCC still rests in the Cricket Club of India’s museum. His statue outside Nehru Stadium still watches quietly over passersby.
But time has faded the memory of his name. Every Indian captain since then, from Kapil to Dhoni to Kohli, walks on a path he cleared. CK Nayudu played before applause, before lights, before money. He built the idea of Indian cricket from dust and pride.
And that might be the truest kind of leadership, doing it first, so others can do it better.
