The honour of being the first Indian to get two fifties in a Test goes to this well built wicketkeeper batsman. What's more, it was on his debut. Dilawar Hussain's impact then was immediate. Opening the batting in the second Test against England at Calcutta, Hussain was forced to retire hurt when 7, after being hit on the back of the head by a ball from Morris Nichols. This was on the second evening but on the third morning he came back to the crease and showed admirable determination in top scoring with 59. After India were forced to follow on, 156 runs behind, Dilawar Hussain coming in at No. 7, again displayed patience and concentration in abundant measure in top scoring again with 57. As a Cambridge undergraduate, Hussain was called upon to assist the 1936 team in England when both the originally chosen wicketkeepers were unfit. He scored 620 runs at a healthy average of 44.28 and in the only Test he played at the Oval, he made 35 and 54, going in at No. 3. In a first-class career that stretched from 1924 to 1941, Dilawar Hussain made over 2000 runs including four centuries and took almost 100 dismissals. Later Hussain was a college principal in Lahore, a founder member of the Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan and a Test selector.
Partab Ramchand

• Keeping the faith (May 27, 2007)
  
• Dilawar Hussain