Amar Singh rated India's best player during 1932-36

New Delhi, June 27 (UNI) All rounder Amar Singh Lodha, one half of India's first new-ball pair in Tests and an aggressive lower-order batsman, pipped the likes of CK Nayudu and Lala Amarnath to come out on top as India's finest player in CEAT's retrospective cricket rankings the period beween 1932 to 1936.

Lodha garnered 28 points, 23 for bowling and five for batting, during the period in which India played seven Tests -- lost four and and drew three. His new ball partner Mohd Nissar was second fetching 24 points, all due to his fiery bowling.

The pair was instrumental in reducing England to 19 for 3 on June 25, 1932 -- the day that marked India's birth as a Test-playing nation.

The duo's impact on Indian cricket in that era can be gauged from the fact that there is a gap of ten points between Nissar and the player ranked third.

At the third spot is legendary opener Vijay Merchant (14 points), who added a record 203 with Syed Mushtaq Ali in the Manchester Test of the 1936 series.

Behind him is Col C K Nayudu (11), who had the distinction of leading India in its first four Tests. A belligerent batsman and inspirational figure, Nayudu's best effort in his brief Test career was an 81 in his last Test innings at the Oval in London in 1936.

Sharing the fourth spot with him is the wicketkeeper-batsman Dilawar Hussain (11), who at Kolkata in 1933-34 became the first Indian to score two fifties in a Test.

Just one point behind them is the versatile Lala Amarnath, whose 118 at the Bombay Gymkhana in 1933-34 was the first hundred by an Indian in a Test.

CEAT ratings for matches played during 1932-36 Player: 1. L Amar Singh (28), 2. Mahomed Nissar (24), 3. V M Merchant (14), 4. C K Nayudu and Dilwar Hussain (both 11), 6. L Amarnath (10), 7. Mushtaq Ali (9), 8. M Jahangir Khan (5), 9 S Wazir Ali and C Ramaswami (4) UNI