MUMBAI: Vijay Nayudu, grandson of India's first Test captain CK Nayudu, passed away in the Kokilaben Hospital in Andheri on Wednesday due to cancer. He was 79. He is survived by wife, daughter Preeti, and son Varun.
Vijay Nayudu captained Madhya Pradesh and played 47 First-Class matches from 1960-61 to 1977-78, in which he scored 1926 runs@25.34, with one hundred and nine fifties, besides taking 35 wickets @26.51. He also played for Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy.
When he led West Zone University, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar played under him and scored 246.
“Vijay Nayudu once scored 149 in a Ranji Trophy match at Jodhpur against top-class spinners like Salim Durrani and CG Joshi,” an old-timer told TOI.
While he was born in Indore and played First-Class cricket for MP, Nayudu had a strong Mumbai connection, and was a Borivali resident, where his father was a teacher in a school.
He played for the St Xavier’s college team, and then for Bombay Gymkhana and Indian Oil in local cricket in Mumbai. He played for Bombay Gymkhana till he was well past 60.
“Back in 1986, he gave me a job at Indian Oil, where he was my first captain. Like his grandfather must’ve been, he was a hard-hitting batsman. I was just 18 when I joined Indian Oil, and learnt many useful things about batting from him, which helped me throughout my career,” former Mumbai wicketkeeper and current Maharashtra head coach Sulakshan Kulkarni told TOI.
"He formed a sports policy in Indian Oil, due to which several cricketers got jobs there," former Mumbai player Amit Dani said.
