Birthday Special: Farokh Engineer – One of the most stylish Indian cricketers of his era

The original poster boy of the Indian cricket team, Farokh Maneksha Engineer was considered as one of the greatest entertainers of the game in the 1960s and early 70s. Born on February 25, 1938, Engineer hailed from the Parsi community that boasts of producing legendary cricketers like Polly Umrigar, Nari Contractor, Rusi Surti. However, Engineer was the last Parsi to represent India as not even a single person from his community represented the country after him.

From his early childhood, Farokh fancied flying and harboured the dream of becoming a pilot. However, life had some other plans for him as after a series of incidents he ended up playing cricket and went on to become one of the most stylish wicketkeeper-batsmen of his era. Engineer made his first-class debut for Combined Universities at the age of 20 against a touring West Indian side.

Breaking into the Indian team

This was followed by the batsman playing for Bombay and finally breaking into the Indian team in 1961 for a Test match against England. He scored 33 runs on his debut. The 1962 India tour of West Indies changed things for Farokh as a series of bad performances resulted in him getting dropped from the team for three years. Engineer made a comeback in the Indian team against New Zealand in 1965 and scored 90 runs while batting at No. 9.

His breakthrough performance came during the 1966-67 West Indies tour of India when he scored a scintillating 109 runs while opening the innings in the first Test. Since then, there was no looking back for Farokh Engineer as he became a regular feature in India’s Playing XI.

The Brylcreem Boy

During his career, Engineer was also renowned as Brylcreem Boy. The stunning hundred against West Indies had made the opening batsman a household name among cricket fans in India and a lot of brands started reaching out for advertising. During this period, he accepted the offer of being the brand ambassador of Brylcreem, a product that used only the most glamorous men as models. He was the first Indian to endorse the product that was endorsed by the likes of Denis Compton and Keith Miller.

Engineer also played for the English County club Lancashire from 1968 to 1976. In his glorious international career, Farokh featured in 46 Test matches scoring a whopping 2611 runs at an average of 31.1 and strike rate of 137.3. He also represented India in five ODIs, amassing 114 runs at an average of 38.0 and a strike rate of 58.5.

1975 marked the end of Farokh Engineer’s cricket career as he featured in his last game for India against New Zealand in an ODI on June 14, 1975.