Ashok Mankad

Who was Ashok Mankad?

Ashok Vinoo Mankad was an Indian cricketer. A right-handed batsman, he played for India in 22 Test matches.

Ashok Mankad was born in a Vadnagra Nagar Brahmin family as the eldest son of Vinoo Mankad, who represented India in 44 Test matches, in Bombay. His brothers Rahul Mankad and Atul Mankad were also first class cricketers.

Mankad made a sequence of big scores in the Harris Shield as a teenager. After making 348, 325 and 258 in this inter-school tournament, he was picked to represent Bombay and West Zone cricket team in Under-19 tournaments. He represented the Bombay University in the Rohinton Baria Trophy in his first year in the college. He hit 62 against Nagpur University, 131 against Karnataka and 152 against Madras in the final. Mankad made his first class debut a week before his seventeenth birthday.

Despite average performances in the domestic level in his first few years, he was selected to play Tests against New Zealand in 1969–70. The selection committee under Vijay Merchant tried out many new players that season and Chetan Chauhan and Ajit Pai also made their debut in the same match. After failing to reach thirty in any of the four innings against New Zealand, he was dropped from the team for the third Test.