An Indian cricketer saw some great highs in the domestic circuit and also played for India. He also witnessed some lows when he suffered a road accident. Here is an emotional story of an Indian cricketer.
There have been many cricketers who have bossed the domestic circuit but have either not played for India or have had limited rope in their hands for the national team. Wasim Jaffer, Unmukt Chand, Rajinder Goel and Amol Muzumdar are to name a few.
One among them is Jacob Martin, a former Indian cricketer, who proved his mettle in the domestic circuit but ran out of luck for India. From being an Indian cricketer to surviving a road accident, being arrested in a human trafficking case and then running a laundry, life has been different to him than many other famed cricketers.
Born on May 11, 1972 in Baroda, Martin had set the domestic circuit on fire during his playing days. He made 9192 runs in the First-Class cricket at 46.65 with 23 centuries and 47 fifties. In addition, Martin also had made 2948 runs in List A cricket at 39.30 (3 tons, 20 half-tons) and 14 in two T20 games that he played.
The middle-order batter had a brilliant timing and technique and he had unleashed his brilliance for Baroda in the domestic circuit. He made his FC debut in the 1991-92 Ranji Trophy. He played for them for most of his career and even captained them to the Ranji Trophy title in 2000-01 before leading them to the final in the next season. He made a switch to Railways for the 2002-03 season and returned to play for Baroda till 2009. He also played for Assam in the domestic circuit.
Martin’s breakout Ranji trophy season was in 1998-99 when he slammed 1037 runs for Baroda at an average of 103.70 with five centuries. During this season, he had become just the sixth player to hit over 1000 runs in a Ranji Trophy season.
In between in brilliance in the domestic cricket, he also played 10 ODI matches for India. Martin made his international debut during West Indies’ tout to Canada in 1999 and played against the Windies. Martin has scored 158 runs in eight ODI innings at 22.57 with his highest score being 39 against Pakistan.
His rope ran out in 2001 when he last played against Kenya before not being picked again. Martin kept playing the domestic cricket until 2009, before he retired following his last game against Maharashtra for Baroda in the Ranji Trophy Super League.
Martin was arrested in 2011 in Delhi in connection with a 2003 human trafficking case. He was named as head coach of Baroda cricket team for 2016–17 Ranji Trophy season. Notably, the cricketer had suffered a car accident in December 2018, and was placed on life support. He is now retired and runs outlets of laundry and dry-cleaning brand, UClean, in Gujarat.