10 greatest cricketers from Mumbai

#4 Vijay Merchant

"Let us paint him white and take him with us to Australia as an opener"

Vijay Merchant is a widely popular name in the cricketing circles. In his limited international appearances, he made a name for himself.

His first class average of 71.64 is the second best in the game's history, only behind that of the great Sir Don Bradman. He played 150 first class games for the Bombay cricket team and scored 13470 runs studded with 45 centuries.

Merchant's batting was known for sound technique, gritty temperament and conservative approach. Players all across the globe were impressed with his batting skill. In fact, English cricketer CB Fry exclaimed: "Let us paint him white and take him with us to Australia as an opener."

In his 10 outings for India, he made 859 runs at a decent average of 47.72.

As a tribute to Vijay Merchant, there's even a stand in the Wankhede stadium that's named after him.