Surinder Amarnath made his first-class debut in December 1963, a few days before he turned 15, in a match played in
Poona to raise money for the national Defence Fund. In the same match his father,
Lala Amarnath, playing for the opposing team, played his last first-class match at the age of 52. Surinder scored 86 on debut. Still a schoolboy, he toured England with the Indian Schools team in 1967. In the match against
MCC Schools at
Lord's, as an 18-year-old, he scored 104
not out, hitting the last two balls of the match for
six to take his team to victory. Amarnath scored not-out double-centuries in the Ranji Trophy for
Punjab against
Madhya Pradesh in 1971–72 and against Delhi in 1972–73. He played his first match for India in an unofficial Test against the touring
Sri Lankans in 1975–76, scoring 118 in a low-scoring match that India won by 64 runs. He was selected for the
tour of New Zealand that followed shortly afterwards. He played the full three Test series in New Zealand, but did not score higher than 27 in five innings after his debut century. He then played two Tests during the tour to the West Indies in 1976, and then two more against England at home in India in 1977, during which he scored two half centuries. He also played three
One Day Internationals, all against Pakistan in 1978, with a high score of 62. His last season as a first-class cricketer was the 1985–86 season. A very aggressive batsman, Ramchand wrote of him, "Surinder could be [a] bit flashy but when in full flow he was a treat to watch and could decimate even the best of attacks". ==Family==