Cottari Kanakaiya Nayudu born on 31 October 1895 was the first captain of the Indian Cricket Team in Test Matches..

He played first-class cricket regularly till 1958, and returned for one last time in 1963 at the age of 68.

In 1923, the ruler of Holkar invited him to Indore and made him a captain in his army, conferring on him the honour of a Colonel in Holkar's Army. Arthur Gilligan led the first MCC tour to India in the 1926–27 season.

For the Hindus at Bombay Gymkhana, Nayudu hit 153 in 116 minutes with 11 sixes.

One of the sixes, off Bob Wyatt, landed on the roof of the Gymkhana.

The MCC presented him with a silver bat in recognition of that innings.

He was also the first Indian cricketer to endorse a brand (Bathgate Liver Tonic) in 1941.

The Government of India awarded him the third highest (then second highest) civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 1956.

He captained India in their first Test match with England. That was at Lord's in 1932 when, despite a painful hand injury received when fielding, Nayudu made top score, 40, in the first innings. With six centuries, the highest of which was 162 from the Warwickshire bowling, he headed the batting averages for all matches with 37.59 and took 79 wickets. He also played in three Tests against England in 1933-34 and three in the tour of 1936, when he again exceeded 1,000 runs and dismissed 51 batsmen in first-class fixtures. As a small boy he played for the Hislop Collegiate High School, Nagpur, whom he captained, and while still at school appeared for Modi, of which club he also became captain. In 1926-27 at Bombay, he gained prominence by hitting 153 (including eleven 6's and thirteen 4's) out of 187 in just over a hundred minutes for Hindus against A. E. R. Gilligan's M.C.C. team. Though never on the winning side in a Test match, he helped Vizianagram to inflict by 14 runs the only defeat of the tour upon D. R. Jardine's powerful M.C.C. side in 1933-34, taking four wickets for 21 runs in the second innings.