Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji
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Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji (10 September 1872–2 April 1933) was an Indian nobleman and Test cricketer who played for the English cricket team. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University, and county cricket for Sussex. His name was very often shortened to Ranjitsinhji or simply Ranji, and he was also known as the "Black Prince of Cricketers".
Ranji is widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, in the same class as Donald Bradman: Neville Cardus described him as "the Midsummer night's dream of cricket". He is remembered chiefly for bringing a new style to batting: previously, batsmen played forwards; Ranji played elegant strokes off the back foot, and his invention of the leg glance is perhaps most famous. The most important first-class cricket tournament in India, the Ranji Trophy, was named in his honour and inaugurated in 1935 by the Maharaja Bhupindra Singh of Patiala.
Outside cricket, he became Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar on in 1907, was Chancellor of the Indian Chamber of Princes, and represented India in the League of Nations. His official title was Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji, Jam Sahib of Nawanagar GBE KCSI.
The domestic first-class cricket championship played in India is named the Ranji Trophy in his honour.
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Early life
Ranji was born in Sarodar, a small village in the western Indian province of Kathiawar, into a wealthy Indian family of princely status. His clan, the Jadejas, were Rajput warriors who claimed to be descended from Persian ruler, Jamshed, deriving from him their title.
Ranjitsinhji was educated in prestigious Rajkumar College Rajkot.
Ranji had never played an organised game of cricket before he arrived at Cambridge University in 1891 to study at Trinity College. Nevertheless, he won a cricket Blue in his final year.
Cricketer
After graduating, Ranji moved to play county cricket for Sussex. He played his first county match at Lord's in May 1895. CB Fry became a close friend.
He made his Test debut for England in 1896, becoming the first Indian to play Test cricket. His nephew, KS Duleepsinhji, also played for England later. He scored 62 and 154 not out against Australia at Old Trafford in his first Test, becoming the second batsman after W. G. Grace to score a century on debut for England and also the first batsman to score 100 before lunch (on the third day, moving from 41 not out to 154 not out in just over 2 hours). He scored 175 in the first innings of his first overseas Test, also against Australia in 1897 (then the highest score that had ever been made for England in Test cricket). The feat of scoring hundreds in debut home and away Tests was not emulated by an England player for 107 years, until Andrew Strauss in 2004.
Ranji scored runs very heavily in county and Test cricket between 1895 and 1905, passing 1,000 runs in 10 successive domestic seasons (over 3,000 runs in 1899 and 1900) and captaining Sussex from 1899 to 1903. He returned to India at the end of 1904, but came back to play two further complete English seasons for Sussex (1908 and 1912), again passing 1,000 runs each time. He returned a final time to play in three matches for Sussex in 1920: aged 48, overweight, and blind in one eye after a shooting accident at Crosseliff in Yorkshire, he spectacularly failed to achieve his former standards.
Ranji played 15 Test matches for England between 1896 and 1902, scoring 989 runs with a batting average of 44.95. In all first-class cricket, he scored 24,692 runs in 307 matches, with an average of 56.37, including 72 centuries, with a highest score of 285 not out. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1897, Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year; in the same year, he published the classic The Jubilee Book of Cricket.
Statesman
He became Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar on 10 March 1907, and played an important role in improving the living conditions for the people of his home state. He became Chancellor of the Indian Chamber of Princes and represented India in the League of Nations after the First World War, being awarded the GBE and KCSI. He died in Jamnagar Palace, India aged 60.
External links
- Cricinfo article on Ranjitsinhji (http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/19331.html)