Indian cricket’s new maharajas
RETURN OF THE ROYALS States that received royal patronage but lost out to big cities post-independence, are back
dards of players.
The royal houses of Patiala, Gwalior, Holkar, Baroda, Nawanagar, Bhopal, Mysore, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Pataudi, Dungarpur and even Kashmir — either for political intrigue, passion or both — were in the forefront for promoting cricket.
Some royals were keen cricketers themselves, more often with an exaggerated sense of their own abilities. The rajas of Porbandar (1932 to England) and Jamnagar (1936 to England) even manoeuvred themselves into the Indian captaincy. Given their meagre skills, they happily did not take the field, passing on the job to CK Nayudu, but still left behind a litany of shenanigans that is part of cricket lore.
ROYAL SPLURGE
The princely states pretty much called the shots in Indian cricket. For all their vested interests, provided benefit too. The Cricket Club of India (CCI) in Mumbai, original home of cricket in the country, was funded by the Maharajah of Patiala.
Holkar at one time boasted of CK Nayudu, Mushtaq Ali, CS Nayudu, Chandu Sarwate. Other players who flourished because of royal patronage include the redoubtable Vinoo Mankad and Salim Durani.
Foremost among the royals was, of course, Ranjitsinhji. His exploits (and later of his nephew Duleepsinhji) won over cricket lovers in England and fired the imagination of Indians. Unlike the Pataudis, neither Ranji nor Duleep played for India, but had put the country on the cricket map.
The extent of patronage provided by Ranji and Duleep to Indian cricket has been often debated, but not the influence they had.
In fact the Ranji Trophy, which started in 1934 by the Board Of Control For Cricket (BCCI) (formed in 1928) was originally mooted as a tournament between princely states and families!
Dwindling political clout and financial resources after India became a republic and territories were reconfigured saw the interest and participation of princely families in Indian cricket diminish. Their place was taken over by the Services, public sector undertakings and private business houses, primarily because they became the sources of livelihood for players. Many businessmen became administrators and benefactors.
NEW PATRONS
Cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Madras, Pune, Calcutta became the major cricket centres. Mumbai, the financial capital, not only retained its pole position, but went from strength to strength.
For about half a century shortly after India became a republic, the erstwhile princely states that had excelled in cricket became also rans and wannabes.
Till a turnaround started happening in the first decade of the new millennium. Since 2009-10, while Mumbai have won the Ranji Trophy thrice and Karnataka twice, other winners have been less fancied Rajasthan (2011-12, 12-13), Gujarat (2016-17) and Vidarbha (2017-18, 18-19).
In this period Saurashtra have been losing finalists thrice. Clearly, the hegemony of associations that had ruled domestic cricket for several decades is being dismantled.
What’s caused this transformation? There are two major factors. Firstly, the financial clout of Indian cricket, which has grown phenomenally since the mid-1990s, has ensured that resources have been spread across the length and breadth of the country. For all its faults, the BCCI has been successful in providing world-class facilities, academies, coaches and curriculum to smaller cities and mofussil areas. This has led to a huge actualisation of cricket potential in the country from non-traditional centres.
The other big impetus has come from the Indian Premier League (IPL) that has expanded the eco-system — in terms of resources and tapping-cum-nurturing talent — to hitherto unimagined levels. For instance, Jasprit Bumrah played first for Mumbai Indians before he made his first-class debut for Gujarat. The IPL has become the stepping stone for fame and livelihood.
Almost a century after the princely states absorbed cricket and supported its growth, Kings, Royals and Knights have returned, but only as titles of IPL teams. The real royalty in Indian cricket today is the franchise owners. F Fazal c Kishan b Gowtham 27 R Sanjay c Vihari b Jadeja 65 A Taide lbw b Chahar 15 G Satish lbw b Jadeja 48 M Kale c Kishan b Gowtham 1 A Wadkar batting 50 A Sarwate lbw b Rajpoot 18 A Karnewar batting 15
(lb 6)
(for six wkts, 90 overs)
FOW: 1-50, 2-84, 3-146, 4-149, 5-168, 6-226.
Bowling: A Rajpoot 16-3-43-1, T Ul-haq 14-4-29-0, K Gowtham 10-3-33-2, D Jadeja 27-6-66-2, R Chahar 23-5-68-1.