BOMBAY, 18 July 2003 — A book on India’s first cricketing hero, Kumar Shri Ranjit Sinhji by journalist Mario Rodrigues, certainly not one of the marque names among cricket writers or authors, has created quite a storm among cricket aficionados.

The book, in many ways, undecorates the biggest cricketing legend, as it highlights Ranji, the Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, an old princely state, his misrule and his “more loyal than the king” stance during India’s early nationalist movement.

Aptly titled “Batting for the Empire - A Political Biography of Ranjitsinhji” the book reflects a lot of painstaking research, which he undertook in India and in England, searching out a lot of material from the archives. The book has evoked mixed reaction, with blind followers of Ranji and those with proximity to the Ranji lineage, expressing their disagreement, dissent and not a little anger. At a seminar held to discuss the book in Bombay last week, there were quite a few heated exchanges.

The book brings out

a) The makings of one of the greatest cricketers of all time.

b) Ranji as the Jamsaheb of Nawanagar and the manner in which he failed terribly in the discharge of his responsibilities and

c) Ranji’s lack of support to Indian cricket.

So many persons in high places and from different walks of life have spoken in glowing terms about Ranji’s greatness as a cricketer by describing him as a “genius,” “an innovator” and “a stylist”. The author starts by paying as high a tribute as anyone when he says of Ranjitsinhji: “He stands paramount in the pantheon of Indian sporting figures. In a lengthy review in the country’s leading newspaper, former Test cricketer, Yajurvindrasinhji shows his bitterness and hits out at the author for dishonoring a cricketing legend. He concludes by writing “Why do we Indians like to sully the few successful Indians who have done us proud.”

For the record, Ranji played for England against Australia in 1896 to 1898 and scored 64 and 152 on his Test debut. The cricket-writers of the day ran out of superlatives in describing Ranji’s batting, He played 15 Tests in all and is known to have innovated the leg-glance and the late-cut, at a time when batsmen were just playing in the “V” as per the MCC coaching manual.

In defense of the author, it must be said that, if a cricketing legend could be re-created through archives, why can’t the same archival support be sought and obtained to tell the complete story of the man who has meant so much to two great nations?

The other facets of Ranji’s life had a deep-rooted effect on the little state that he ruled and the broader impact it had on the nationalist movement in the country just when it was gathering momentum.

Having had his education in England and having played all his cricket there, Ranji went so far as to call himself an Englishman. Even when he was made the ruler of Nawanagar in 1907, which was through his influence with the British rulers, he went out of the way to show his loyalty to his “masters.”

Ranji showed a total reluctance to help Indian cricket when he came back to India after his Test career was over. When the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Anthony de Mello sought his help to get India the membership of the then Imperial Cricket Council, he just turned his face. Not only that, when his equally celebrated nephew, Duleep Sinhji was asked to lead the first official Indian team to England in 1932, he rebuked the administrators by saying “we are England players and we cannot play for an Indian team.”

The author also elaborates on Ranji’s misrule of his state. When Nawanagar faced regular famines and a large-scale plague epidemic, killing thousands, Ranji stayed in England for three years and spent money on charities there instead of coming back home and helping his people. There has never been any disagreement anywhere, England, Australia or even India, over the fact that Ranji was a genius. He belonged to the golden era of cricket when batsmen like W.G. Grace, Victor Trumper and Ranji held complete sway over the rest. Ranji came on the scene and stole the thunder. John Arlott, the master of the spoken and written word, wrote: “Far back in the 19th century, when the racial superiority of the English people was beyond question, Ranji smashed the haughty English claim in the most English of all things, that is cricket. “Racialism had received its first blow from Ranji, an Indian playing for England.” However, in later years, many in India were left wondering whether it was indeed so. Ranji worked with other princes to see that the British Raj was preserved. He openly said that India would never emerge as an independent nation.

According to his official biographer, Simon Wild, Ranji appeared terribly disillusioned in his last years. The underlying reason was not clear at that time, whether it was his love affair with an English woman, whom he could not marry, or the fear that the nationalist movement would ultimately swallow his domain. It was 14 years after his death that India became independent. By that time, Ranji was a forgotten name.

Through Mario’s book, the cricketing legend is revived but so also all his infamous acts. This has set off a series off debate in cricket as well as political circles. The book will, perhaps, thrive on this controversy. It is worth reading even if it is only for the boldness with which the project has been undertaken.