History News Desk !!! Kumar Shri Ranjit Singh Ji (English: Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, born: 10 September 1872, Kathiawar, Gujarat; died: 2 April 1933) is called the “Magician of Indian Cricket”. He is considered to be the best cricketer of India. Ranjit Singh was the first Test match player. He started his cricket game from England. To honor him, India’s first-class cricket tournament is named ‘Ranji Trophy’. This tournament was inaugurated in 1935 by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. Ranjit Singh was one of the best batsmen of India. He was an Indian prince, who also has the credit of being the first Indian player.
Kumar Ranjit Singh was born on 10 September 1872 at a place called Sarodar in Kathiawar, Gujarat. He was born in a wealthy family. In his student life, apart from cricket, he also played football and tennis. Ranjit Singh became more popular than ‘Ranji’. Ranji remained unmarried throughout his life. Whenever the topic of marriage came up, he would jokingly say that cricket is my life partner.
In 1888, Ranjit Singh went to Britain to take admission in Trinity College, Cambridge. While studying there, he joined the cricket ‘Blue’ in the final year. There he changed his name (nickname) to ‘Smith’ and started being known by that name. Later he was also known as Colonel. He was addressed as Colonel His Highness Shri Sir Ranjit Singh Ji Vibhaji. He was also known as Maharaja Jaim Saheb of Nawanagar. After completing his graduation, Ranjit Singh started playing county cricket for Sussex.
Ranjit Singh had not played a proper organized game before this, but still he won the ‘Blue’ while playing cricket in the summer of his final year. He made his formal debut in the game in May, 1895 at Lord’s. Here he played for Sussex and scored 77 and 150 runs against MCC. Then in 1896 he played the first test match for England. Thus he became the first Indian to play cricket test match. Ranjit Singh played this test match in Manchester between 16 and 18 July in 1896. He played this match for England against Australia. In his first test match he scored 62 and 154 runs and remained not out. Thus he became the second player after W.G. Grace, who scored a century in his debut match (first match) while playing for England. Ranjit Singh was a very skilled and fast batsman of the country. He played test matches between 1895 and 1905. During the 1897-1898 tour of Australia, he scored 1157 runs in the entire tour, with an average of 60.89. His name and that of his best friend C.B. Fry were always linked together.
Ranjit Singh scored 1000 runs in 10 consecutive domestic matches (in Sussex in England) (he scored more than 3000 runs between 1899 and 1900). He was also the captain of the Sussex team from 1899 to 1903. At that time Ranjit Singh’s name was the identity of Sussex. Ranjit Singh returned to India in 1904, as he had many domestic responsibilities. Here he played cricket fully for only two years. In 1908 and in 1912 and scored more than 1000 runs both times. Later on someone’s wrong advice he went back to Sussex. This was in 1920. He tried to play three times, but he was 48 years old, he had gained weight and he had lost one eye in a shooting accident. So the last time he played he could score only 39 runs.
In March 1907, apart from cricket, he became Maharaja Jam Saheb of Nawanagar. In this capacity, he was very popular in every way and was a benevolent ruler. His work for the ‘League of Nations’ and the ‘Chamber of Princes’, which he did after the Great War, was very important. Sir Neville Cardus wrote about Ranjit Singh- “When Ranjit Singh Ji left cricket, all the shine and splendor disappeared from the game forever.” In 1897, Ranjit Singh wrote a book- ‘The Jubilee of Cricket’. This book is considered a very important work in the world of cricket. Later, Ranjit Singh’s nephew K.S. Dalip Singh also played for England. Ranjit Singh played a total of 15 Test matches and all the matches were played for England. He mostly played against Australia and scored 989 runs at an average of 44.95, which includes 2 centuries and 6 half-centuries. He was chosen as the ‘Wisden Cricketer of the Year’ in 1897. Ranjit Singh was a genius of the cricket world, who gave new dimensions to the art of batting. Before him, cricketers used to play on the front foot only, but he played brilliant strokes on the back foot as well and played with a new method of ‘cutting’.
Ranji scored 72 centuries in first class cricket matches in his lifetime. The British used to call him by the name Ranji. He scored 3,159 runs in 1899 and 3,069 runs in 1900. Playing for England against Australia in Manchester in 1896, he scored a century in the first test itself. Due to his unique batting, he added a new chapter in the history of cricket. World-renowned cricket critic Neville Cardus wrote after watching Shri Ranjit Singh’s game-
“For the first time the rays of the east were seen in the fields of Britain. In those days the game of cricket was considered to be a very straight game. That is, it was a game of good length ball and straight batting. At that time the game of cricket was considered to be the game of the English only. Suddenly a person from the east made such a mark in the field of England that everyone unanimously accepted that such a player has not been born even in England till date. The game of this person was really amazing. Due to his unique batting, he used to spin the ball so straight that the spectators would keep watching and say- ‘Look… that ball came and look… it crossed the boundary too.’ No one could know the secret of that amazing batting. The bowler would stand stunned and holding the ball in both his arms would start thinking how did this happen?” Ranji died on 2 April, 1933. In India, the ‘Ranji Trophy’ competition was started in his memory. It is considered to be the national competition of cricket.