IN NEED OF A LIFELINE

In the complex world of Indian cricket, there?s one common chord. Cricketers of all ages and time frames are one in suggesting that Test cricket remains the cricketer?s biggest test. And the primary supply line to discovering the newest Indian Test cricketer has been, and will be, the Ranji Trophy, India?s premier domestic cricket competition. Not many Indian cricket connoisseurs will ever forget Ajit Wadekar?s Ranji Trophy triple hundred in front of 20,000 plus fans, nor will a Sachin Tendulkar fan forget his brilliant 96 against a much fancied Haryana bowling line up led by Kapil Dev in 1990-91. That one innings was enough to convey to the Indian selectors that Tendulkar was ready for the grind of international cricket. The 1990-91 Ranji Trophy final, still considered as one of the best ever, presented one of Indian cricket greatest legends with one of his most cherished triumphs. Kapil Dev still regards this Ranji Trophy victory as one of the best of his career.

In more recent times, however, the Ranji Trophy looks somewhat worn out. Its gloss seems to be fading with the IPL and T-20 cricket hogging most of the limelight. While most IPL matches are packed to capacity, a one thousand plus crowd at a Ranji trophy encounter is considered satisfactory. In fact, there have been many occasions in the recent past when the number of players and officials at a Ranji game have numbered more than the spectators in attendance. This simple statistic, which offers a profoundly different insight into India?s most loved passion, is unnerving and shocking at the same time. Is it then true that Indians only love international cricket or more aptly T-20 cricket? Are we then not cricket fans in the true sense? These are questions that continue to bother the Indian cricket aficionado in the absence of a renewed interest in India?s premier domestic competition.

If India wishes to cement its position as the global epicentre of cricket, it has to infuse new verve in the Ranji Trophy. What better occasion can the BCCI have than the competitions 75th birth anniversary? A significant hike in prize money, from Rs 60 lakhs to Rs two crores (substantially more than amounts paid in English and Australian domestic cricket), is certainly a step in the right direction. The BCCI may also think of infusing competitive spirit by making sure that national stars play in this year?s competition, create extra incentive for the players by making regional contracts mandatory and ensure compulsory live telecast of all matches from the quarter final stage onwards. While these are only some of the remedial measures that the board might want to consider, it was a welcome sign to see the BCCI working committee dwell on how to revive the lost glories of the Ranji Trophy at its recently concluded meeting.

The truth is unless the Ranji Trophy is strengthened, India will lose out in the battle for the world?s premier Test team. While the English country circuit and Australia Sheffield Shield remain solid and resolute amidst the threat posed by T-20, in India the edifice of the Ranji Trophy looks to be crumbling. Playing in the IPL may well give the modern day cricketer the riches he so badly craves for, but it will not do much to making him the complete Test cricketer that the national team needs during times of crisis. The IPL isn?t the finishing school that the Ranji Trophy is and it is time the budding Indian cricketer and cricket administrator realise this cardinal truth. Unless you go through the toil of the Ranji trophy, you will not have the skill to survive in alien Australian, South African or English conditions. And unless that happens, a player will not be remembered as a great in the echelons of India?s cricket history.

There?s little doubt then that the Ranji Trophy stands at a crossroad. In its 75th year, innovative administration of the tournament by the BCCI may help rescue the competition from the throes of gloom it finds itself in recent times and give it the energy it so badly needs. Unless that happens, it will be time to mourn the loss of one of Indian cricket?s strongest pillars, one that gave our cricket teeth and muscle for a long 75 plus years.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Ranji Trophy, it is pertinent to look back at the birth of India?s national championship, a story no less intriguing than a fast paced Hollywood flick. By the early 1930s, the Maharaja of Patiala was among the most powerful princes in India. He controlled the newly- formed BCCI, donated huge sums towards the building of the Cricket Club of India and was the vice-patron of the Board, second only to Lord Willingdon, patron by virtue of being the viceroy. Patiala employed many senior cricketers and had supported Ranjitsinhji in times of financial crisis. However, it was beginning to be clear by the early 1930s that the Maharaja of Patiala was falling out of favour with Willingdon, as a result of his involvement in numerous sex scandals. The situation was ripe for the emergence of a new power player in Indian cricket.

The challenge came in the form of the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram, the younger son of a ruler of a principality in modern Andhra Pradesh who had left home to settle in Benaras. He rose to prominence in 1930, by organising a tour to Ceylon and parts of India.

The political situation in India in 1930 was stormy. Mahatma Gandhi had announced the Civil Disobedience movement, which resulted in the cancellation of the proposed MCC tour to India in 1930-31. Vizzy capitalised on this opportunity by forming a team to tour parts of India and Ceylon. This team included, among others, Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe, two legends of English cricket. The Indian stars were CK Nayudu, S Mushtaq Ali and DB Deodhar. This tour catapulted Vizzy into a position of power, a position Vizzy used to project himself as a rival to the Maharaja of Patiala. He even offered to sponsor India?s tour to England in 1932 by making a contribution of Rs 50,000 towards the tour.

The struggle for supremacy between Vizzy and Patiala was thus out in the open before the 1932 tour of England. With Vizzy having won the first round, the Maharaja of Patiala came back to win the second by agreeing to sponsor the trials of the touring party. In the annual general meeting of the Board in November 1931, Patiala announced his intention to sponsor the trials, agreeing alongside to take care of the finances of the touring party for a whole month.

It was the hosting of the trials between January 23-29, 1932 that tilted the issue in Patiala?s favour and he was appointed captain of the touring party on February 4, 1932. Vizzy, the defeated challenger, was given the subordinate position of deputy vice-captain. He withdrew from the tour citing personal reasons and spent his time cosying up to Lord Willingdon. Finally, the Maharaja of Porbandar was appointed captain of the touring team on March 15, 1932.

Perhaps the worst player of the touring party, Porbandar wisely decided to leave the captaincy to CK Nayudu, arguably his best player. Vizzy made use of Nayudu?s rise and his growing unpopularity within the team to plot against Patiala. He deliberately sang praises of Nayudu, who, by the end of the tour, was greatly unpopular with his teammates. Soon after the tour was over, Vizzy donated a pavilion to the newly built Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium in Delhi, naming it after Lord Willingdon. These efforts to curry favour with the Viceroy were successful and though Patiala was elected chancellor of the Chamber of Princes after Ranji?s death in 1933, his influence over Indian cricket was declining.

Patiala, to make a comeback, fell back on a trusted weapon ? patronage. He entertained the MCC team lavishly when it toured India in the winter of 1933 and it was at Patiala that the MCC played the only four-day first class fixture of the tour. During this match, the tourists were taken for shoots to the hills, and even Douglas Jardine, the captain, was won over. However, despite Patiala?s success in reinforcing control over the game, Nayudu was retained captain for the Test matches against the MCC, overriding the Yuvraj of Patiala, an able cricketer and son the Maharaja was trying to promote. Vizzy welcomed Nayudu?s appointment. He too used the tour to good effect by leading his side to a significant victory against the MCC. This was the MCC?s only loss on the tour and it may well have been the result of complacency. Whatever the reason, Jardine, the MCC captain, did Vizzy?s cause a lot of good by proclaiming he had the potential to be a good captain. By the end of the MCC tour, therefore, the stage was set for a showdown between the two rival princes. Patiala had an advantage because the game was once again confronted with a financial crisis and, given his economic position, he was the only person capable of resolving it. With the communal Pentangular stopped for the time being, the moment was ripe for a national championship. Also, with the BCCI having been born in 1928, a zonal competition was imminent.

Accordingly, at a meeting of the Board in Shimla in the summer of 1934, AS De Mello, the secretary, submitted the proposal for a national championship. He also presented a sketch of the proposed trophy, ?a Grecian urn two feet high, with a lid, the handle of which represented Father Time, similar to the one on the weather vane at Lord?s.? As soon as De Mello mooted the plan, the Maharaja of Patiala stood up to declare that he would be pleased to donate the Trophy and committed a donation of ?500, Rs 6,667 at the prevailing exchange rate. He wanted the trophy to be named after Ranji. His offer drew considerable applause.

However, for some unknown reason, the official announcement of the decision to launch the Ranji Trophy was withheld. This allowed Vizzy to work his manipulations. He proposed that the trophy be named after Lord Willingdon instead of Ranji who, he argued, had done little for the game in India. An emergency meeting of the Board was summoned to discuss the renaming and Vizzy strengthened his case by donating a trophy himself. The meeting accepted the Willingdon Trophy as the national championship.

Reporting the decision, The Times of India declared that the Willingdon Trophy, specially selected by Lady Willingdon, had been gratefully accepted and placed on display. Despite being present at the meeting, Patiala could not prevent the acceptance of the Willingdon Trophy. As an outcome of this meeting it was expected that Mumbai, the winners of the first national championship in 1935, would be presented the Willingdon Trophy. However, a surprise awaited HJ Vajifdar (standing in for indisposed captain LP Jai) when he walked up to collect the trophy a week after the final, at a function in Delhi. Lord Willingdon was present at the podium to give away the prize, but the Trophy he handed out was the Ranji Trophy.

It turned out that Patiala had successfully outmaneuvered Vizzy while touring England with the Board president, Grant Govan, in January 1935. The two had represented India at the Imperial Cricket Conference (now ICC) meeting at Lord?s, and it was during this trip that Patiala turned the tables on Vizzy. The trump card was his promise to sponsor Jack Ryder?s Australians, who were to tour India in October 1935. To Vizzy?s dismay, the Willingdon Trophy was later presented to the winners of the Festival Cup played in Delhi. Thus, was finally born the Ranji Trophy, the premier domestic competition for cricket in India.

The writer is a cricket historian