Here is the list — Ranjitsinhji, Duleepsinhji, Amar Singh, Vinoo Mankad, Salim Durani, Karsan Ghavri, Dilip Doshi, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja. There are others like Jaydev Unadkat, but we are sticking to the Saurashtra cricket legends here. This region immensely contributed to the growth of Indian cricket since the late 19th century. It takes pride in its history and heritage.
No wonder that Jaydev Shah, the former Saurashtra captain and the incumbent president of the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA), isn’t too bothered about the off-the-field build-up for the second ODI between India and New Zealand, to be played here on Wednesday. Asked if there would be any special programme around the match, he comes up with a one-liner: “Cricket ko cricket hi rahne do na yaar (let cricket be cricket only).” It was refreshing to hear, amid the Ro-Ko mania, which is now becoming a tad boring.
In the 1930s, Ranji bought a couple of jewels, a 17th century emerald and an 18th century emerald, and gave them to Jacques Cartier to string them with a personal touch. In 2005, the emeralds, with an estimated value of £1.6 million, were supposed to go under the hammer at Christie’s. But the Palace intervened and Christie’s acceded to the request of not to put them on the auction. How did the heirloom leave the royal family’s possession was anyone’s guess. One of the palace intrigues maybe.
Moving beyond the legends and the Jamsahebs of Nawanagar, the man who actually put Rajkot on the international cricket map is Niranjan Shah, a BCCI old hand and the former cricket board and the SCA secretary. His son, Jaydev, is in charge of the affairs now and the new, state-of-the-art stadium that is named after his father will host the second ODI.
Niranjan, or Nira bhai as we call him, was instrumental in bringing a star-studded Irani Trophy match to this part of the world in 1983, which was the beginning. Over the years, Rajkot gradually became an ODI venue and now it is one of the regular Test centres.
“The stadium has a capacity of 29,000 and it would be a sell-out,” Jaydev told RevSportz. “Ticket prices are from Rs 1,500 to Rs 7,000.”
By the way, if you are in Rajkot, do drop in at Alfred High School, one of oldest educational institutes in India where the Mahatma studied for a few years. Befittingly, it is now the Mahatma Gandhi Museum
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