Duleepsinhji
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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Nawanagar State, Kathiawar, British India | 13 June 1905|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 5 December 1959 Bombay, Bombay State, India | (aged 54)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling | Right-arm leg break | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Test debut (cap 238) | 15 June 1929 v South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last Test | 18 August 1931 v New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1924–1932 | Sussex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1925–1928 | Cambridge University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1928–1929 | Hindus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 1 October 2009 |
Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji (13 June 1905 – 5 December 1959) was a cricketer who played for England. Playing in the era before the Indian cricket team, he is considered one of India's first great batsmen, alongside his uncle Ranjitsinhji, who also represented England.[1] Born in present-day Gujarat, he was educated at the Rajkumar College, Rajkot, before moving to England as a boy, where he attended Cheltenham College, and Cambridge University. The Duleep Trophy, long one of the premier competitions in Indian first class cricket, is named after him.
Cricket career
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Descended from the Jam Sahibs of Nawanagar State, Duleepsinhji was born on the Kathiawar peninsula in present-day Gujarat. His brothers included Himmatsinhji, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Himachal Pradesh, and Digvijaysinhji, who succeeded the brothers' uncle, Ranjitsinhji, as ruler of Nawanagar.[2] Ranjitsinhji, after whom the Ranji Trophy is named, also played cricket for England.[2][3] While he was still playing school cricket, the future President of the MCC, HS Altham, wrote of him in Wisden: "In natural gifts of eye, wrist and footwork he is certainly blest far above the ordinary measure... there is no doubt about the judgment and certainty with which he takes toll of straight balls of anything but the most immaculate length. His late cutting is quite beautiful and there is a certain ease and maturity about all his batting methods that stamps him as of a different class from the ordinary school batsman." Duleepsinhji went on to achieve great success as a batsman for Cheltenham College, Cambridge University, Sussex and eventually England in a career cut short by recurrent illness. His Test average of 58.5 ranks him among the best batsmen to have played Test cricket. In 1930, playing for Sussex, he scored 333 runs in one day against Northamptonshire.[4]
Public service
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Kumar_Shri_Duleepsinhji-visit.jpg/220px-Kumar_Shri_Duleepsinhji-visit.jpg)
Following his playing career, and based on his experience as High Commissioner of India in Australia and New Zealand, Duleepsinhji was made Chairman of the Public Service Commission in the State of Saurashtra after his return to India.
Duleepsinhji also visited the first and the only public utility thermal power station in the State, at that time located at Shapur Sorath, near a village called Vanthly (near Junagadh). As this power station was using crushed coal as fuel for boilers and chlorination for the cooling water system, which normally polluted the local atmosphere; he wanted to see personally the working conditions and the amenities provided for the villagers housing and the recreation facilities.
Death
Duleepsinhji died on 5 December 1959, following a heart attack, in Bombay.[5] The Duleep Trophy is named in his honour.[6]
References
- ^ "Who was India's first great batsman". Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ a b "Royalty on the cricket field". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
- ^ "Ranji Trophy". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
- ^ "Duleep's triple". ESPN Cricinfo. 7 May 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- ^ "PRINCE DULEEPSINHJI, 54". The New York Times. 6 December 1959. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
- ^ "Duleep Trophy". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
External links
Media related to Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji at Wikimedia Commons
- Duleepsinhji at ESPNcricinfo
- Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji: Cricketer of the Year 1930: By Wisden Almanack archive
- England Test cricketers
- Indian cricketers
- Sussex cricketers
- Sussex cricket captains
- Cambridge University cricketers
- Gentlemen cricketers
- Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
- Hindus cricketers
- North v South cricketers
- Wisden Cricketers of the Year
- 1905 births
- 1959 deaths
- People educated at Cheltenham College
- Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge
- Cricketers from Gujarat
- Indian royalty
- Gujarati people
- Maharajas of Nawanagar
- Indian civil servants
- High Commissioners of India to Australia
- High Commissioners of India to New Zealand
- British Asian cricketers
- English cricketers of 1919 to 1945
- H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI cricketers
- Lord Hawke's XI cricketers
- C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers