There have been many Maharajas’ (Great Kings) that have played Test cricket over the years so I thought about writing about them. Most of these Maharajas’ have originated from India but they have played for other countries as well, for example Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji or simply known as Ranji played for England.

The Great Kings of India used their vast amount of wealth for many things, even getting into the Test sides even if they didn’t have any talent. But not all of them were poor players; some Maharajas’ were great players that could get into many people’s world IX.

Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji
Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji often known as Ranjitsinhji or Ranji, was an Indian born Test cricketer who played for England. He also played First Class cricket for Cambridge University, and the county he represented was Sussex.

Ranji is considered as one of the greatest batsmen to have ever played Test cricket, some people regard him to be in the same league as the Great Donald Bradman. Sir Neville Cardus, a British Journalist described him as "the Midsummer night's dream of cricket". What Ranji is most remembered for is that he brought a new style of batting. Before Ranji, batsmen played mostly off the front-foot but Ranji played elegant shots off his back-foot, his most famous invention was the leg glance. Ranji was very popular back in his home country of India. The most important First Class tournament in India (the Ranji trophy) is named after him in his honour.

Test Career
Ranji was the first Indian to play Test cricket when he made his debut for England in 1896 at Old Trafford. He scored 62 and 154* against Australia, thus becoming only the second batsmen after WG Grace to score a century on debut for England. In the match he also became first batsman ever to score a 100 before lunch, astonishingly he went from 41 not out to 154 not out in just over 2 hours! Ranji also became the first English cricketer to score century on home and away debut, when he scored 175 against Australia in Australia (then the highest score that had ever been made for England in Test cricket). This feat of scoring century on home and away debut for England was not emulated until Andrew Strauss did it in 2004.

Domestic Career
After Ranji graduated from Cambridge University he went on to debut for his county Sussex, where he became a close friend of Charles Burgess Fry. His debut match was played at Lords in May 1895, where he scored 77 and 150 against MCC. Ranji was very successful at country level. His best years with Sussex came between 1895 and 1905. During this time Ranji passed 1,000 runs in 10 domestic seasons, astonshing 3,000+ runs in 1899 and 1900 and he also captained Sussex from 1899 to 1903.

At the end of 1904, Ranji returned to India due to increasing domestic responsibilities. Ranji did come back for two English seasons in 1908 and 1912; again scoring over 1,000 runs each season. The final time Ranji played for Sussex was in 1920. By this time Ranji was 48 years old, over weight and was blind in one eye due to a shooting accident in Yorkshire. He failed terribly to achieve his former excellent standards; he scored 39 runs at 9.75, which was a very sad end to a great career.

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Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji
Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji also known as Duleep was the nephew of Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji. Like his uncle, Duleep was an excellent batsman at both Domestic and Test level. But to many people Duleep was not in the same league as Ranji. But the genes that were passed down to him helped him incredibly; he could play all the strokes that his uncle used to play.

Duleep had very quick feet and was an extraordinary player of spin bowling. A. H. H. Gilligan rated him the best player of spin bowling on a wet pitch. Like all great batsmen Duleep could see the ball early and had a very wide variety of stokes in addition to a sound defence. Duleep was very much a modern type batsmen, who would take on any bowler on their turf. He would bat with ease, which put him, ahead of many batsmen at that time, as he was a quality player.

"There was no better man to play with. He was never out for personal glorification; his great concern being for the success of the team. He was a real joy to watch and was, above all, a first-class man." said England great Herbert Sutcliffe.

"He was extremely popular and did not have an enemy on the field. He was a brilliant player." Said Jack Hobbs; England’s great opening batsman.

Test Career
Duleep made his Test debut with England in 1930. Like his uncle Ranji, he debuted at Lords and scored a stylish century to save his team. His 173 was rated as one of the most stylish century to be scored that season, and this showcased his true artistry of batting.

Domestic Career
Duleep followed in his uncle Ranji’s footsteps by playing for Cambridge University and then moving on to play for Sussex. His career at Sussex was very successful. He captain them from 1926 until 1932 when he was advised by a doctor not to take any future part in cricket due to bad health. During this time Duleep headed the county averages every season. One incredible day in 1930 at Hove against Northampton, Duleep scored 333 runs in just 330 minutes! This still stands as a record for the highest individual score made by a Sussex cricketer.

Duleep was also a very good slip fielder. He took 243 catches in only 8 seasons, but in many ways we will never know the true potential of Duleep as his career was ruined due to bad health. Who knows Duleep could have been one of the greatest batsmen, even up there with Donald Bradman if he had continued playing without health problems.

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First Class Record:
Lt. Col. Sir Maharajkumar Dr. Vijayananda Gajapathi Raju
Maharajkumar of Vizianagram or known as Vizzy was one of the most colourful characters of Indian cricket history. Vizzy gets the title of “Maharajkumar” which means prince, because he is the second son of the ruler of Vizianagram, Vijayarama Gajapathi Raju. Vizzy was fine hunter and it is claimed that he hunted over 300 tigers, now I wouldn’t want to mess with this guy, no matter how bad he was at cricket! Vizzy used his great wealth for many things in cricket, even bringing England openers such as Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliff to play in India.

Vizzy is possible the worst player to ever play Test cricket (Just ahead of Ashley Giles). He was not even good enough for First Class cricket let alone Test cricket. It was because of his great wealth that he got to play Test cricket for India, once he offered the Indian board 50 thousand rupees, 40 thousand if it, if the team toured England, which did happen in 1932.

After much manipulation Vizzy led India to the tour of England. The tour was a disaster with team splits. Vizzy the colourful and lively character he was, he sent Lala Amarnath the teams best player back home. Unsurprisingly India lost the series easily and thus ended the careers of Indian legends C.K. Nayudu and Wazir Ali. Even after this disaster of a cricket tour King Edward VII knighted Vizzy.

After his cricket career Vizzy kept a low profile for number of years until he was named president of BCCI in 1954 which ended in 1957. During this time Vizzy made Kanpur a centre for Test cricket as well as promoting Utter Pradesh’s cricket profile. Vizzy was even asked to be President of Mysore cricket association because he was working on the development of cricket in South India.

Vizzy also had a career in commentating which was very unsuccessful like his cricket career. There was even a joke between cricket players that Vizzy's success at hunting occurred because he used to play his commentary in the jungle which caused the animals to fall asleep or drop dead.



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