Dicky Jamshed Sohrab Rutnagur (26 February 1931 – 20 June 2013) was an Indian sports journalist. He was cricket correspondent for the ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

'' from 1958 to 1966, when he became a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

based in the UK. He covered

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' from 1966 to 2005. A

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

, he was born in

Bandra Bandra (Indian English, æːɳɖɾa also known as Vandre (Help:IPA/Marathi, �aːn̪d̪ɾe is an upscale coastal suburb located in Mumbai (Bombay) area of the Konkan division, Maharashtra, India. The suburb is located to the immediate nor ...

and was educated at St. Xavier's College. He then worked in the family business, which published the ''Indian Textile Journal''. He then began covering cricket matches as a freelance, writing for ''The Bharat'', a local sports paper, and then for daily newspapers. With

Anandji Dossa Anandji Jamnadas Dossa (September 15, 1916 – September 22, 2014) was an Indian cricket statistician. He represented his school and Wilson college in inter-school and inter-collegiate cricket while growing up in Bombay. He was an opening batsma ...

, he co-edited ''The Indian Cricket-Field Annual'' throughout its life from 1957-8 to 1965-6. He first wrote for ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' in 1963, and his most recent piece appeared in the 2007 edition. He wrote two books, including a biography of squash legend

Jahangir Khan Jahangir Khan (Pashto/ ur, جهانگير خان born 10 December 1963) is a former World No. 1 professional Pakistani squash player. He won the World Open title six times , and the British Open title ten times (1982-1991). Jahangir Khan is w ...

. The duo of Dickie as commentator and

Vijay Merchant Vijay Singh Madhavji Merchant , real name Vijay Madhav Thackersey (12 October 1911 – 27 October 1987) was an Indian cricketer. A right-hand batter and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, Merchant played first-class cricket for Bombay c ...

as expert is remembered by millions of Indian cricket fans. Encouraged to move to England by Ron Roberts, he joined ''The Daily Telegraph'', for whom he covered

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

from 1966 to 2005. According to his ''Wisden'' obituary, "a press box with Dicky in it was always full of cigarette smoke, chat and mischief, with whisky afterwards". He sometimes wrote for two national newspapers at the same time, as "Dilip Rao" when he wrote for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and as "D.J. Rutnagur" when writing for ''The Daily Telegraph''. He was the only person to witness both of two cricketing feats: when

Garry Sobers Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, ...

hit six sixes in an over from

Malcolm Nash Malcolm, Malcom, Máel Coluim, or Maol Choluim may refer to: People * Malcolm (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Clan Malcolm * Maol Choluim de Innerpeffray, 14th-century bishop-elect of Dunkeld Nobility * Máel ...

in a

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

match in Swansea in 1968 and, more than 16 years later, when

Ravi Shastri Ravishankar Jayadritha Shastri (born 27 May 1962) is the former head coach of the India national cricket team, a cricket commentator and former captain of Indian Cricket Team. As a player, he played for the India national cricket team between 19 ...

did likewise, off Baroda slow left-armer

Tilak Raj Tilak Raj, is a former Indian cricketer who played for Baroda and Delhi. He was a left-hand batsman who is best known for being the unfortunate victim of Ravi Shastri's six sixes in an over in 1985. It was only the second instance of this in ...

in a

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

game in Bombay. He died at the age of 82 on 20 June 2013 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

after a prolonged illness. He was the father of cricketer Richard Sohrab Rutnagur.

Books

*''Khans Unlimited: A History of Squash in Pakistan'', Oxford University Press, 1997, . *''Test Commentary'', India v England, 1976–77

Notes

References

*''Barclay's World of Cricket - 2nd Edition'', 1980, Collins Publishers, , p654. *''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', 2007 edition, , p80. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutnagur, Dicky 1931 births 2013 deaths Cricket historians and writers The Daily Telegraph people Indian sportswriters Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century English businesspeople