Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji (13 June 1905 – 5 December 1959) was a

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 ...

er who played for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Playing in the era before the

Indian cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the International ...

, he is considered one of India's first great batsmen, alongside his uncle

Ranjitsinhji Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 to 1933, as Mah ...

, who also represented England. Born in present-day

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, he was educated at the

Rajkumar College, Rajkot The Rajkumar College (or RKC) in Rajkot, Gujarat is one of the oldest K-12 institutions in India. RKC has a 26-acre (105,000 m²) campus in Rajkot. History The foundation stone of Rajkumar College was laid in 1868. The institution was designe ...

, before moving to England as a boy, where he attended

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

, and

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. The

Duleep Trophy The Duleep Trophy, also known as Mastercard Duleep trophy due to sponsorship reasons, is a domestic first-class cricket competition played in India. Named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji of Nawanagar (also known as 'Duleep'), the competition wa ...

, long one of the premier competitions in Indian first class cricket, is named after him.

Cricket career

Descended from the

Jam Sahib Jam Sahib ( gu, જામ સાહેબ), is the title of the ruling prince of Nawanagar, now known as Jamnagar in Gujarat, an Indian princely state. Jam Sahibs of Nawanagar References External links Nawanagar History and Genealogyat '' ...

s of

Nawanagar State Nawanagar was an Indian princely state in the historical Halar region, located on the southern shores of the Gulf of Kutch. It was ruled by the Jadeja Rajput dynasty and became the part of newly formed India. The city is now known as Jamnagar. ...

, Duleepsinhji was born on the

Kathiawar Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it is ...

peninsula in present-day

. His brothers included Himmatsinhji, the first

Lieutenant-Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

, and Digvijaysinhji, who succeeded the brothers' uncle,

, as ruler of Nawanagar. Ranjitsinhji, after whom the

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 ...

is named, also played cricket for

. While he was still playing school cricket, the future President of the MCC, HS Altham, wrote of him in

Wisden ''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 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 In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

for Cheltenham College,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and eventually

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.

Public service

Following his playing career, and based on his experience as High Commissioner of India in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, 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 A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy is converted to electrical energy. In a steam-generating cycle heat is used to boil water in a large pressure vessel to produce high-pressure steam, which drives a stea ...

in the State, at that time located at

Shapur Sorath Shapur is a village in Vanthali taluk in Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. This region is known as "Sorath", after the former Princely State of Junagadh. 2011 census, Shapur had a population of 8,108 in 1,798 households. Ge ...

, near a village called Vanthly (near

Junagadh Junagadh () is the headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar (the state capital), it is the seventh largest city in the state. Literally t ...

). As this power station was using crushed

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

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 Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. The

is named in his honour.

References

External links

* *
Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji: Cricketer of the Year 1930: By Wisden Almanack archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duleepsinhji, Kumar Shri 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