H.H. Jamsaheb Shatrusalyasinhji Jadeja (born 20 February 1939) is a former
first-class cricket
First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...
er and the last person to hold the title of
Maharaja
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...
of
Nawanagar.
Family and education
His father,
H H Jam Saheb Sri Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji, played one first-class match, captaining
Western India
Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union te ...
against
MCC in 1933-34, just after succeeding
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 ...
to the title of Maharaja of Nawanagar. Shatrusalyasinhji is also the nephew of
Duleepsinhji
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 ...
.
Shatrusalyasinhji was educated at
Malvern College
Malvern College is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent coeducational day and boarding school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school in the British sen ...
in England, where he played for the First XI in 1957 and 1958. In 1957 he took 42 wickets at 15.11 and made 166 runs at 23.71, and in its schools report for the season ''
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 ...
'' (referring to him as "M.K.S. Shatrushalyasinhji") noted his "ability to bowl off-breaks at an unusually speedy pace". In 1958 he was "not as effective as in the previous year", taking 22 wickets at 18.22.
Cricket career
He made his first-class debut in the 1958–59 season, playing for
Saurashtra against
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- ...
, scoring 15 not out and a
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
and taking the wicket of
Arvind Apte. In 1959 he and his father visited England and he played three matches for
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 ...
Second XI as an amateur, without much success.
He played three matches for Saurashtra in 1959–60, four in 1961–62, and four in 1962–63, with a highest score of 65,
[Shatrusalyasinhji batting by season](_blank)
/ref> the top score of the match, in a victory over Baroda
Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...
in 1961–62. His highest career score came against Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
in 1963–64, when batting at number three he scored 164 not out
In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress.
Occurrence
At least one batter is not out at t ...
in seven and a half hours out of a total of 382.
In 1964, he brought his old Sussex teammates Les Lenham
Leslie John Lenham (born 24 May 1936) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Sussex from 1956 to 1970. He appeared in 300 first-class matches as a right-handed batsman who occasionally bowled off breaks. He scored 12 ...
and Tony Buss to India; Lenham to coach him, Buss to bowl to him. Lenham said Shatrusalyasinhji "wanted to be a Ranji and a Duleep, all rolled into one, but he played too exotically". His batting yielded only 113 runs in four matches in 1964–65,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 ...
, and Indian Starlets Indian Starlets were a team of young Indian cricketers who played 16 first-class matches between 1960 and 1967.
Tour of Pakistan, 1959-60
Seventeen players took part in a tour of Pakistan in April and May 1960. They played seven first-class matche ...
to the final of the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament
The Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament is an Indian cricket competition that has been held in Hyderabad (and sometimes nearby Secunderabad) since 1930-31. From 1930-31 to 1937-38, and from 1962-63 to 1973-74, it had first-class status.
1930-31 t ...
, and was also selected for West Zone to play the touring West Indians
A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...
.
After cricket
Shatrusalyasinhji was head of the Saurashtra Cricket Association
Saurashtra Cricket Association is the governing body of the cricket activities in the Saurashtra and Kutch region of the Gujarat state of India and the Saurashtra cricket team. It is affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India
...
for some years until he was replaced in 1972 by Niranjan Shah, who has remained in charge since, and whose son Jaydev Shah has had a long career in the Saurashtra team.
At one stage he kept around 8000 pets in his palaces. He has a walled wildlife reserve opposite his house in Jamnagar.
Personal life
He married a member of the Nepalese royal family,Nawanagar (princely state)
Retrieved 25 March 2014. and succeeded to the title of Maharaja Jam Saheb of Nawanagar in February 1966 on the death of his father. When the
Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution of India was passed in 1971, abolishing princely privy purses and entitlements, he became H H Jam Saheb Sri Shatrusalyasinhji.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shatrusalyasinhji, Y.S.
1939 births
Living people
Indian cricketers
Gujarati people
People from Jamnagar
Cricketers from Gujarat
People educated at Malvern College
Saurashtra cricketers
West Zone cricketers
Indian Starlets cricketers
Nawanagar State
Maharajas of Nawanagar