Maharajkumar 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 ...

Shivajirao Gaekwad (31 August 1890 – 24 November 1919) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

first-class

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. Born at

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 ...

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 ...

in August 1890, to

Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III Sayajirao Gaekwad III (born Shrimant Gopalrao Gaekwad; 11 March 1863 – 6 February 1939) was the Maharaja of Baroda State from 1875 to 1939, and is remembered for reforming much of his state during his rule. He belonged to the royal Gae ...

and his wife,

Maharani Chimnabai Maharani Chimnabai (1872 – 23 August 1958), also known as Chimnabai II, was the second wife of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad of the princely state of Baroda, Gujarat, British India. She is the author of the treatise '' The position of Women in I ...

. He is known to have attended

Baroda College The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, formerly Baroda College, is a public university in the city of Vadodara, in Gujarat state, India. Originally established as a college in 1881, it became a university in 1949 after the independence of ...

, and

St. Xavier's College, Mumbai St. Xavier's College is a private, Catholic, autonomous higher education institution run by the Bombay Province of the Society of Jesus in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by the Jesuits on January 2, 1869. The college is affil ...

. He later continued his education in England, attending the prestigious Christ Church College at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. Prior to his education in England, Gaekwad had made his debut in

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 ...

for the

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

against the

Parsees 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 co ...

at the

Bombay Gymkhana The Bombay Gymkhana, established in 1875, is one of the premiere gentlemen clubs in the city of Mumbai, India. Bombay Gymkhana Rugby Club (rugby union) are tenants. It is located in the Fort area of South Mumbai area and was originally built a ...

in September 1909. He played first-class cricket in England in 1910, when he played for the

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey ...

against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. The following year he made his debut for Oxford University in first-class matches, appearing against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, with Gaekwad playing for the university four times in 1911. 1911 proved to be a busy season of first-class cricket for Gaekwad, with one appearance for the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

, which was followed by three appearances for the Indians against county opposition as part of their 1911 tour of the British Isles. He made two first-class appearances for Oxford University in 1912 against the touring

South Africans The population of South Africa is about 58.8 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The South African National Census of 2022 was the most recent census held; the next will be in 2032. In 2011, Statistics Sout ...

and

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

. He made a final first-class appearance for the university in 1913, against HK Foster's XI. Returning to India, Gaekwad made his final appearance in first-class cricket for a combined Hindus and Muslims team against a combined European and Parsees team. Across fourteen first-class appearances, he scored a total of 406 runs,

averaging In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

15.61, with a high score of 62. This was one of two half centuries he made in first-class cricket. Gaekwad fell ill with pneumonia in 1919, as a result he was admitted to a clinic in Baroda for treatment. However, he never recovered from the illness and died in November 1919. Gaekwad came from a large cricketing family, several of whom played at first-class level. This included his two sons, K. S. Gaekwar and Khanderao Gaekwar. He also had a daughter with his wife, Shrimant Akhand Soubhagyavati Maharajkumari Shakuntala Raje Gaekwad, who was the daughter of the Maharaja of Cooch-Behar.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaekwad, Shivajirao 1890 births 1919 deaths People from Vadodara St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda alumni Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Indian cricketers Hindus cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers Oxford University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Deaths from pneumonia in India