Sanspareils Greenlands, commonly known by the abbreviation SG, is an Indian

cricket equipment Cricket clothing and equipment is regulated by the laws of cricket. Cricket whites, sometimes called flannels, are the loose fitting clothes which are worn while playing cricket so as not to restrict the player's movement. Use of protective equ ...

manufacturer. Its balls are used in

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...

and in 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 ...

in India. They have a more prominent seam and are closer together than the

Kookaburra Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic of its call. The ...

balls used for Test matches, used in rest of the world apart from England and West Indies (which use

Dukes Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

), resulting from the thicker thread used for stitching. The balls are also completely hand-crafted. Brothers Kedarnath and Dwarakanath Anand established Sanspareils Co. in Sialkot in 1931. They were originally from Lahore where they apprenticed in their uncle's sports shop RICHIE Sports. In 1940 they established a company named Greenlands to facilitate export of their products. After the partition of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, the family moved to Agra and then settled in Meerut in 1950. Its factory has been in

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

since 1950. SG has been exporting bats manufactured in

to the UK and

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 ...

for most of the international cricket brands. The company has been the market leader in the world with legends like

Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Manohar Gavaskar (Marathi pronunciation: uniːl ɡaːʋəskəɾ ; born 10 July 1949), is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented India and Bombay from 1971 to 1987. Gavaskar is acknowledged as one of the grea ...

Mohammad Azharuddin Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the Memb ...

and

Rahul Dravid Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...

endorsing the brand. In 2008,

Virender Sehwag Virender Sehwag (born 20 October 1978) is a former Indian cricketer who represented India from 1999 to 2013. Widely regarded as one of the most destructive opener, he played for Delhi Capitals in IPL and Delhi and Haryana in Indian domestic c ...

became an SG brand ambassador. Since 1994, every Test Match played in India has been played with SG balls. SG Test balls are handmade
and are said to be 20% of the price of Kookaburra balls.

Criticism

The SG Test Balls have come under severe criticism in recent times.

Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cric ...

, has criticized SG Balls over the quality of SG Test Balls used recently, saying "Right now, I say that the Kookaburra red ball is the best. Dukes is quite good. But I'm disappointed with the SG ball. It used to be top-notch when I started playing. The seam would be prominent even after 70 overs. It's not the same anymore".

Kuldeep Yadav Kuldeep Yadav (born 14 December 1994) is an Indian international cricketer. He is a bowling all-rounder who bowls Left-arm Unorthodox spin bowler is and a capable Lower order batter who plays for India and for Uttar Pradesh in domestic crick ...

too shared his thoughts on the SG ball saying "Kookaburra red ball is good to grip. SG is okay at the moment". Indian Captain

Virat Kohli Virat Kohli (; born 5 November 1988) is an Indian international cricketer and former captain of the India national cricket team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, Kohli plays as a right-handed Batting (cricket), batte ...

, jumped on the bandwagon and said that Test cricket across the globe should be played with the England-made Duke balls, expressing his displeasure at the poor quality of the SG balls that India use at home and supported the issues raised by Ashwin, saying "I totally agree with him (Ashwin). To have a ball scuffed up in five overs is something that we haven't seen before. The quality of the SG ball used to be quite high before and I don't understand the reason why it's gone down" . Speedster

Umesh Yadav Umeshkumar Tilak Yadav (born 25 October 1987) is an Indian cricketer who currently plays for Vidarbha cricket team, Indian national team, Middlesex and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League. A right-arm fast bowler, Yadav has p ...

, joined the growing list of Indian players who feel the SG Test ball was not ideal, complained that it is ineffective to bowl with the SG Test Balls in India. He says that after the ball wears out, it offers no pace or bounce on flat Indian tracks and makes it difficult to contain the lower-order batsmen of the opposition.

References

External links

* {{Sports equipment brands Sportswear brands Cricket equipment manufacturers Indian companies established in 1940 Companies based in Uttar Pradesh Companies based in Meerut Manufacturing companies established in 1940 Indian companies established in 1931