Raj Singh Dungarpur (19 December 1935 – 12 September 2009) was a president of

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

. He played

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 16 years and was in and out of the Board of Control for more than 20 years. He was a selector of the national team for two terms. He also managed the Indian cricket team four times on overseas tours. As the chairman of the selection committee, Dungarpur introduced

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

to international cricket by selecting him for India's 1989 tour of Pakistan when he was just 16 years old. He is also credited for establishing the

National Cricket Academy The National Cricket Academy is a cricket facility of the BCCI for the purpose of developing young cricketers who have been identified as having the potential to represent the Indian cricket team. It was established in the year 2000 and is loc ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

Biography

Maharaj Raj Singh was born in the erstwhile princely state of

Dungarpur Dungarpur is a city in the southernmost part of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Dungarpur District. It is the fastest developing town in the southern part of Rajasthan, alongside Aspur ''tehsil''. History Dungarpu ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

(then called Rajputana) on 19 December 1935. He was the youngest son of Maharawal Lakshman Singhji, the ruler of Dungarpur. He has two brothers, namely, Jaisinghji and Mahipalsinghji, and three sisters, one of whom is the Maharani of Bikaner. He studied at

Daly College The Daly College is a co-educational residential and day boarding school located in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. It was founded by Sir Henry Daly of the British Indian Army during India's colonial British Raj, following an English public sch ...

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

. He was the long-term romantic partner of

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

, the legendary singer. He played for the

Rajasthan cricket team The Rajasthan cricket team is a cricket team which represents the Indian state of Rajasthan. The team won the Ranji Trophy in the 2010–11 and 2011-12 seasons, having finished runners-up eight times between 1960–61 and 1973-74. It is currentl ...

and

Central Zone cricket team The Central Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents central India in the Duleep Trophy and Deodhar Trophy. It is a composite team of players from six first-class Indian teams from central India competing in the Ranji Tr ...

, appearing in 86 first class cricket matches from 1955 to 1971, and taking 206 wickets as a medium-pace bowler. In Rajasthan's victory over

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Ber ...

in 1967-68 he took his best figures of 7 for 88 and 5 for 55. He was appointed as the Manager of the Indian Cricket team on a number of occasions. He was also a keen wildlife enthusiast, and golfer. He was also the president of

Cricket Club of India Cricket Club of India (CCI) is a cricket club in India. It is located on Dinsha Wacha Road, in Churchgate of Mumbai, India. It was conceived as India's counterpart to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). It is considered one of the most prestigiou ...

, Mumbai for 13 years. He served as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India for two terms. His last cricketing stint was as the manager of the Indian team to Pakistan. He died on 12 September 2009, after a prolonged battle with Alzheimer's disease, in Mumbai, aged 73. His funeral was held at Dungarpur.

References

External links

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Raj Singh at CricketArchive

Raj Singh Dungarpur website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dungarpur, Raj Singh 1935 births 2009 deaths Indian cricketers Rajasthan cricketers Rajasthani people Central Zone cricketers Indian cricket administrators Neurological disease deaths in India Deaths from Alzheimer's disease India national cricket team selectors People from Dungarpur Madhya Bharat cricketers Indian cricket coaches Presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Rajasthan cricket captains The Daly College Alumni