Indian touring team to England, 1932

Captain Natwarsinhji and deputy Ghanshyamsinhji are seated 3rd and 4th from left.

                  Tale of two unheralded patriots of Indian cricket

In 1932 the Indian cricket team set sail for Britain to play their first-ever official Test match. The chosen captain of the touring team was the Maharaja of Porbandar, Natwarsinhji. His deputy was the Maharaja of Limbdi, Ghanashyamsinhji.

 Both were very mediocre cricketers. But at the time, in the 1930s, it was felt that leaders can only come from the princely classes. Hence the two members of the royalty were given the top two posts in the Indian cricket team to play their debut Test.

Thankfully both Natwarsinhji and Ghanashyamsinhji were educated, liberal souls, in the most appropriate sense of those words. They were sensible enough to understand that if they were in the playing XI, the national team would become weak. Both declined to play in the inaugural Test at Lord’s. That Test match being the sole Test of the series, they never got to play for India again.

Skipper Natwarsinhji and his deputy Ghanashyamsinhji decided that the best choice to lead would be the ‘commoner’ CK Nayudu. Accordingly India’s first-ever Test captain was Cottariya Konkaiya Nayudu, a magnificent all-rounder and a born leader of men. CK’s elevation to the top was not because of the selection committee, but because of the magnanimous gesture of two princely gentlemen.

The chief reasons for highlighting this extraordinary event are quite a few. To begin with, this particular issue has not yet seen the light of day. Indian authors and historians could not decipher the magnitude of the gesture of two men who sacrificed immortality for the just cause of the nation. Both Natwarsinhji and Ghanashyamsinhji deserve our salute.

Secondly, in the annals of international Test cricket such a unique sacrifice has never been seen. No captain-elect has ever relinquished his debut captaincy in this magnificent manner.

Thirdly, this is a very significant issue in the light of modern thinking. At a time when ‘commoners’ in BCCI are fighting among themselves for every bit of crumb on the table, we in India have had ‘royal’ people who knew how to sacrifice self for the cause of the deserving individuals as well as for the nation.

Natwarsinhji and Ghanashyamsinhji are names that even the top Indian cricketers and administrators are unaware of. In fact they do not want to know about them. As one former India captain has recently observed, “…why bother about what happened earlier; all that is in the past!”

Today where is the time for chivalry and magnanimity in the quagmire of corruption?  Now the whole emphasis is on money and power; power and money. Nothing else matters.

Genuine cricket connoisseurs would do well to remember these two unheralded and forgotten gentlemen of Indian cricket.