Two selfless, patriotic members of royal families

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 Kumar Shri of Limbdi, Ghanashyamsinhji.

  They were cricketers of very little merit. But at the time, in the 1930s, it was felt that leaders could 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 in India’s inaugural Test. Obviously all the players were Test debutants.

 Thankfully both Natwarsinhji and Ghanashyamsinhji were educated, liberal, magnanimous souls, in the most appropriate sense of those words. They were pragmatic 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. They played just 4 and 11 first-class matches respectively on the full tour.

 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 of any nation 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 benefit of the nation by giving the deserving men their due.

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 supposedly erudite India captain 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. Only I, me and myself. Full stop.