Thread by @Paperclip_In

Later today, the Indian Cricket Team is set to face New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad for the T20 world champion crown. But do you know that India's first tryst with cricket began in Gujarat – a little over 300-years ago?

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By the mid-18th century, the Mughal Empire was on the decline and European powers were increasingly making their presence felt on the subcontinent. Although late to the party, the British were gradually stepping up their trading activities.

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The Gujarat coast was a hub of maritime trade and one of the busy ports was Khambat – back then known as Cambay. Globally well known for its classical agate industry, Cambay cloth, ivory, golf and lacquer works, one fine day in 1721, Cambay was witness to a strange scene.

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A group of English sailors from the East India Co. ships Hunter and Gallery, bored while waiting for the high tide, descended to kill time by indulging in a game of cricket.

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This impromptu match – widely accepted as the first in the subcontinent – marked the humble beginnings of a game that today dominates the subcontinent with no other sport coming even close.

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Over the next 150+ years, as British monarchy took over the reins of India, cricket spread rapidly all over – Bombay, Poona, Madras, Karachi, Calcutta – all became major cricket hotspots as locals also warmed up to the game.

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But Gujarat’s tryst with cricket would return with a bang – and take the cricketing world by a storm. And it started from one of Cambay’s neighbors – the princely state of Nawanagar.

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Born on 10th September, 1872, Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji was distantly related to the ruling family of Nawanagar and in 1878, he was selected as the official heir of the ruling Jamsahib.

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Although his succession was a muddled affair, the royal patronage ensured a young Ranji received a good education at the Rajkumar College of Rajkot.

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The college was organized like a British public school and egged on by the principal, Chester Macnaghten, Ranji embraced and excelled in cricket along with studies. His strong academic performance eventually took him to Cambridge in 1889.

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It did not take long for Ranji’s prodigious talent to shine through and the British cricket establishment was left awed by the Indian’s unorthodox, aggressive batting style and brilliant use of wrists in stroke making.

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In 1892, Ranji became the first Indian to earn the coveted Cambridge “Blue” in cricket. In the next few years, his performance for the Sussex County Cricket Club became the stuff of legends.

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The doyen of English cricket writers, Neville Cardus, fell in love with Ranji’s game and hailed him as “the Midsummer night’s dream” while describing his style as a "strange light of the East" that brought magical, unprecedented artistry to English cricket.

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In 1896, a glass ceiling was broken as Ranji was selected in the English side to face Australia in an Ashes test at Old Trafford. Ranji marked the occasion with sparkling knocks of 62 and 154* - the latter coming after England was asked to follow on.

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The Indian’s test career was limited to 15 appearances in which he made close to 1000 runs. But it was for Sussex that he left the most indelible mark – scoring more than 24000 first class runs at an average of 56+ with 72 centuries.

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From 1899-1903, Ranji captained Sussex before returning to India to take over as the ruler of Nawanagar, returning twice in 1908 and 1912 – scoring more than 1000 runs in both seasons.

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Although Ranji played little cricket in India, such was his impact on the game that when a domestic national cricket tournament was conceptualized in 1934, the Maharaja of Patiala, Bhupindersinhi, donated a trophy – naming it Ranji Trophy.

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Cricket as a game has undergone radical transformation since Ranjitsinhji’s time. India, back then a colony of the British Raj, is today a superpower of the game – both on the field and off it.

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As for today, we wish – may the better team win (and let it be India 😊)

The story is researched and written by flamboyant writer @yashmishra91

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