A gentleman cricketer, Jayasingh Ghorpade was sent as a replacement for the tour of West Indies in 1953 and made his debut in the third Test at Port of Spain. Going in at No. 9, he scored a valuable 35. In the final Test he scored a timely 24, again at No. 9 as India were in some danger of losing the game. But he could never really establish himself in the Indian side of the fifties, despite his allround capabilities. An attacking right hand batsman and a legbreak bowler who played in spectacles, Ghorpade was more out of than in the team, just playing the occasional Test against New Zealand at Calcutta in 1955-56 (when he top scored with 39 in a total of 132), against Australia at Bombay in 1956-57 and West Indies two years later at Calcutta. He got more opportunities however on the tour of England in 1959. In first class games, he scored 833 runs (23.80) and in three Tests, he scored 100 runs with his Test highest score of 41 (top score) in India's total of 168 in the second Test at Lord's. Ghorpade was discarded after that but continued to play for Baroda until the mid sixties. His career highest was 123 against Rajasthan in 1957-58 and his best bowling in an innings was 6 for 19 for Indian Universities against Pakistan in 1952-53. In a first-class career lasting from 1948 to 1965, Ghorpade scored 2631 runs (25.54) with two centuries and took 114 wickets (30.91). At the time of his sudden death following a heart attack, he was a national selector.
Partab Ramchand