Rajkot, the hub of cricket in Saurashtra

From Ranjitsinhji to Ravindra Jadeja, Saurashtra has produced some of the most natural and prodigiously talented players India has seen.

Apart from Ranji and his nephew Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji, the region has gifted to the world cricketers like Amar Singh, Ladha Ramji, Vinoo Mankad, Salim Durani, Karsan Ghavri, Dilip Doshi, Cheteshwar Pujara, and of course Jadeja, many of whom could easily walk into the playing XI of any Test nation.

Rajkot is the hub of cricket in Saurashtra, with Jamnagar giving it a good run for its money. Most of Saurashtra's international cricketers, save Ashok Patel and Jaydev Unadkat, who belonged to Bhavnagar and Porbandar respectively, hail either from Rajkot or Jamnagar. But barring a few, a majority of Saurashtra players represented other state teams when they got the India cap. Mankad and Ghavri were representing Mumbai, and Doshi and Ajay Jadeja Bengal and Haryana respectively when they first played for India.

Ranji and Duleep, of course, played all their cricket in England and also represented that country in Test cricket. Born in Sarodar village near Jamnagar, the two honed their skills at Rajkot's elite Rajkumar College, a British-style public school meant exclusively for princes in those years. The little cricket that Ranji played in India was for Rajkumar College, although Duleep turned out for the Hindus in the Pentangular too. The name of Rajkumar College inevitably comes up when the topic of cricket in Saurashtra comes up. For many years the public school churned out quality Ranji Trophy cricketers. Both Yajurvindra Singh and Ajay Jadeja were alumni. There is an unmistakable aura about this institution, which has maintained its structural dignity, status and style nearly 150 years after its establishment.

There is a portrait of Ranji lined up with other maharajas in the stately Central Hall. There is also a bath, said to be more than 100 years old, named after him. The most attractive relic of them all is perhaps the Maharaja Shri Duleepsinhji Memorial Pavilion, built in 1962, in the school's historic ground, where many great cricketers, including Frank Worrell, have paraded their talents.

In Jamnagar town there is a majestic statue of Ranji in the centre of Willingdon Crescent, but nothing to perpetuate Duleep's memories. Jamnagar's main ground is called Cricket Bunglow. There is a life-size statue of Mankad just outside it, captured in his classical bowling action.

A number of items of cricket memorabilia were to be found at the imposing Pratap Vilas Palace of Jamnagar, which is home to, among other valuable items of historic importance, an artificial eye, ashtray, cigar case, flannels, medals and bats belonging to Ranji. In July 2006, burglars made off with rare silver utensils, glass vases, bronze statues, paintings and other ancient objects, and damaged many others - among them a gold-plated wooden pagoda presented to the father of cricketer Shatrusalyasinhji, the current Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, by the Jamnagar Rangoon Society of Burma. In December 2009 there was another failed burglary attempt at the palace. And then a year later, a bat belonging to Ranji, that reports said was valued in the region of Rs 4 to 5 crores, was stolen from the palace.

Cricket artefacts have left there by other means as well. When the Ranji Centenary Match was organised in Jamnagar in September 1972, between a Ranji XI and an Indian Board President's XI, featuring a galaxy of Indian and Australian cricketers, Sahtrusalyasinhji gave away one of Ranji's bats to Ross Edwards.

In 2005 a necklace containing an oblong 17th-century emerald and a hexagonal 18th-century emerald, estimated at £1.6 million in value, and a personal favourite of Ranji's, was to go under the hammer at Christie's in London. Shatrusalyasinhji was puzzled as to how the heirloom found its way to the auction house, for he was certain Ranji would never have sold it to anyone.

Ranji had purchased the emeralds in the 1930s and had had Jacques Cartier, perhaps the best known of all jewellers, string it personally. Shatrusalyasinhji managed to convince Christie's, after many attempts, not to include the royal jewel in that sale or any other in future. How and when the necklace left the possession of the royal family remains a mystery; it is possible Ranji gifted it to one of his blue-blooded guests.

Porbandar has preserved memories of Duleep better than Jamnagar has those of Ranji. There is the Duleep School of Cricket, which was inaugurated by the stylish batsman himself in 1947. Once a modern cricket school but now in a shambles, it was a gift to Porbandar by its ruler Maharana Natwarsinhji, who led India on their first cricket tour, to England in 1932 (though, aware of his limitations as a cricketer, he asked CK Nayudu to captain the Test at Lord's).

Rajkot, too, has not done much in recognition of its star son, Amar Singh. When the old municipal cricket ground was modernised in the early 2000s, it was thought that the city would pay a long overdue tribute to him. Instead the Congress regime in power in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation christened it Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, despite the fact that Scindia, the former Indian minister and BCCI president, who came from Madhya Pradesh, had nothing whatsoever to do with Rajkot or Saurashtra.

A street near Amar Singh's ancestral house in Rajkot bore his name once, but does not any longer. The very street sign has vanished, seemingly without anybody noticing, let alone raising a hue and cry about it. Sad but true, Amar Singh is a forgotten hero today in his home town.

A major attraction for cricket-loving tourists in Rajkot is Ravindra Jadeja's restaurant, Jaddu's Food Field, whose fortunes turned around when Ravindra's sister Naina, a professional nurse, took charge of it.

Besides running the restaurant, Naina also frequently has to handle the demanding media of Rajkot. When her brother is playing, whether he succeeds or fails, a horde of print and television journalists visit Jaddu's Food Field to get her comments.

A man who can fully sympathise with her predicament is Pujara's father, Arvind, a former Ranji Trophy cricketer who coached his son, lives in Rajkot, and is often similarly besieged. "This can be embarrassing at times, especially when some journalists come at odd hours and ask silly questions," says Arvind.

Apart from the aforementioned cricketers, a man who has been key to putting Rajkot on the international cricket map is Niranjan Shah, who until recently was the unchallenged and uncontested secretary of the Saurashtra Cricket Association for well over 40 years. Beginning with the star-studded Irani Cup in 1983, Shah used his influence in the BCCI not only to bring many tour games and one-day internationals to Rajkot, he also was instrumental in building a modern state-of-the-art stadium on the city's outskirts. The Test match between India and England last year, preceded by five IPL matches, was the icing on the cake for the man called "Badshah" by many.

Saurashtra's rich cricket legacy might not be immediately visible to fans making the trip to Rajkot for matches, but if they spend long enough, they will certainly get a sense of it.