After a diamond the size of a golf ball was put on public display in Paris in the late 19th century, Rajindra Singh, the seventh Maharaja of Patiala, moved quickly to buy it. After he passed away, his son Bhupinder came into possession of the diamond. In 1925, he sent a ton of jewellery, including the original diamond, to the workshops of Cartier SA in Paris, one of the biggest luxury brands in the world. Legend has it that the eighth Maharaja of Patiala also sent a message: “Create a ceremonial necklace worthy enough for a king.”
So, the boffins at Cartier worked for three years before presenting the finished product in 1928. Named Collier de Patiala, commonly known as the Patiala necklace, it became an overnight sensation because of its sheer opulence and grandeur.
In the interim, it’s believed that the Maharaja had commissioned other pieces of silverware, including a cup the size of an overgrown baby. After having it in his trophy cabinet for a few years, Bhupinder donated it to BCCI. Bombay ultimately became the first recipients of the said memento in 1935: The Ranji Trophy.
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The year is 1892 and the seventh Maharaja of Patiala has been banned from setting foot in Shimla. The British Viceroy has passed an order, forbidding him because one member of the royal family had allegedly eloped with the Viceroy’s daughter. It meant the Maharaja had to set up a new summer capital. Chail was deemed fit for the purpose. Considering Rajindra was a cricket enthusiast, he urged his younger brother, Raja Ranbir Singh, to level a piece of land to establish one of the world’s highest cricket grounds (7,500 feet above sea level). Even though Chail went into the Guinness Book of World Records for a cricket-related reason, its impact on the sport was minimal.
Patiala, however, was waking up to a new reality. Thanks to the efforts of Rajindra – multiple historians have supported this notion through books and essays on the subject – cricket was a prime currency in the area. “The Maharajas of Patiala,” Boria Majumdar wrote in the Lost Histories of Indian Cricket: Battles Off the Pitch, “had taken to cricket patronage in the late 19th century to assert equality with the colonial masters. Maharaja Rajinder Singh initiated cricket patronage in Patiala, employing cricketers from across the country.”
SM Verma, a former professor of history at Punjabi University in Patiala, explained the genesis behind the sport’s birth and subsequent growth in the area. “You can call this the Mecca of cricket of North India,” he said. “The prince (Rajindra Singh) would often go and stay in Shimla. Over there, he watched people associated with the British army play cricket in a place called Annadale. That’s how he got fascinated with the game.”
Armed with more than a rudimentary knowledge of the game, Rajindra, with the help of Ranbir, started to popularise cricket in Patiala. They enlisted servants serving the royal family and split them into two teams. Captain Rajindra XI vs Captain Ranbir XI. But he wasn’t a satisfied man because they were playing in a small area. So, Ranbir was asked to construct a ground inside the premises. That’s how the cricket ground at Baradari (known later on as Rajindra Gymkhana) came into being.
With Patiala now a suitable place to host matches beyond those of the younger brother taking on the older, the Maharaja approached a group of Parsis for a clash. “In 1896 or 1897, a Parsi team was coming back from Shimla and they were asked to play a match in Patiala. A Maharaja XI vs Parsis XI was organised. That’s how one of the first matches came to be played in Baradari.”
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Frank Tarrant. Wilfred Rhodes. Harold Larwood. George Hirst. Maurice Leyland. JT Hearne. It’s an elite cricketing list and the one uncommonly-common theme linking all of them is that they have all served Patiala’s cricket team as either a player, coach or both. The relationship between Tarrant and Bhupinder was the most interesting. In fact, one can make a compelling case to say that without Tarrant, there would have been no Lala Amarnath, one of India’s first great cricketing sons.
Before getting into the nitty-gritty, it’s important to place on record Bhupinder’s contribution. “In many ways,” historian Mihir Bose posited in The Magic Of Indian Cricket: Cricket and Society in India, “Bhupinder Singh went further than his father. Whereas Rajindra Singh had concentrated mostly on cricket in Patiala, Bhupinder organised, financed and captained the 1911 tour of an Indian team to England, donated money for pavilions and trophies, including the Ranji trophy, and did much to encourage the game.”
This even finds a mention in the history section of BCCI’s official website. “1911 witnessed the first-ever tour of England by an ‘All-India’ team. Sponsored and captained by the Maharaja of Patiala, the team featured the best cricketers of the time.”
The tour also allowed the Maharaja to network in such a way that he brought home a vast array of coaches to Patiala. “More than 10 English players went on to become coaches at some level in Patiala,” Verma said.
Tarrant, who stayed back in Patiala for some 30 years, was responsible for honing the talent of many a player, including Amarnath. After noticing him in Lahore, the Australian born all-rounder soon recommended his name for India’s first Test tour of England in 1932. Tarrant also pulled out all stops to bring him under the Patiala fold. “Frank Tarrant, an Australian who worked as a cricket coach for the Maharaja of Patiala, saw Amarnath play and recommended him to his employer, thus introducing Amarnath to the world of princely cricket,” Peter Oborne wrote in Wounded Tiger: A History of Cricket in Pakistan.
It was no surprise that Amarnath went on to become India’s first Test centurion.
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But then, Amarnath wasn’t the only one who benefitted from the largesse bestowed upon the sport by the Maharaja. One only needs to look at the team sheet of India’s debut Test against England. Of the 11, four — Syed Wazir Ali, Nazir Ali, Amar Singh, Mohammad Nissar — had already or were going to play for Maharaja of Patiala’s XI.
Bhupinder was also busy promoting the game through other avenues. He played a big role in establishing one of the most important sporting bodies of the country. After an MCC team under the stewardship of Arthur Gilligan played a number of matches in India, he implored the powers that be to give India Test status. He also urged the princely states to form a common body for the betterment of the game.
Gilligan held formal talks with the Maharaja, Grant Govan, a businessman, and Anthony de Mello. The three convened a meeting comprising 50 delegates, with one main objective: “advance and control the game throughout India.”
It took a few more years, but the birth of BCCI had been set in motion.
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There is also an apocryphal tale about Bhupinder being charged by the treasury for spending too much on cricket. While there are no real records to support this, he spared no expenses for cricket. For instance, he financed the selection trials of the team before its tour to England in 1932.
There is also the lesser-known story of how he personally financed an Australian team’s first ever tour of India in 1935. Megan Ponsford, a cricket historian who published a paper on the tour, shed some light on how and why that happened. “It was, in essence, a highly political move. You could say that the team captained by Jack Ryder came to India to make them a competitive unit before India’s Tour of England next year. Even though it wasn’t sanctioned by the then Australian board, the players, most of whom were retired, agreed because of the wages on offer.”
This is where Bhupinder played a critical role. “He gave all members of the touring party £300 and agreed to meet everyday expenses. It was a no-brainer because cricket was still an amateur sport in Australia.”
The move also served a purpose for the Maharaja, according to Ponsford, who now works at Federation University in Melbourne. “He was no fool. He was highly driven and ambitious. He eyed an opportunity to take control of cricket in India through this tour and used it, especially against Vizzy (Vijay Ananda Gajapathi Raju aka Maharajkumar of Vizianagram), who was one of the others who used cricket for political capital.”
Megan — who also happens to be the granddaughter of former Australia great Bill — lifted the veil off the career path of Tarrant, who was the team manager in that 1935 series. “He actually left Australia in murky circumstances. The police wanted him for embezzlement. During his time in England, he came into contact with Ranjitsinhji and it was he who asked him to go to India because of the opportunities and possibility of good money.”
He took the advice and moved to India and the rest, as they say, is history.
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It’s 5.30 pm and the sun is slowly setting in Patiala. Rajindra Gymkhana and Mahindra Club is slowly welcoming guests for the evening. A stone’s throw away from the pristine lawns sits the impressive Baradari cricket ground. It is currently occupied as four teams are engaged in what looks like two non-competitive matches. From outside the boundary line, two coaches look on.
Their challenge is very different from what the likes of Tarrant faced a century ago. Patiala was then at the forefront of a cricketing revolution. Today, it’s not even the best cricketing city in the state. This fact further espouses how much cricket has moved away from Patiala in recent decades. Navjot Singh Sidhu was the last Patiala-born cricketer to play a Test for India. Since then, there have been eight born in other places in Punjab who have gone to represent the country in Tests.
But there is hope in Simran Singh and Anmolpreet Singh. The former, bought by Kings XI Punjab for `4.8 crore, made his IPL debut on Monday. He made a 17-ball 16. It wasn’t much but it could be a stepping stone to what could be a better tomorrow.