Amritsar Govindsingh Kripal Singh (6 August 1933 – 22 July 1987) was an Indian

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

er.

Life and career

Kripal Singh came from a famous cricketing family. His father

A. G. Ram Singh Amritsar Govindsingh Ram Singh (14 July 1910 – 11 August 1999) was an Indian first-class cricketer. An allrounder, he bowled slow left-arm orthodox and was a left-handed middle order batsman. His sons A. G. Kripal Singh and A. G. Milkha Sing ...

was unlucky not to play for India, his brother

Milkha Singh Milkha Singh (20 November 1929 18 June 2021), also known as "The Flying Sikh", was an Indian track and field sprinter who was introduced to the sport while serving in the Indian Army. He is the only athlete to win gold at 400 metres at the A ...

was a Test cricketer, and another brother, two sons, his daughter and a nephew all played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

. He was an attacking batsman and a useful off spin bowler. He played a leading role in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

winning the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

in 1954–55, scoring 636 runs and taking 13 wickets. In the semi-final against

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

he hit 98 and 97 – the second innings runs came out of a total of 139 all out in which no one else reached double figures – and took 4 for 18 in the second innings. Kripal had university exams at the time of the final and was granted a postponement by the university. In the final against

Holkar The Holkars (pronunciation: �o(ː)ɭkəɾ were the ruling house of the Indore State of the Maratha Confederacy, and earlier held the rank of Subahdar under Peshwa Baji Rao I of the Maratha Empire. When the Maratha Confederacy began to we ...

he scored 75 and 91 and seven wickets in a narrow victory. Earlier in the season he scored his career best score of 208 against Travancore-Cochin. Picked for the Test series against

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in the following season, he scored 100* on his debut. That was to remain his only Test hundred. He scored two other fifties, one a defiant 53 against

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

in 1958–59. Kripal toured England in 1959. He hit 178 against Lancashire and played in one Test where he scored 41. A finger injury severely limited his appearances. Though he remained within the sight of the selectors, his Test appearances were irregular thereafter. He played three Tests in 1961–62 and two in 1963–64, all against

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. It was in the Third Test in 1961–62 that he took his first wicket in Test cricket. He had bowled 588 balls in nine innings and ten Tests prior to this, and no bowler has taken as many balls for his first wicket. In the same Test, he was involved in a scandal that ended the career of

Subhash Gupte Subhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte (Marathi: सुभाष गुप्ते) (; 11 December 1929 – 31 May 2002) was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers, EAS Prasanna and Jim Laker pronounced him the best ...

. In one of the Test matches in 1963–64 when many English players went down with injury and illness, Kripal fielded for them almost as a permanent substitute. Towards the end of his career Kripal became more of a bowler. He captained Tamil Nadu, and South Zone in the first ever

Duleep Trophy The Duleep Trophy, is a domestic First Class Cricket competition played in India. Named after former cricketer Duleepsinhji, the competition has largely been contested by teams representing various geographical zones of India since the first ed ...

match. He was born a Sikh, but between his Test appearances, Kripal fell in love with a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

girl and converted to marry her and shaved off his beard and had hair cut. Kripal died from a cardiac arrest at the age of 53. He was a national selector at the time of his death and had been due to become chairman of the selection committee in August 1987.

References

Sources

* V. Ramnarayan, ''Mosquitos and other Jolly Rovers'' *

Mihir Bose Mihir Bose (born 12 January 1947) is a British Indian journalist and author. He writes a weekly "Big Sports Interview" for the ''London Evening Standard'', and also writes and broadcasts on sport and social and historical issues for several ou ...

, ''A History of Indian Cricket'' *

Christopher Martin-Jenkins Christopher Dennis Alexander Martin-Jenkins, Order of the British Empire, MBE (20 January 1945 – 1 January 2013), also known as CMJ, was a British cricket journalist and a President of Marylebone Cricket Club, MCC. He was also the longest serv ...

, ''A Complete Who's Who of Test Cricketers''

External links

* *
"A most cerebral cricketer"
by V Ramnarayan {{DEFAULTSORT:Kripal Singh Indian cricketers 20th-century Indian sportsmen India Test cricketers Cricketers who made a century on Test debut Tamil Nadu cricketers Hyderabad cricketers Indian Universities cricketers South Zone cricketers Indian Christians Converts to Christianity 1933 births 1987 deaths Loyola College, Chennai alumni Cricketers from Chennai