Rajkumar Shri Chatrapalsinhji, later known as R.K. Chatrapalsinh Jadeja (4 November 1936 – 29 April 2009), a member of the Jamnagar royal family, 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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

in India from 1957 to 1971.

Education and cricket career

Chatrapalsinhji was educated at

Rajkumar College, Rajkot The Rajkumar College (or RKC) in Rajkot, Gujarat is one of the oldest K-12 institutions in India. RKC has a 26-acre (105,000 m²) campus in Rajkot. History The foundation stone of Rajkumar College was laid in 1868. The institution was designe ...

, and

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate Central university (India), central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and ...

, where he opened the batting for the university team in the

Rohinton Baria Trophy The All-India Inter-University Cricket Championship held for the Rohinton Baria Gold Trophy (or simply, Rohinton Baria Trophy) is India's premier inter-university cricket tournament. It has been contested annually since the 1935/36 season. Histo ...

from 1955-56 to 1957-58. He made his first-class debut for

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy (also known as Mastercard Ranji Trophy for sponsorship reasons) is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between multiple teams representing regional and state cricket associations. Board of Control for Cr ...

in 1957-58. In his second match he scored 69 in the second innings, taking part in an opening partnership of 114 when Delhi successfully chased 136 for victory. He returned to play for his home team Saurashtra in 1958-59, scoring 246 runs in four matches at an average of 30.75. He made his highest score of 98 against

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

in 1962-63, a drawn match in which two other members of the Jamnagar royal family, Indrajitsinhji and

Shatrusalyasinhji H.H. Jamsaheb Shatrusalyasinhji Jadeja (born 20 February 1939) is a former first-class cricketer and the last person to hold the title of Maharaja of Nawanagar. Family and education His father, H H Jam Saheb Sri Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji, p ...

, were also successful for Saurashtra. From 1967-68 to 1969-70 he played for

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

. In 1968-69 he was chosen to represent

East Zone The East Zone cricket team is a first-class cricket team that represents eastern India in the Duleep Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Inter Zonal. It is a composite team of five first-class Indian teams from eastern India competing in the Ran ...

in his only appearance in the

Duleep Trophy The Duleep Trophy, also known as Mastercard Duleep trophy due to sponsorship reasons, is a domestic first-class cricket competition played in India. Named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji of Nawanagar (also known as 'Duleep'), the competition wa ...

. In a low-scoring match he was East Zone's top scorer, with 42 and 10, in a loss to South Zone. He played one final match, for Gujarat, in 1971-72.

Career with Air India

Chatrapalsinhji's work as an officer with

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed ...

took him around India and the Gulf States. He was the instigator of the 1989 Nehru Cup international cricket tournament.

Ramachandra Guha Ramachandra "Ram" Guha (born 29 April 1958) is an Indian historian, environmentalist, writer and public intellectual whose research interests include social, political, contemporary, environmental and cricket history, and the field of economic ...

, ''The States of Indian Cricket'', Permanent Black, Bangalore, 2005, p. 162.

References

External links

* {{ESPNcricinfo, id=27886 1936 births 2009 deaths Indian cricketers People from Jamnagar Cricketers from Gujarat Delhi cricketers Saurashtra cricketers Bihar cricketers Gujarat cricketers East Zone cricketers Delhi University alumni