__NOTOC__ Laxmidas Purshottamdas Jai (1 April 1902 – 29 January 1968) was a major figure in Indian cricket between the wars. Jai was born in a

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

family in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. Jai was a graceful right-handed stroke-player. Most of his finer innings came in the

Bombay Quadrangular The Bombay Tournament was an annual cricket competition held in British India between 1892 and 1946. Until 1936, matches were played on either the Gymkhana Ground in Bombay or the Deccan Gymkhana Ground in Poona, and then at the Brabourne Stadi ...

competition. He captained

to the title in the first-ever

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 ...

championship. Because of the Hindu Gymkhana's opposition in protest against the jailing of Indian political leaders, Jai along with

Vijay Merchant Vijay Singh Madhavji Merchant , (born Vijay Madhavji Thackersey; 12 October 1911 – 27 October 1987) was an Indian cricketer. A right-hand batsman and occasional right-arm medium pace bowler, Merchant played first-class cricket for Bombay c ...

and

Champak Mehta Champaklal Narotamdas Mehta (1907 – 13 December 1981) was an Indian cricketer who played for Mumbai cricket team, Bombay, Gujarat cricket team, Gujarat and Hindus cricket team, Hindus in 1930s. Mehta was born in Surat and studied in the ...

were unavailable for trial matches to select the Indian team that tours

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1932. The tour included India's first ever Test match. His only Test was the first ever in India. He toured England in 1936 but a broken finger restricted his appearances. He was a selector in the 1950s, before resigning over a dispute during the 1958/59 series 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 ...

. The trophy awarded to the scorer of the fastest hundred in Ranji trophy every season was named after him.

Career

As was the case with cricketers prior to commercial sponsorships, Jai was employed by the

Imperial Bank of India The Imperial Bank of India (IBI) was one of the oldest and the largest commercial banks in India, and was subsequently renamed and nationalised as the State Bank of India in 1955. Initially, as per its royal charter, it acted as the central ba ...

, later

State Bank of India State Bank of India (SBI) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Public sector undertakings in India, public sector bank and financial service body headquartered in Mumbai. It is the largest bank in India with a 23% market shar ...

, by way of a job for life. This helped to nurture his hobby,

philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possibl ...

. He became an eminent philatelist, being in a position to "rescue" every stamped envelope that came to the bank every day. He specialised in British Empire stamps.

Family/Personal Life

Jai was married to Kanta. They had two children. His son Shashikant is a businessman in Nairobi and his daughter Purnima Zaveri is a renowned singer. Jai died on 29 January 1968 in Bombay from

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

References

External links

* Indian cricketers 20th-century Indian sportsmen India Test cricketers Mumbai cricketers Hindus cricketers Indian philatelists 1902 births 1968 deaths India national cricket team selectors Cricketers from Mumbai {{philatelist-stub

Career

Family/Personal Life

References

Further reading

External links