Vasant Baburao Ranjane (22 July 1937 – 22 December 2011) was an Indian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played in seven

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

between 1958 and 1964. Vasant Ranjane was a 'slightly built, unlikely looking figure for an opening bowler' who relied more on line and length than speed for his wickets,Sujit Mukherjee, ''Playing for India'', Orient Longman (1988) but could 'swing both ways and cut the ball off the seam'. As a young boy, Ranjane used to frequent the grounds of the Shivaji Preparatory School in

Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

where Madhusudan Rege used to coach. He put this to practice at the Sangam Wadi Union Club, from where he was picked by the talent scouts of the Vilas Club. This paved the way for playing in the first division and first class cricket.G. Viswanath, ''The Forgotten Figure'', Sportstar, 29 September 1984 Ranjane had a fabulous start to his first class career when he took nine wickets for 35 in an innings on his debut (13 for 71 in the match) including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

for

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

against

Saurashtra Saurashtra, Sourashtra, or variants may refer to: ** Kathiawar, also called Saurashtra Peninsula, a peninsula in western India ** Saurashtra (state), alias United State of Kathiawar, a former Indian state, merged into Bombay State and since its d ...

in 1956–57. The role was reversed when he played his first Test two years later 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 ...

at Green Park, Kanpur, when his only wicket was the one missed by

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 ...

who took 9 for 102. He was hit on the thigh by a full toss from

Wes Hall Sir Wesley Winfield Hall (born 12 September 1937) is a Barbadian former cricketer and politician. A tall, strong and powerfully built man, Hall was a genuine fast bowler and despite his very long run up, he was renowned for his ability to bow ...

while batting and was unable to bowl in the second innings. Surendranath replaced him in the next Test. He was recalled to the Test side three years later against England where he took ten wickets in three Tests. This was followed by the tour to West Indies in 1961–62. Partly due to the presence off too many

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

s in the side, Ranjane played only in the final Test where he took the wickets of

Conrad Hunte Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, Knight or Dame of St. Andrew (Barbados), KA (9 May 1932 – 3 December 1999) was a Barbadian people, Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test cricket, Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies crick ...

Rohan Kanhai Rohan Bholalall Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is a Guyanese former cricketer of Indo-Guyanese origin, who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured on ...

Gary Sobers The Right Excellent Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, NH, AO, OCC (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a Barbadian born former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowle ...

and

Frank Worrell Sir Frank Mortimer Maglinne Worrell (1 August 1924 – 13 March 1967), sometimes referred to by his nickname of Tae, was a Barbadian West Indies cricketer and Jamaican senator. A stylish right-handed batsman and useful left-arm seam bowler, ...

. Ranjane came from a very poor background. After his father, who was a factory worker, died when Ranjane was ten, his mother worked as a maid in a hospital to support the family. Ranjane dropped out of the school after the seventh standard. He managed to find a job as a fitter in the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

where he continued till 1994, but it was hardly sufficient to maintain his six children.Richard Cashman, ''Patrons, players and the crowd'', Orient Longman (1980), p. 92 When his sufferings got exposure in the media in the early 1980s, the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

allotted him a benefit match at

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

between India and the touring West Indies side in 1983. He also received an

ex gratia (; also spelled ''ex-gratia'') is Latin for "by favor", and is most often used in a legal context. When something has been done ''ex gratia'', it has been done voluntarily, out of kindness or grace. In law, an ''ex gratia payment'' is a payment ...

payment from the BCCI when his house was damaged in the floods in Poona in the 1960s. His son Subhash played cricket for Maharashtra.

References

External links

* 1937 births 2011 deaths India Test cricketers Indian cricketers 20th-century Indian sportsmen Maharashtra cricketers Railways cricketers North Zone cricketers West Zone cricketers Cricketers from Pune {{India-cricket-bio-stub