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Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad (Jackie Baroda): Youngest BCCI President

Respectfully referred to in the archives as the Maharaja of Baroda, Fatehsinghrao Gaekwad was a right-hand bat, and had played 28 First-Class matches.

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Jackie Baroda © Getty Images
Jackie Baroda © Getty Images

Friends, let us draw a deep breath and stand respectfully to attention as we pronounce the august name: Lieutenant-Colonel Farzand-i-Khas-i-Daulat-i-Inglishia, Shrimant Maharaja Fatehsinghrao Prataprao Gaekwad, Sena Khas Khel Shamsher Bahadur, Maharaja of Baroda, the last titular ruler of Baroda. This universally admired and ever popular man was born April 2, 1930 at Baroda, to Pratap Singh Gaekwad, the last ruling Maharaja of Baroda, and his first wife, Maharani Shantadevi Sahib Gaekwad.

Thankfully, it was more than what they in England could handle. In the Old Blighty he was referred to as ‘Jackie Baroda’.

Respectfully referred to in the archives as the Maharaja of Baroda, he was a right-hand bat, and that he had played 28 First-Class matches in a span from 1943-44 to 1964-65, scoring 831 runs with a highest of 99, and an average of 21.30. He had 5 fifties and held 8 catches. He also took a solitary wicket.

The First-Class debut of the scion of such an illustrious royal family could not have been without some unusual aspects. The match was played in aid of the Red Cross fund, and it is reported, that on the night prior to the game, it was decided to make it a 12-a-side game with the inclusion of a young and aspiring cricketer in both teams. Accordingly, former cricket captain Datta Gaekwad (also father of Indian Test star Anshuman Gaekwad) and the then Yuvraj of Baroda, Fatehsinghrao, were included on opposing sides for the game. The Yuvraj was not yet 14 (if the information in the archives about his date of birth can be taken as accurate).

The game was played at Baroda, between DB Deodhar’s XI and CK Nayudu’s XI, in March 1944. In a drawn game, the Yuvraj batted only once for CK Nayudu’s XI and scored 5. The bowling highlight of the match was 7 for 177 by CS Nayudu in the DB Deodhar’s XI 1st innings of 447. The batting honours of the match were with Gogumal Kishenchand (204 retired, 409 minutes, 24 fours) and CS Nayudu (104, 150 minutes, 10 fours), both in the 1st-innings score of 520 for CK Nayudu’s XI.

Having cut his teeth, as it were, in senior cricket, the Yuvraj began to mature as a batsman, scoring 22 and 77 not out in his 3rd game, in a Ranji Trophy clash for Baroda against Gujarat, played at Baroda in 1947-48.

It was in a Ranji Trophy match against Hyderabad at Baroda in February that season that Gaekwad achieved his highest First-Class score of 99, top-scoring in the Baroda 1st innings of 337. Ghulam Ahmed captured 6 for 100 for Hyderabad in this innings. Hyderabad failed to give an adequate account of themselves in the 1st innings, being dismissed for 118, with the champion Vijay Hazare picking up 7/42.

Following on, Hyderabad scored 263, Edulji Aibara turning out to be the highest scorer with 70. For the home team, Hazare and Amir Elahi took 4 wickets each. Baroda won the match by 9 wickets, the Yuvraj remaining not out on 26.

In the meanwhile, with changing times in the political scenario, the last ruler of Baroda, His Highness Pratap Singh Gaekwad, was deposed by the recently formed Government of Independent India, and Jackie Baroda succeeded as titular Maharaja of Baroda in 1951, about midway through his First-Class cricket career.

Towards the end, his other commitments began to take up a significant share of his time and his appearances on the cricket field gradually became more sporadic and spaced out.

He was captain of the Indian Board President’s XI when he played his last First-Class match, against erstwhile Ceylon, at Moti Bagh Stadium, Baroda, in 1964-65. Unfortunately, Fate had decreed that he would not go out in a blaze of glory: he was dismissed for a duck in the only innings he batted in, though his team won by 9 wickets.

It would not be out of place to mention here a few facts with respect to the Moti Bagh Stadium. It seems that the Maharajas of Baroda, traditionally great patrons of cricket, had, in years gone by, donated a large tract of land on the premises of the Laxmi Vilas Palace to be developed as a cricket facility.

An article appearing in The Hindu of February 15, 2015 says: “Strange but true, the Moti Bagh cricket ground, located in the premises of the 700 acre Laxmi Vilas Palace compound, is a habitat for over 500 peacocks, gangs of monkeys, langurs, rabbits, mongoose, snakes and crocodiles.”

Having hung up his cricket boots, Jackie Baroda turned his considerable energies to a public and political life, and took to cricket administration as a natural extension of his active playing days.

We learn from the History of Vadodara (the present nomenclature for Baroda), that “he served in public office as a Member of Parliament, Parliamentary Secretary of the Defence Ministry, MLA in Gujarat, Minister of Health, Fisheries and Jails, Chancellor of the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, and Chairman of the Board of Governors, National Institute of Sports in 1962-63. He was also the author of the book The Palaces of India (1980).”

In the post-retirement phase of his career, he took up cricket commentary for a while and was made an honorary Life Member of the MCC. He became the youngest ever incumbent to the post of President of the BCCI, holding the portfolio from 1963 (at the unbelievably tender age of 33 years) to 1966, after serving as the Vice-President from 1959 to 1960, and for another term in 1962-63.

He was the manager of the Indian cricket team on their tour of England in 1959, under Datta Gaekwad, another of the Baroda Gaekwads. The amazing thing was that, at the age of only 29, Fatehsinghrao, the manager, was younger than some of the players in the team, a fact that speaks very highly of his man-management skills, and his flair for public affairs.

When the Indian tours of Pakistan for 1978-79 and 1982-83 were planned, given the sensitive issues relating to the long-standing political rivalry between the two countries, it was felt that the manager for thesetours would have to be a man of unimpeachable integrity and proven skills as far as public dealings were concerned, and a man who would be able to carry off the difficult assignments with the requisite aplomb.

As the members of the touring parties would later testify again and again, Fatehsinghrao had carried out these difficult assignments in an exemplary fashion. That both the series passed off amicably and without any untoward incidents was as much a tribute to the sporting skills of the players as to the diplomatic skills of the manager, who had to work very hard at ensuring that the players could concentrate solely on the job at hand without having to concern themselves with affairs off the pitch.

Another interesting aspect of this amazing person is brought to light from the pages of a journal, published from Cambridge, called Environmental Conservation, Volume 15, Issue 3, Autumn 1988, which speak of his untiring efforts in the field of the conservation of natural resources, particularly the native fauna of India, and his causing his influence to bear on the concerned authorities for the ultimate enactment of such legislations as the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the Forest Conservation Act. Truly, the late Fatehsinghrao was one of those exceptional people who have made telling contributions in myriad fields of endeavour.

This lovable personality passed away at Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai, on September 1, 1988, at the relatively young age of 58 years.

(Pradip Dhole is a retired medical practitioner with a life-long interest in cricket history and statistics)

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