Viji played only 3 Test matches for India and he captained all three. Or should we say that he became the first captain, then he made his debut in international cricket.
Image credit source: getty
There have been many such captains in the history of Indian cricket, on whom the whole country is proud. The captains who played the name of India all over the world, but in the history of Indian cricket, there was also such a captain, who along with his decisions ruined his own name and almost ruined Indian cricket as well. Today is the 117th birth anniversary of the same captain. The name of that Indian captain is Vijay Anand Gajapati Raju, who is also known as Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram or Viji.
Born in Banaras on 28 December 1905, Viji showed a lot of pride in his money in cricket. Belonging to the Royal Family, Viji played 3 international matches for India and in all these three he landed on the field as a captain. It would be surprising to know that Viji neither bowled nor was seen fielding in these three matches. His batting average was also 8.25.
THE EXECUTION 1936 Two characters: Lala Amarnath (l) & Maharaja Sir Vijaya ‘Vizzy’ Vizianagram. Lala, close to if not at his best in 1936, boards the Kaiser-I-Hind on his banishment – “disciplined” by Vizzy (r) the ‘club cricketer’ & surely one of India’s most disliked captains pic.twitter.com/h8fIyVBUhP
, (@saikiaarup) Sep 7, 2020
great player sent back to india
Viji’s story is not just this. In the name of performance, he could not even play street cricket and on the other hand, he had also sent the great Indian player Lala Amarnath to India in anger. The result of which was that India got an embarrassing defeat. Viji was interested in cricket from the very beginning. After the death of his father in 1922, he formed his own cricket team in 1926. He had also made a cricket ground in his palace itself. Where many big players played.
First captain, then debut
In 1932, Viji announced to sponsor the Indian team going to England. He was also made the vice-captain of the team, but due to ill health, he did not go on the tour. After this, in the year 1936, he went on a tour of England as the captain of the Indian team. He made his debut in international cricket on this tour. This tour proved to be the first and last tour of his career.
Viji acted arbitrarily
He was able to score only 33 runs in the 3 Test matches of this tour. During this, he had a fight with Lala Amarnath and he sent Amarnath back to India. Viji did a lot of his own free will on the tour of England, as a result of which India had to face a humiliating defeat. Viji had made Indian cricket a joke in the whole world.