“Good morning listeners, this is Vizzy welcoming you to the Green Park, Kanpur”, said a familiar voice at every Test match commentary in India in the 1950s and early 60s. This was Vijaya Anand, the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram, the head of a small province in what is now the state of Andhra Pradesh, an erstwhile cricketer, captain of the Indian cricket team, cricket administrator, big game hunter, politician, and fi nally radio commentator. It was through the last of these avatars that he was known to millions of Indian cricketers. During a period of radio commentary of uneven quality, Vizzy provided amusement in a typically personalised style. Kanpur was practically his home Test venue after he moved to Uttar Pradesh.
Vizzy was not the first Indian cricketer of a “royal” lineage. In the early years, Indian cricket was largely dependent on the patronage of the princely states. Two great representatives of Indian aristocracy, the Jamsaheb of Nawanagar, Ranjitsinghji, and his nephew Duleepsinghji, brought lustre to the game of cricket with their oriental artistry. Ranji, as the Jamsaheb was called, revolutionised batting by inventing the leg glance, and scored a century on Test debut for England. Duleep followed suit with a similar feat on his debut, again for England. Neither of them played for India.
Closer home, the Maharaja of Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, led the first Indian team to undertake a Test tour of England in 1932. It was common in those days for Indian princes to bankroll the Indian cricket team′s tours.
A well known patron of the game in the late 1920s and thirties, Vizzy spent vast sums of money on promoting cricket at Vizianagaram, the princely state within Andhra Pradesh of which he was ruler.
Educated at Princes′ College, Ajmer, and Haileybury College, England, he used his vast contacts to get international legends like Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe to play in India, often at the ground inside his palace grounds. His immense wealth and great interest in the game enabled him to become a powerful fi gure in Indian cricket circles in the 1930s.
Vizzy′s ambition did not stop with promoting cricket. He was a very keen player and actually wanted to captain the Indian team. According to Mihir Bose, the author of the magnum opus, History of Indian Cricket, “If Vizzy had been content with being such a cricket sponsor like Sir Horatio Mann in the 18th century, or Sir Julien Cahn in the 20th, his name would be one of the most revered in Indian cricket. But he was consumed with the ambition to be a great cricketer”.
Vizzy′s archrival in the arena was the Maharaja of Patiala, a good cricketer. Patiala was a close associate of Lord Willingdon, the Viceroy, and Vizzy saw an opportunity when the Maharaja fell out with Willingdon. He wanted to donate a Willingdon Trophy to the winners of the national fi rst-class competition but lost out to Patiala, who managed to institute the Ranji Trophy in 1934.
Earlier, in 1932, Vizzy fi nanced the Indian cricket team′s tour of England, and was named “deputy vice-captain”, but had to withdraw on health grounds. Thereafter, he steadily strengthened his position in Indian cricket so that by 1936, he was very infl uential. In fact, so well entrenched in the British administration was he that he was knighted on 15 June 1936. Twelve days later Sir Vijaya Anand made his Test debut at Lords as captain of the second Indian cricket team to tour England. Unfortunately, the tour was a disaster, with India faring poorly in the Tests and county games.
Despite impressive bowling by pacemen Mohammed Nissar and Amar Singh, centuries by Vijay Merchant and Mushtaq Ali and fl ashes of brilliance from the bats of CK Nayudu and C Ramaswami, England beat India 2-0. Personally, Vizzy failed to make an impression as a batsman.
The tour was rocked by controversy, when Vizzy decided to send the young and charismatic all-rounder Lala Amarnath home on disciplinary grounds. In the process, he antagonised the leading players of the team, and Amarnath became the hero of the press.
Vizzy was criticised when he returned home and he withdrew from the scene. He returned in the 1950s as a politician, administrator and broadcaster.
It was as a radio commentator that Vizzy finally achieved his ambition of cricketing fame, entertaining listeners with his obvious admiration of some of the game′s great personalities. His excitement when an Indian cricketer performed well was palpable, and he shared it with his listeners in no uncertain terms. The crowning moment of his career as a commentator was when he became a visiting member of the BBC′s commentary team during the Indian team′s tour of England in 1959.
Born December 28, 1905, Benares (now Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh
Died December 2, 1965, Benares (now Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh (aged 59 years 339 days)
Major teams India, Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram′s XI, United Province
Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | 100 | 50 | 6s | ct | |
Tests | 3 | 6 | 2 | 33 | 19* | 8.25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
First-class | 47 | 73 | 7 | 1228 | 77 | 18.60 | 0 | 5 | 18 |
Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | |
Tests | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
First-class | 47 | 168 | 139 | 4 | 1/1 | 34.75 | 4.96 | 42.0 |