>Zwerubae at 07:20, 13 January 2022

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{{short description|Indian cricketer}}
{{redirect|Vizzy|Vizzy Hard Seltzer|Molson Coors}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram
| image = File:Maharajkumar of Vizianagram.jpg
| caption = The Maharajkumar of Vizianagram in 1936
| country = India
| fullname = Vijay Ananda Gajapathi Raju
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1905|12|28|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[British India]]{{refn|name=birthplace|group=N|References disagree about Vizzy's place of birth. ''Wisden'', ''[[Cricinfo]]''<ref name="Cricinfo"/> and similar sources put it at Benares. According to some Indian sources,<ref>Sources which provide Vizzy's place of birth as Vizianagram include Mihir Bose's ''A History of Indian Cricket'' (p. 547 of the 1990 edition) and the almanacs brought out by the ''Association of Cricket Statisticians and Scorers of India'' (ACSSI) (p. 461 of the 1990–91 edition, for instance).</ref> he was born in [[Vizianagaram]].}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1965|12|2|1905|12|28|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Varanasi]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], India
| nickname = Vizzy
| batting = Right-handed
| international = true
| internationalspan = 1936
| testdebutdate = 27 June
| testdebutyear = 1936
| testdebutagainst = England
| testcap = 23
| lasttestdate = 18 August
| lasttestyear = 1936
| lasttestagainst = England
| club1 = [[Uttar Pradesh cricket team|United Provinces]]
| year1 = 1934–1935
| columns = 2
| column1 = [[Test cricket|Test]]
| matches1 = 3
| runs1 = 33
| bat avg1 = 8.25
| 100s/50s1 = 0/0
| top score1 = 19[[not out|*]]
| deliveries1 = 0
| wickets1 = –
| bowl avg1 = –
| fivefor1 = –
| tenfor1 = –
| best bowling1 = –
| catches/stumpings1 = 1/–
| column2 = [[First-class cricket|First-class]]
| matches2 = 47
| runs2 = 1,228
| bat avg2 = 18.60
| 100s/50s2 = 0/5
| top score2 = 77
| deliveries2 = 168
| wickets2 = 4
| bowl avg2 = 34.75
| fivefor2 = –
| tenfor2 = –
| best bowling2 = 1/1
| catches/stumpings2 = 18/–
| date = 21 February
| year = 2021
| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/39530.html ESPNcricinfo
|bowling=|role=}}
[[Lieutenant-Colonel|Lt. Col.]] '''Pusapati Vijay Ananda Gajapathi Raju''' (28 December 1905 – 2 December 1965), better known as the '''Maharajkumar of Vizianagram''' or '''''Vizzy''''', was an Indian [[cricket]]er, cricket administrator and politician.<ref name="Bio">{{Cite web|url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/39530.html |title=Maharajkumar of Vizianagram|access-date=12 May 2020 |work=ESPN Cricinfo}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/691775 |title=Royalty on the cricket field |work=International Cricket Council |access-date=18 May 2018}}</ref>

== Childhood ==

Vizzy was the second son of [[Maharaja of Vizianagram|Pusapati Vijaya Rama Gajapathi Raju]], the ruler of [[Vizianagaram]]. His title ''Maharajkumar'' (prince) comes for this reason. After his father died in 1922 and his elder brother became the king, Vizzy moved to the family estates in [[Benares]]. He married the eldest daughter of the ruler of the ''[[zamindari]]'' estate of Kashipur.<ref>[http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/v/vizianagram.html Vizzy's genealogy] from ''Indian Princely States''</ref>

He attended the [[Mayo College]] in [[Ajmer]] and [[Haileybury and Imperial Service College]] in England. He excelled at tennis and cricket and was also a hunter.

== Career ==

Vizzy organized his cricket team in 1926 and constructed a ground in his palace compounds. He recruited players from India and abroad. When [[Marylebone Cricket Club|MCC]] cancelled the tour of India in 1930–31 owing to political problems, he organised a team of his own and toured India and [[Sri Lanka|Ceylon]]. He succeeded in drafting [[Jack Hobbs]] and [[Herbert Sutcliffe]] for the team, a considerable feat as Hobbs had previously refused offers for five such tours. Vizzy brought [[Learie Constantine]] to India a few years later. He brought [[Mushtaq Ali]] to Benares for training when he was still a high school student. "If Vizzy had been content with being such a cricket sponsor", writes [[Mihir Bose]] in ''A History of Indian Cricket'',<ref>Mihir Bose, ''A History of Indian Cricket'', Andre Deutsch Ltd (1990), p.67, {{ISBN|0-233-98563-8}}</ref> "like [[Sir Horatio Mann]] in the eighteenth century, or [[Julien Cahn|Sir Julien Cahn]] in the twentieth, his name would be one of the most revered in Indian cricket. But he was consumed with the ambition to be a great cricketer".

The organisation of the 1930–31 tour gave Vizzy a standing in Indian cricket that was second only to the [[Maharaja Bhupinder Singh|Maharaja of Patiala]].<ref>Richard Cashman, ''Patrons, players and the crowd'', Orient Longman (1980), {{ISBN|0-86131-212-0}}, pp. 42–43</ref> About this time, Patiala fell out with [[Lord Willingdon]], the [[viceroy]] of India, and Vizzy got close with the viceroy. He donated a pavilion named after the viceroy in the newly constructed [[Feroz Shah Kotla]] ground in [[Delhi]]. When the national championship was started in 1934, he attempted to donate a gold 'Willingdon trophy' but Patiala beat him to it with his [[Ranji Trophy]].

His wealth and contacts brought him great influence in Indian cricket, even though his cricketing abilities were not great. In the early thirties, he offered to pay the board fifty thousand rupees, forty thousand of it for the [[Indian cricket team in England in 1932|Indian tour of England in 1932]]. He was appointed as the 'deputy vice captain' for the tour but withdrew ostensibly on reasons of health and form.<ref>Boria Majumdar, ''Twenty two yards to freedom'', Penguin (2004), {{ISBN|0-670-05794-0}}, p.43, quotes Vizzy's statement.</ref>

=== Captaincy ===

Vizzy finally was named the captain of the [[Indian cricket team in England in 1932|team that toured England in 1936]], a post that he secured after lobbying and manipulation. Unfortunately, his desperately poor captaincy on the field resulted in even the normally reserved British press commenting on it. Some of the senior players in the squad, including [[Lala Amarnath]], [[C. K. Nayudu]] and [[Vijay Merchant]], were critical of Vizzy's playing abilities and captaincy, and the team was split between those who supported and those who criticised the captain.

The low point in the tour occurred during India's match against Minor Counties at [[Lord's]]. [[Lala Amarnath]] had been nursing a back injury during the game. Vizzy had Amarnath pad up, but didn't put him in to bat as a succession of other batsmen were sent in ahead of him, which prevented Amarnath from resting his injury. Amarnath was finally put in to bat at the end of the day. Visibly angry after returning to the dressing room, he threw his kit into his bag and muttered in Punjabi, "I know what is transpiring". Vizzy took this as an affront, and conspired with team manager Major Jack Brittain-Jones to have Lala Amarnath sent back from the tour without playing the First Test.<ref name=ci-royalmess>{{cite web| url = http://www.espncricinfo.com/columns/content/story/303898.html| title = A right royal Indian mess}} </ref> It is also alleged that in the First Test against the [[England cricket team|England]], Vizzy offered [[Mushtaq Ali]] a gold watch to run out [[Vijay Merchant]].<ref name=ci-royalmess/>

While India lost the series easily, Vizzy was [[knight]]ed by King [[Edward VIII of the United Kingdom|Edward VIII]] in the [[King's Birthday Honours]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34307|pages=4669–4670|date=21 July 1936}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34296 |supp=y|pages=3996–3997|date=19 June 1936}}</ref> He was the only cricketer to have a [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]] bestowed on him while an active Test cricketer, shortly after his Test debut in June of that year, and prior to his last Test in August of that year.<ref>[[Sir Richard Hadlee]]'s knighthood, though announced on 15 June 1990, was bestowed on him on 4 October 1990, after his final Test match on 10 July 1990.</ref> Vizzy renounced his knighthood in July 1947, explaining in a letter to [[Lord Mountbatten]] that the knighthood "will not be in keeping with the ideals of Republican India".<ref>{{cite news |title=Knighthood renounced by well-known Indian cricketer |work=Western Morning News |date=15 July 1947 |access-date=13 November 2014 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000329/19470715/039/0003| via = [[British Newspaper Archive]] |url-access=subscription }}</ref> MCC awarded him a membership without putting him through the customary waiting list.

Vizzy fared poorly in the post-tour enquiry especially in his treatment of Amarnath. In January 1937, the Beaumont Committee report described his captaincy as ''disastrous''. It stated that "''he did not understand field placings or bowling changes and never maintained any regular batting order.''" On team selection, the report stated that "''the good players remained idle for weeks together.''" The report found Amarnath not guilty of any of the charges alleged by Vizzy and Major Jones, and completely exonerated him.<ref name=ci-royalmess/>

Vizzy never played another cricket match for India again.

=== Second career ===

Vizzy maintained a low profile thereafter for almost two decades. He made a comeback as a cricket administrator and was the President of [[Board of Control for Cricket in India|BCCI]] from 1954–1957. As the vice-president of the BCCI in 1952, he had played a role in bringing back Lala Amarnath as the Indian captain. He successfully promoted [[Uttar Pradesh]]'s cricketing profile, making [[Kanpur]] a centre for Test cricket.<ref name="Cricinfo">{{cricinfo|ref=india/content/player/35930.html}}</ref> On his invitation, C. K. Nayudu, at the age of 61, captained Uttar Pradesh in the 1956–57 season. He worked for the development of cricket in South India and was asked to be President of Mysore cricket association. He was the Vice Chairman of the All India Council of Sports.

From the 1948–49 series against West Indies, Vizzy became a radio commentator and was the guest commentator for [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] during the Indian tour of England in 1959. He was not a particularly good commentator. According to Dickie Rutnagur,<ref name="TelegraphIndia">[[The Telegraph (Kolkata)|The Telegraph]]. [http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050703/asp/look/story_4938223.asp ''Gentlemen & their game'']. 27 March 2006.</ref> when Vizzy had just finished describing how he had hunted tigers, [[Rohan Kanhai]] responded: ''Really? I thought you just left a transistor radio on when you were commentating and bored them to death.''<ref name=ci-royalmess/>

He was awarded [[Padma Bhushan]], in 1958<ref>http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/biodata_1_12/1409.htm</ref>

Vizzy was the [[Visakhapatnam (Lok Sabha constituency)|member of the Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam]] in Andhra Pradesh in 1960 and 1962.<ref>[http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lok03/state/03lsap.htm Members of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh in 1962]</ref><ref>[http://eci.gov.in/byeelection/Bye-ele-results%2052-95.xls Results of the by-elections to the Indian states and parliament]</ref> The Benares University conferred him an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 1944.<ref>Indian Express, 26 January 1958</ref> He died on 2 December 1965, just short of his 60th birthday, in [[Benares]] (now Varanasi), considered holy by Hindus.

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=N}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/maharajah-of-vizianagram-35930 Maharajkumar of Vizianagram] of [[ESPNcricinfo]]
{{Indian Test Cricket Captains}}
{{Presidents of BCCI}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 1954–59}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vizianagram}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian cricket administrators]]
[[Category:Cricket players and officials awarded knighthoods]]
[[Category:India Test cricket captains]]
[[Category:Indian cricketers]]
[[Category:India Test cricketers]]
[[Category:Uttar Pradesh cricketers]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Indian knights]]
[[Category:People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College]]
[[Category:Telugu people]]
[[Category:Athletes from Varanasi]]
[[Category:2nd Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:People from Vizianagaram]]
[[Category:Cricketers from Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in sports]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Board of Control for Cricket in India]]
[[Category:3rd Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:People from Uttarandhra]]
[[Category:Roshanara Club cricketers]]

Maharajkumar of Vizianagram - Revision history

>Zwerubae at 07:20, 13 January 2022