Winning the First Ranji Trophy – L.P. Jai

L.P. Jai captained the team that won the Ranji Trophy in 1934. Before choosing cricket as a career, he worked at the Imperial Bank of India. He died on January 29, 1968 – the Ranji Trophy season has an award named after him to pay homage to the cricketer

LP Jai (Right); Source: Public Domain

Laxmidas Purushottamdas Jai was a pioneering Indian cricketer. Born in 1902, he belonged to the Bombay Presidency of British India. He used to play as a right-handed batsman in the Bombay Quadrangular, a prestigious tournament held in the early 20th century.

Much like most cricketers in those days, Jai did not find it viable to take up cricket as a professional career unless he was being sponsored by commercial parties. Till he took up the sport professionally, he was a formal employee of the Imperial Bank of India. This job of his encouraged the keen interest he took in philately – the art of collecting stamps. L.P. Jai would salvage the stamps of the envelopes that made their way to the bank, particularly stamps of the British Empire.

Once he received sponsorship, L.P. Jai played for the Hindus and later captained the Bombay cricket team. Apart from an exceptional display of batsman skills at the Bombay Quadrangular, he also captained the Bombay team to win the first-ever Ranji Trophy, held in 1934.

Although L.P. Jai was offered the opportunity to tour England with the Indian team in 1932, he refused to do so on political grounds. Fellow cricketer Vijay Merchant refused too; he considered Jai to be his guru, and so, followed on his footsteps.

On January 29, 1968, the legendary cricketer passed away due to a cardiac arrest. In his honour, the batsman to score the fastest hundred in every Ranji Trophy season is given an award named after him.