Kumar Ranjitsinhji, the legerdemain cricketer of the 18th century, is an interesting subject of study from a colonial perspective, because he defied and denied the colonial practices of his times, and the anti-colonial discourse of his times as well. Born in 1872 in Sarodar to a Jadeja family, Ranji had a ‘Rajput’ lineage that indicated that he belonged to the upper class. Ranji was already a promising batsman when he set foot on the shores of England, but with a steely resolve when at Cambridge, he grew from strength to strength through sheer hard work. He believed he could use cricket to socialize with the aristocrats and become one amongst them, given his ‘princely’ image. Was India’s earliest celebrity genius really a classy cricketer? Or was he a quasi-comprador who had his goals set on personal powers and returns? Did he play the game to excel at it, thereby proving that race and color had nothing to do with skill? Or, did he use the sport to achieve his vested interests in the country of his birth and in other aristocratic circles? These are some of the questions that this paper intends to address.
