On the Book: The Jubilee Book of Cricket is a classic work on Cricket by Prince K.S. Ranjitsinhji. 'Ranji' was one of the leading batsmen of his day, playing for Sussex and England. The book was commissioned for the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897 and dedicated "by her gracious permission to Her Majesty The Queen Empress." The book includes pictures of his contemporaries such as C.B. Fry, who to mention wrote a considerable portion of the book for his friend and W.G. Grace. It is recognised as a classic treatise on the game.
On KS Ranjitsinhji: Commonly referred to as "Ranji" he has the Indian domestic trophy named after him as the Ranji Trophy. Strange in many ways as he considered himself un-Indian even though he was later crowned the King of Nawanagar (Jamnagar), Ranji kept his distance from everything Indian. A man of impeccable taste and style, he will also be flamboyantly remembered as the first man to drive a car thru Cambridge college. He has widely been regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. Neville Cardus described him as "the midsummer night's dream of cricket". Unorthodox in technique and with fast reactions, he brought a new style to batting and revolutionised the game even inventing the leg glance. Previously, batsmen had generally pushed forward; Ranji took advantage of the improving quality of pitches in his era and played more on the back foot, both in defence and attack.