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New Delhi, Sep. 18 (ANI): Former Indian cricket captain Kapil Dev has credited cricketing legend Ranjitsinhji for introducing the game to India.

Dev said that Ranjitsinhji, who was known as ‘Ranji’ by his British teammates, made a mark for himself as well as for India during British colonial rule in the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century.

“If we see at a glance the people of that era and talk about them who came from India and went there, and played cricket. It was amazing. I wish I can take the clock backwards and try to see how he must have played the game and kept the reputation of the game so high. He is the one who brought cricket to India, I personally believe, because those type of people (are those) who played the game and introduced it to India,” said Dev.

From rules to ethics, many things have changed during cricket’s journey from its initial years to the days of Twenty-20 tournaments, said Dev.

“I think today’s era is totally a different (one), it’s a television era. During that period people used to read books and people used to describe. Whatever we read about him, that he was truly a gentleman and he played with the ethics he had. He played for England and carried the name of India; this must have been very tough and very difficult. I wish that we had television during those days to see what a great person and cricketer he was,” said Dev.

The first Ranji Memorial Lecture was organised in 2009.

RanjitSinhji was born Kumar Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji Jadeja. He was the ruler of Nawanagar in present day Saurashtra. He played test cricket for England from 1896 to 1902. He is recognised as one of the greatest batsmen of all time.

He also played English county cricket for Sussex. The second annual Ranji Memorial Lecture was held in London on Friday. (ANI)