by CricketMash Staff

From Billy Murdoch to Jofra Archer, Sussex County Cricket Club has been the happy home away from home for many a foreign cricketer. Some of them have gone on to play for England, or even lead the national team. Others became trendsetting giants in their own respective countries.

And through the rich history of this club runs the thread of an extraordinarily rich and colourful Asian connection.

It started with the eastern magic of Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, whose mystic willow sent the balls to impossible corners of the ground even as his silk shirt fluttered nonchalantly in the breeze. It stretched across the years, the light from the east shining proudly at Hove with the regal brilliance of Ranji’s gifted nephew Duleep; carried forward by the charismatic nonchalance of the Nawab of Pataudi Junior, taken to the realms of all-round greatness by the charisma of Imran Khan; and finally brought into this current century by the mesmerising chapionship-winning web spun by Mushtaq Ahmed.

Thanks to a project by the CricketMash duo, cricket writer Arunabha Sengupta and artist Maha, this Asian connection found its way on to the walls of the Sussex County Cricket Club premises in a unique manner.
(It may be worth noting that Sengupta and Maha had previously carried out a similar project for the Sylhet Cricket Stadium during the inaugural Test match hosted at that venue last year.)

Homage has been paid to each of these five great Asian names through a combination of words, illustrations and paintings, encapsulating their life and career for Sussex and beyond.

There are portraits of each of these five eastern stalwarts, carefully conceptualised and crafted. Each of these portraits are flanked by two frames full of the most detailed life story of these magnificent men. They capture the international careers, the Sussex connection and their life in intriguing detail, through a mix of prose and pictures. .

*Sample from the life story : Ranji training at Cambridge*

Interspersed between the major events of their lives are quaint anecdotes.

For instance, Ranji at the wicket, training under the careful eyes of English professionals Billy Lockwood and Tom Richardson, leg pegged on the wicket to correct his technique.

*Gallery of the great all-rounders: To be found in Imran Khan’s life-story*

Imran dozing off while waiting for his turn with the bat during his First-Class debut.

The Nawab of Pataudi going down on his knees to charm his gorgeous wife.

Duleep experimenting with the reverse sweep as he did in one of the First-Class matches he played in India.

The diminutive Mushy, in his coaching days, standing next to, not quite shoulder to shoulder with, the 7 feet 1 inch Mohammad Irfan.

*Sample from life story: Mushtaq and the spin revolution of the 1990s*

Some of the images depicting the times, such as Mushtaq’s role in the spin revolution of the 1990s or the great group of all-rounders in the early 1980s are also bound to excite fans.

Meticulously penned and superbly illustrated, the set offers some moments of fun as well. Such as Ranji’s eloquent pet parrot Percy with his opinion about Lord Harris’s passage quote, or the evolution of Mushtaq’s hirsuteness captured as a leg-spinner’s twirl.

This set of artwork now finds its place on the walls of the Members’ dining room at the Hove Cricket Ground, home to English cricket’s oldest county cricket club.

*Artist Maha and writer Arunabha Sengupta in front of the artwork in the Sussex CCC Members’ Dining Room*

Click on the images to view the collection: