Indian Ambassador to Ireland Congratulates Indian Team on Winning the Annual Ranji Trophy Ireland

Posted on: 13 August 2010

The annual Ranji Trophy Ireland cricket match saw an Indian XI team record a close victory over an Irish XI team in Trinity College’s cricket grounds on August 8th last.  The match, which finished with the Indian side winning by a margin of 11 runs, featured excellent fielding and bowling from the winning team and was supported by the Indian Ambassador to Ireland, His Excellency P.S. Raghavan.  Both the Irish team and Indian team, made up of Indian community residents in Ireland, were heavily supported on the day.

Virender Bhandari; Michael Marsh, South Asia Initiative TCD; Ambassador to Ireland P.S. Raghavan; Siraj Zaidi and Barbara Raghavan.

The Ranji Trophy Ireland cricket match was established in 2009 to promote Irish-Indian relations and is named after Indian Prince Ranjitsinhji, Maharajah of Nawanager, the most famous cricket player of his generation and the first non-Englishman to play test cricket for England.  Irish writer Anne Chambers donated the Trophy for a cricket match to be played annually in his memory between an Irish and Indian XI.  In her book Ranji: Maharajah of Connemara, Chambers reveals the intriguing story of Ranji’s many associations with Ireland.  He was the first head of state to make an official visit to the newly founded Irish Free State in 1924.  He subsequently became the owner of Ballynahinch Castle and estate in Connemara and was an advocate of Ireland as a tourist destination, boosting the fledgeling state at a difficult time in Irish history.

The event forms part of the calendar of the recently established South Asia Initiative at Trinity College Dublin.  Trinity College is rapidly expanding its South Asia Studies programmes aimed at developing research in Ireland into the history, literature and culture of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.  The programmes are dedicated to the renewal and development of relations with India and other countries in South Asia across a wide range of disciplines from arts and humanities to science, technology and medicine and will also reach out to the Indian community resident in Ireland.  The Ranji Trophy Ireland cricket match in Trinity College, which is sponsored by Ballynahinch Castle, is an annual event which aims to stimulate interest in Ireland’s links with India.