Living four decades of cricket association: Mr. Niranjan Shah

Cricket Administration has never got the due it owns to take cricket to the level where it is today in the country. But some people are really happy about being the backbone of cricket in India and making it reach the heights. Mr. Niranjan Shah earned this place and respect for his endless efforts and hard work in taking the cricket administration of Saurashtra Cricket to another height. The new SCA stadium represents a wall with pictures of cricketers from all around the globe and has in common, Mr. Shah, which represents the cricket, administration, and his dedication towards the sport.

Born and Brought up

Mr. Niranjan Shah, the former Indian first-class cricketer, businessman, and cricket administrator, was born on 4th June 1944. He started off with his career in Cricket during his college. While pursuing B.Sc. at Dharmendra College is when he started playing cricket. He soon recognized his talent in the sport and started playing it aggressively. His family always supported him and boosted up his confidence to play more. He soon moved on to become First Captain for Saurashtra university. To continue playing for the college team, he also did LLB after B.Sc. from the college to stay as a part of the cricket team.

Moving on the Journey

Mr. Shah played 12 first-class cricket matches for Saurashtra. In the years, when he was achieving in cricket, cricket had not much influence in society. It was not much seen as a career or profession, but just a game for entertainment. He played Ranji Trophy in 1968-69.

Mr. Shah has been very hard-working. He worked in the Medical field before taking admission in B.Sc. Then he also worked in the printing press industry for his family news and print media empire. He was the first one to bring in offset printing and photo composting from the globe to India. But he always continued his practice and stayed dedicated to the game.

After playing for the cricket team till winning the Yagnik trophy, he soon found his interest in Cricket Administration around in 1970-71. His spontaneity worked well for him as he and his team decided to take part in elections against the old committee. To his surprise, he won the elections.  He became the honorary secretary, Saurashtra Cricket Association in 1972 and has continued to hold the position since then.

For more than four decades, Shah has kept his terms high and worked towards taking the Saurashtra cricket to next level. He has worked towards development and made sure to do the best for the academy.

He made his place in BCCI and as joint secretary in 1996. Then from there, he took over the honorary secretary position in BCCI by 2001 with Lt. Sr. Jagmohan Dalmiya being the president.

In 2004, he gained the position of secretary with Mr. Sharad Powar being the president and served for around 3 years on the same position. In the same term, IPL were started and Mr. Niranjan Shah played a vital role in the establishment.

In his tenure of four decades, Shah has taken over various positions like vice-president of BCCI from West Zone, honorary secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) (elected four times at the role), and vice-chairman of Indian Premier League (IPL).

Mr. Shah has gained a loyalty and respect in his cricketing circle for his work and personality. He has achieved a lot in his tenure of 48 years and is still working hard towards achieving more for Saurashtra.

In 2015, Mr. Niranjan Shah was acknowledged for the progress Saurashtra region has made in the field and the establishment of new Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot which has made his place for Test matches and base for the new IPL team in 2015. He got this land in Khanderi, Rajkot in 2003 for about 75 crores, and it was established and inaugurated as stadium in 2013 by CM of Gujarat, Mr. Narendra Modi. The ground is now a venue for International and Domestic Tests, ODIs, T-20, Day-night, IPL, SPL (Saurashtra Premier League) matches. The ground is always full for IPL and SPL matches.

Other than this stadium, Saurashtra association has Madhavrao Scindya Cricket Stadium, which is recognized as International stadium as it has been a venue for more than 10 International matches.

After all his achievements, he has brought the Saurashtra association to the level of big and developed associations of Mumbai or Chennai.

Struggles and Hindrances

Continuing for more than four decades has definitely not been a walk of leisure. It brought in various challenges and struggles to reach where Mr. Niranjan Shah is right now. Starting from the time when he stood up in the elections, it was challenging fighting against an old established committee being run by few names.

After his win in the elections, the next challenge was to develop the Saurashtra region for cricket, which required lots of funds. Till 2000, funds were a serious problem faced by the committee till the BCCI won its case against Doordarshan and started back providing funds. Till then, Mr. Shah raised funds through registrations, memberships and ticket selling for the matches.

Entering BCCI, and taking up a position there was also not an easy catch to take. Just like Saurashtra Association, it held the old committee.

Achieving all this in his tenure, and taking Saurashtra Cricket Association from a mediocre level to one to compete as a developed association, the journey has been overwhelming, challenging and acknowledging.

Future of Cricket

As per Mr. Niranjan Shah, cricket has a great future and can be taken up as a career option. From when he started to today, Cricket has developed itself a lot, and has gained much popularity. BCCI has provided a great support to take the game to next levels, providing helping hand to the associations, and teams. Every cricketer has grown and has been earning good with cricket.

So he encourages the parents and the kids who are good at the game to continue and live their passion. The game has everything to credit you for your play.