Saurashtra's Jaydev Shah crosses all-time record for number of matches captained in Ranji Trophy history

Jaydev Shah on the sidelines of the Vijay Hazare Trophy

Middle order batsman Jaydev Shah has scripted history of sorts in the ongoing round of the Ranji Trophy, leading Saurashtra out into the field for a record 88th time against Himachal Pradesh in Rajkot in the course of their ongoing Group C encounter.

The 32-year-old Shah has captained Saurashtra in 88 of the 100 games he has played from 2004-05 to date, winning 27, losing 20 and drawing 41 of those matches.

The previously standing record for most matches captained in the Ranji Trophy belonged to Haryana’s Ravinder Chadha, whose playing days were between 1970-71 and 1987-88. Hyderabad captain and legendary cricketer ML Jaisimha is third on the list, having played 76 matches as captain between 1959-60 and 1976-77.

Conflict of interest?

Jaydev happens to be son of Niranjan Shah, the former BCCI Secretary who has also been the secretary of SCA for over four decades, and a major figure in Indian cricket administration in general.

Despite never having exactly set the Ranji stage on fire with his batting and bowling (averages of 28 and 80 respectively), Jaydev has been a constant fixture in the Saurashtra side for the last decade. He has the distinction of captaining Saurashtra to victory in the 2007-08 Ranji one-dayers, incidentally the team's first ever national-level title.

It also must have been his leadership skills because of which he was named captain of a select Indian squad for a short tour of Israel in 2009 – the ‘conflict of interest’ issue has hardly ever come up in this instance.