India, Oct. 3 -- Last month saw the 154th birth anniversary of Ranjitsinhji, the first Indian to play Test cricket for England. Later this month, the 92nd edition of the tournament named after him - the Ranji Trophy - begins. A great deal has been written about Ranjitsinhji (or "Run-Get-Sinhji", as the British press nicknamed him), some of it unkind, much of it fantastical. In Cambridge, where his cricketing career began, rumour had it that his adoptive father, the Jam Sahib (the title of the ruler of Nawanagar), would have three slaves executed every time his son scored a century. If this were true, wags quipped, the populace of Nawanagar must be "growing beautifully less". There is, however, one astonishing - and true - story that is li...