Indian cricket history
Vijaypat Singhania: The Forgotten Patron of Indian Cricket
Recently Ex-Raymond chairman Vijaypat Singhania died at 87 in Mumbai. The news of the death of the Padma Bhushan awardee was mostly covered on the business page of the newspapers as he is widely remembered as a visionary industrialist. In fact, he had an inspiring personality and had an interest in aviation and public life also. Surprisingly, neither cricketers nor the BCCI remembered him for his association, probably because today his contribution and support to Indian cricket appears to be insignificant, but at one time, he was one of the corporates who cared for cricket.
There was a time when Vizzy, former India captain and Maharaja, brought international cricket to Kanpur, he got the full support of Singhania’s JK Group. Their HO was at the Kamla Tower in Kanpur and for many years Indian teams used to stay at their Guest House in Kamla Tower while tourists were staying at different hotels. This GH was basically for the staff and the outside business people, visiting Co. HO and lacked decent staying facilities. There are various stories of the team staying there.
