Poondri Ramsingh Man Singh's reputation in Hyderabad's cricketing circles in the seventies was next only to that of the Nawab of Hyderabad cricket M L Jaisimha. During that decade, he succeeded Ghulam Ahmed as the secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association, and dominated the game there for over a decade. His family business dealing in wines and spirits gave him the economic freedom and time to devote his attention unhindered to the administration of the game.
Hyderabad hosted the hugely successful Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup tournament, which as a curtain raiser to the season, gave many an aspiring Test prospect the chance to demonstrate his prowess. It was a high quality competition involving the best Indian players and occasionally some overseas players as well. There was an air of gracious hospitality about the manner the tournament was conducted and this made Man Singh an extremely popular host among a wide range of cricketers, from talented youngsters like Kapil Dev, Vengsarkar, Arun Lal and Gaekwad to seniors like Gavaskar, Viswanath, Kirmani, Ashok Mankad and Brijesh Patel.
A dedicated cricketer in his youth, Man could not make much progress in the game as he was extremely shortsighted, though he did play a few first class games. He must have realised very early that he had to find an alternative outlet for his passion for the game, for he took to cricket administration when rather young. Running clubs, Deccan Blues the most prominent among them, enabled him to indulge in talent spotting, often to the advantage of Hyderabad cricket. Soon, young cricketers started believing that playing for Man Singh's team could be a passport to first class cricket opportunities.
I received my first big break courtesy Man Singh. He was fielding an international team under the aegis of Hindustan Breweries in the Moin-ud-Dowla of 1974-75, a superb combination led by M A K Pataudi. The team also included Rohan Kanhai, William Anderson Bourne (Kanhai's fast bowling protégé from Warwickshire), Anura Tennekoon, Duleep Mendis, David Heyn, Russell Hamer and Tony Opatha (all from Sri Lanka), Budhi Kunderan, the Indian wicket keeper now settled in Scotland, P Krishnamurti, another former India wicket keeper, and Kailash Ghattani, the Rajasthan medium pacer.
Man was unable to find a good off spinner to fit into that star-studded eleven, as local boy Noshir Mehta was playing for Hyderabad XI, Prasanna for U-Foam XI and Venkataraghavan from Tamil Nadu was unable to make the trip. Krishnamurti was the captain of the local State Bank team of which I was a member, and he saw in this my great opportunity. Miraculously, he managed to convince Man Singh that I could pull my weight in that august company, and my name actually figured in the list of players published by The Hindu just before the Gold Cup! (That on the eve of the Breweries team's first match against State Bank of India, the bank captain Hanumant Singh walked up to his rival number Pataudi and hijacked me to play for his team was another story altogether).
Many youngsters similarly owed their first opportunities to Man Singh. Unfortunately, as it so often happens in Indian sport, mediocre people surrounded Man, and this began his alienation from Jaisimha, Hyderabad's most charismatic cricketing icon. Differences cropped up between the two friends and these were exacerbated by a number of people keen on driving a wedge between them. The rivalry intensified over the years, and though the damage was repaired in the long run, Hyderabad cricket suffered in the intervening years, when schism split players and cricket supporters into two groups. The final outcome of the rift was that Man Singh was himself sidelined in the race for power and prestige, when people once close to him and beneficiaries of his kindnesses took over the reins of administration.
Man Singh has been a pioneer in more ways than one. His was possibly the first Indian club after Mumbai's Cricket Club of India to take teams on overseas tours. These were splendidly organised affairs that provided high quality cricket in all the leading cricket countries of the world and other lands where the game is played with great enthusiasm at the club level. But for Man's initiatives, many of us would never have played cricket outside India, and made friends across the globe. Some of the combinations he took abroad were as good as the official Indian team and played memorable cricket. He is also a great collector of cricket literature and memorabilia. An excellent host as well, he loves to show his guests his admirable library and vintage cricket souvenirs.
Man Singh's greatest moment was India's 1983 World Cup triumph. He was the administrative manager of the Indian team then, and a very popular manager at that. News is out that he has written a book on his World Cup memories. As Hyderabad's man for all seasons, he deserves a thumping success and the book will no doubt prove to be just that.
Poondri Ramsingh Man Singh's reputation in Hyderabad's cricketing circles in the seventies was next only to that of the Nawab of Hyderabad cricket M L Jaisimha. During that decade, he succeeded Ghulam Ahmed as the secretary of the Hyderabad Cricket Association, and dominated the game there for over a decade. His family business dealing in wines and spirits gave him the economic freedom and time to devote his attention unhindered to the administration of the game. 
Man was unable to find a good off spinner to fit into that star-studded eleven, as local boy Noshir Mehta was playing for Hyderabad XI, Prasanna for U-Foam XI and Venkataraghavan from Tamil Nadu was unable to make the trip. Krishnamurti was the captain of the local State Bank team of which I was a member, and he saw in this my great opportunity. Miraculously, he managed to convince Man Singh that I could pull my weight in that august company, and my name actually figured in the list of players published by The Hindu just before the Gold Cup! (That on the eve of the Breweries team's first match against State Bank of India, the bank captain Hanumant Singh walked up to his rival number Pataudi and hijacked me to play for his team was another story altogether).
Man Singh has been a pioneer in more ways than one. His was possibly the first Indian club after Mumbai's Cricket Club of India to take teams on overseas tours. These were splendidly organised affairs that provided high quality cricket in all the leading cricket countries of the world and other lands where the game is played with great enthusiasm at the club level. But for Man's initiatives, many of us would never have played cricket outside India, and made friends across the globe. Some of the combinations he took abroad were as good as the official Indian team and played memorable cricket. He is also a great collector of cricket literature and memorabilia. An excellent host as well, he loves to show his guests his admirable library and vintage cricket souvenirs.
