At a time when India was still under British rule, a celebrated cricketer found himself at the League of Nations. What followed was an unlikely chapter in India’s diplomatic history.

Think of Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji (1872-1933), Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, and the image that comes to mind is that of a moustachioed cricketer in billowing sleeves and flannels, cane-and-cotton pads strapped to his thin legs, a wisp of a bat brandished in a light, long-handled grip. His sporting career has passed into legend. We know of his exploits for Cambridge, Sussex, and England; his artistry with bat in hand, and his identification with the leg glance, then a novel stroke; the raptures into which he sent the English cricketing world, which was quick to cast him in the mould of the exotic genius from the East. We know also of his political career: his modernisation projects in Nawanagar (today’s Jamnagar), his extravagant lifestyle as ruler, his stance as a loyalist of Empire, and his anachronistic efforts to safeguard the privileges of India’s princes in a time of popular nationalism.