The Bangalore Cricketers

Madras CM XI vs International XI 🏏
Chepauk ground, Madras 1968 Late Sri. K.R.Rajagopal, a dashing wicket keeper batsman who played for The Bangalore Cricketers was part of the Madras CM XI which took on the International XI.
A reproduction of the scorecard.

K. Sriram, (Managing Committee member, Chief Curator KSCA, Curator BCCI), and son of Late. Sri. G.Kasturirangan ( a former Karnataka Ranji trophy captain, KSCA Vice- President, Chief Curator and Chairman of the BCCI Pitches & Grounds Committee), has been elected as the Vice- President of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) in the elections held at KSCA, Bangalore on 20th May 2025.

All the members of The Bangalore Cricketers' are proud of his election as the Vice-President of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and congratulate him on his convincing win.

A post by Ramaya Ramachandra about National college grounds, Basavangudi, Bangalore is reproduced.
This is the ground where The Bangalore Cricketers practiced and many cricketer's from this famous club have gone on to represent India and Karnataka in different levels.

Below is the article reproduced (Thanks to Ramaya Ramachandra).

Aha, the National High School Grounds in Bengaluru!
This was the Ground for which Yagnappana Hotel became a sort of sports caterer those days. You could order Bonda to the ground itself, go and have Rave Idli with chutney or sit down to have masal dose with strong coffee. He catered to some of the top international players/ Olympians in any game that you would consider.
If there is a Ground in Bengaluru or Karnataka or anywhere in India that has contributed the maximum to various Sports, it is this Ground.
First, a few words on the High school and the National College itself: And the year. Decades of Nineteen hundred Fifties and after...
Late, Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, (HN), the Physics teacher who got his PhD from the University of Ohio USA, became the Principal and the Vice-chancellor of Bangalore University. He spent most of his evenings and weekends playing Basket Ball, as a goalkeeper in Hockey, donned the pads as wicketkeeper for the Annual staff vs. Students match in cricket, and played tennis too! The International Swimming pool came much later and I won’t be surprised he took part in some swimming competitions too!
The National High school teacher, B.L. Dakshinamurthy- BLD though was polio-stricken made light of it and bowled as a Pace bowler.
It is here, close to the Parvathy Chandrasekhar Boulevard, the Bangalore cricketers had their Nets with L.T. Adishesh, his bother L.T. Subbu, Kasturi Rangan, Balaji Srinivasan, Varadaraj, Deepak Das Gupta. Adi as he was popularly known led the State in the Ranji Trophy championship amidst becoming a doctor and settled in the UK. Kasturirangan the speedster who took Frank Worrell’s wicket when the MCC came here narrowly missed the Indian Test team, became a top horticulturalist, and an Adviser to BCCI as a Curator. Balaji the wicketkeeper and opening batsman opened along with Pankaj Roy in an unofficial Test against New Zealand.
Wicket-keeper opening bat electrifying K.R. Rajagopal, N. ‘Chabbi’ Sadashivan who passed away recently, Deepak Das Gupta, L.P. Shyam, K.G. Suresh who played for Neptunes in their first year and became champions, BV Bonda Ramachandra, and many more played for Bangalore cricketers in NHS Grounds. Even N. Ram political Pundit of the Hindu played for the Bangalore cricketers!

City Cricketers practiced close to Mahila Seva Samaja's end of the Grounds at the far -end.
K.S. Vishwanath, Hari Rao and later E. A. S. Prasanna and B.S. Chandrashekar played for City Cricketers. KSV played for Ranji Trophy and was known for his hurricane hitting. Prasanna and Chandrashekhar students of the Bangalore High School and National High school respectively hit big times even when they were in college and played for India. Principal Dr. Narasimhaiah took a special interest in the education of Chandrashekhar after he missed a whole year as he played from P. Ramachandra Rao tournament, The Ranji Trophy, The Duleep Trophy, Played for India in Tests and finally in World Cup match against England led by Sir Garfield Sobers! All in a matter of a year!
There were some more teams like the Super cricket team, The Merchants, Jolly Winners, and the NUCC to name only a few who practiced in NHS Grounds..
The City Hockey Club also had their practice session next to the City Cricketers. They would use one-half of a regular hockey pitch keeping their sandals as the goalpost. Ramarathnam, Shekar my brother, Cavale, Nataraj, Nagaraj were some of the players who played for the team.
The Annual Hockey tournament in their grounds attracted teams such as the HAL, the MEG, and many more. International players like goalkeeper Deshmuthu, Left-out Rajagopal, left-in Manuel, Peter, Govinda, Fitzgerald have all played here. Some of them were Olympians who played for their respective teams. The crowd would go ecstatic seeing Manuel weaving through to the goalpost or a Rajagopal move from midfield on the left flank resulting in a Penalty Corner. Murthy at full-back was another International for MEG who went on to captain India.
Finally one came to see the basketball courts to find India International players like homegrown Narasimharaju, Abbas Mondesir, S.V. Rajagopal, Appaiah, Raju, Laxman from teams such as HAL, Services, Bharath, YMMA, and NCOBA National College Old Boys Association. Putchami was a great umpire for basketball matches with a penchant for high drama and flourish.
There were teams playing in tennis ball cricket towards the end of National High schools some of whom went on to play serious cricket and represent India.
The National High School Grounds was a sort of sports cauldron in which players with talent and discipline and a slice of luck went on to dizzying heights representing the State and ultimately the Country.
The schools and colleges too encouraged the students to spend time honing their talent to the full.
The crowds would travel from one corner to another depending on which games were going on and going into raptures seeing marquee names amidst their favorite Grounds perform!
And Yagnappana Hotel catered its wares to such great sportsmen.

The Bangalore Cricketers summer cricket coaching camp at National College grounds, Basavangudi, Bengaluru.

Obituary - Former Ranji cricketer Peter Lobo passes away. Former Karnataka Ranji cricketer Peter Lobo, a fast bowler, played for The Bangalore Cricketers and HAL, Bangalore, passed away in Bangalore today. Peter Lobo played two Ranji games for Karnataka (1985-86 season) and took 6 wickets, with 3/59 as his best. All the members of The Bangalore Cricketers, cricketers from HAL, and friends mourn his untimely death.

This is a picture from 67 sports and pastime when India was touring Australia a international team of combined cricketers visited India the batsman is K R Rajgopal but who is the bowler he become a legend he expired few years back. Late Sri. K.R.Rajgopal, played for The Bangalore Cricketers. (Courtesy -Nothing but cricket)

Reviving memories - An article written by Sri. Gopal Hegde, in Deccan Herald's Sports Scene in 1988, when The Bangalore Cricketers won the first division title under the leadership of Sri.Ramesh Hejmadi.

Obituary.- Former state cricketer Sri. P.S.Vishwanath passes away Very sad to inform that Sri. P.S.Vishwanath, former Karnataka State cricketer and well respected cricket coach passed away today early morning in Bangalore due to illness. He was a outstanding and dedicated coach. A gentleman. A great loss to Karnataka cricket. On behalf of every cricketer in our state, I pay my humble respects to him and my heart felt condolences to all his family members on this great loss. Om shanti. 🙏

Reviving memories. A group photo of The Bangalore Cricketers with the Late G.Kasturirangan, Late Varadaraj, C.R.Lakshminarayan, M.S.Rajappa, Ramesh Hemadi, B.A.Ravindra, Venkataramiah, Keith Fernandez, Kneeling (L to R) Pratap Simha, B.K.Kumar, Venkatesh Babu, Anil, C.K.Muralidharan and K.G.Shekar.

Tributes to Late K.R.Rajagopal- Deccan Herald dated 21.11.22.