Cricket amid royalty
Horses and elephants maybe more common than a cricket ball in Jaipur, but the city has witnessed some memorable on-field performances

The historic palaces keep an eye on the action too • AFP
India v Sri Lanka, October 2005
Kumar Sangakkara's unbeaten 138 powered Sri Lanka to an imposing 298 in the first of the five-match ODI series and India's chase was jolted when Chaminda Vaas took out Sachin Tendulkar in the first over. In walked MS Dhoni - still in his first year in international cricket - and launched a blinding assault, which included ten sixes and 15 fours in an unbeaten 183. India won with nearly four overs to spare.
In the Pepsi triangular tournament, Pakistan beat India three times in three matches to take the trophy. The first win, in Jaipur, was the biggest. Saeed Anwar's 95 set the base for Pakistan's 278, and when India started their chase, two of their best batsmen - Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid - were blown away by Shoaib Akhtar. India never recovered from the early shock and were bowled out for 135 in the 37th over.
South Africa needed 62 off the last five overs, but were eight down. The game was almost in India's bag. Or so they thought. Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell smashed the ball to all parts of the ground to bring the equation to ten off the last over. It came down to three off the last ball, but Parnell was run out attempting a second to give India a one-run win.
Hanumant Singh
Rajasthan had a golden run in the Ranji Trophy in the '60s, when they made seven finals (though they went on to lose to Bombay every time). The second purple patch came almost 40 years later, when they took the Ranji title in 2010-11. They made sure that win was no fluke, by winning the trophy again the following year.
Devashish Fuloria is a sub-editor with ESPNcricinfo