After several years of experience in the art world, Digvijay Sinh (31) prepares for his first public sports auction, a project that’s taken four dedicated months to plan. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The year was 1911. (If you’re a true-blue cricket buff, you know where this is headed already). It was the first time an all-Indian team toured England, playing county matches against the colonists. An avid cricketer who has played for art and auction house, Osian’s cricket team for a decade, 31-year-old Digvijay Sinh, scion of the Kathiwada royal family whose genealogy can be traced back 700 years, relates the story with the zeal of one who actually witnessed the whole thing first-hand. The walls of his cabin are adorned with varied works of art and his desk overlooks a shelf covered with sports trophies. Another room of his office is a veritable sports museum, filled with memorabilia, some pieces that he owns, others that were sourced over four months for the forthcoming auction.