Wisden Obituary
Suryaveer Singh died in a motor accident, some 125 miles from Ahmedabad, on August 5, 2002, aged 65. His daughter and two sisters were also killed. Suryaveer Singh's cricket career was rather overshadowed by that of his younger brother Hanumant, the Indian Test batsman and ICC match referee, whom he followed into the Rajasthan team in 1959-60 after a season with Madhya Pradesh. These were heady times for Rajasthan, with Vijay Manjrekar joining them just as Vinoo Mankad was nearing the end of his illustrious playing days. They reached the final of the Ranji Trophy for the first time in 1960-61, and seven times in all during Suryaveer's 14 seasons with them. Each time they went down to invincible Bombay, though not always without some individual glory. The brothers shared two big partnerships in the 1966-67 final, adding 176 for the third wicket and 213 for the second: Suryaveer made 79 and 132 and Hanumant, the captain, 109 and 213 not out. The match became known as Banswara v Bombay on account of their connection to the former royal family of that name. A forthright opening batsman and wicket-keeper, Suryaveer topped and tailed his eight first-class hundreds with centuries for Central Zone against the 1961- 62 and 1972-73 MCC sides. His highest was 184 not out for Rajasthan against Bombay in their 1968-69 Ranji semi-final. In 81 games he scored 4,006 runs at 32.30, made 94 catches and 16 stumpings and, purveying the occasional off-break, picked up five wickets at 47.80.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack