In 1918, he played three matches for his brother's scratch side against teams composed largely of expatriate Englishmen.
[2] The Maharaja was a keen sportsman, and funded at least three cricket teams in India, as well as hosting polo, horse racing and wrestling on his palatial estate.
[5][6] Hitendra Narayan was tutored as a child by John Daniell, an English sportsman who had played top-level rugby union and cricket.
[10] Contemporary reports eulogised his batting,[9] though in his history of Somerset cricket, Peter Roebuck includes Narayan in his "litany of incompetents".
[10] The following season, he was given his debut in a match against the touring Australians on 10 June 1909, scoring three runs in the first innings and sixteen in the second in a low-scoring loss for Somerset.
[15] At the time, Somerset were suffering financial problems, and selected players based on how little they could pay them, rather than purely on their ability.
[2] He continued his father's tradition of sporting patronage, and the "Maharaja of Cooch-Behar's XI" played five first-class matches between November 1917 and January 1919.