The Parsis then established a tradition of playing matches against English teams. The
first two unofficial tours by teams from India comprised only Parsis. A series of two
matches was also started between the Europeans and the Parsis in India on an annual basis
from 1892 and the matches were played in Bombay and Pune. The Bombay Union Hindu Cricket
Club was formed in 1906 and the tournament became a triangular affair from 1907. The
Muslim Gymkhana joined the tournament in 1912 and made it a quadrangular affair. The
tournament ultimately became a pentangular with the addition of a Rest team following the
formation of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1927/28. The tournament was
abandoned during, 1945 following an agitation by Mahatma Gandhi stating that it was
communal in character.
The first unofficial tour of an "All?India" team to England in 1911 was led by
Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. The Maharaja, in fact, was the chief patron of
cricket in the country and arranged for many cricketers from England to play in India. The
Maharaja with A.S. De Mello, Lord Harris and R.E. Grant Govan laid the foundation for the
formation of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The birth of the BCCI, however, was not without long and protracted birth pangs. By the
1920s the game had become very popular in most of the provinces, which were conducting a
number of tournaments. Some of the tournaments were open in nature and by the late 1920s
there were enough players of promise to compose a team comprising players from all over
India.
Robertson and Sir Robert Currie of the Calcutta Cricket Club were allowed as special
representatives of India to attend the ICC meetings at Lord's on 31 May and 28 July 1926
on condition that the Indians would soon constitute a national association for the
governance of the game in the country. In the 1926 ICC meetings, the MCC promised to send
a team to India and during 1926/27 a representative English team led by Arthur Gilligan
toured India extensively for six months to discover its cricketing potentials. The team
also played two representative matches against an All?India XI and in the Bombay match
C.K. Nayudu came into the limelight scoring 153 runs in 100 minutes with 11 sixes and 13
fours. The other match was played in Calcutta.
At the behest of Sir Dorabji Tata, the Parsi Gymkhana sent circulars to all organisations
connected with cricket eliciting opinion on the need for a central cricket board in India
with regard to future tours to and from other cricket playing countries. Though different,
organisations had their own view points, they were all agreed that an Indian cricket board
had to be formed if the game in India was to rise above the level which it had reached.
At the initiative taken by Grant Govan, 45 representatives, including some Maharajas and
Nawabs attended a meeting on 21 November 1927 at the Roshanara Club in Delhi and took a
definitive step to form a central board for cricket with headquarters in Delhi. Grant
Govan was invited to the Quadrangular committee meeting in Bombay on 10 December 1927,
which appointed W.J. Cullen and J.E. MacDonell to act temporarily as honorary joint
secretaries of the provincial board till such time as the formation of territorial
associations and the representation of such associations on the central board.
In 1928, the provincial board was dissolved and the Board of Control for Cricket in India
constituted with Grant Govan as its first president and Anthony S. De Mello as the first
secretary.
India was admitted to the ICC in 1929, granted Test status in 1932 and made its Test debut
on 25 June 1932 at Lord's. The Maharaja of Porbundar, who led the team, stepped down on
the eve of the match and gave the honour of captaining the first Indian Test cricket team
to C. K. Nayudu.
Even as the confabulations were on for the growth and development of cricket in India,
three Indians - Ranjitsinghji, his nephew Duleepsinghji and the Nawab of Pataudi (Senior)
? had carved a niche for themselves by playing for English teams. Ranjitsinghji also had
the honour of leading the Sussex team from 1899 to 1903.
From Ranjitsinghji, Duleepsinahji, Nawab of Pataudi (Senior), Vijay Merchant, Vijay
Hazare, Vijay Manjrekar, Polly Umrigar, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar, India
has had the tradition of producing batsmen of great international calibre, who have left a
mark in the history of world cricket. Though comparisons between players belonging to
different eras can be odious, Sunil Gavaskar earned a special place for himself among all
time Indian cricketing greats by becoming the first ever batsman in World cricket to cross
the 10,000?run mark in the history of Test cricket. Sunil Gavaskar's 10,122 runs from 125
Tests including 34 centuries (of which four were double centuries) now been surpassed by
Australian captain Alan Border. In the bowling department too, the Indians have produced
bowlers of high international reputation. Especially, the Indian art of spin bowling and
the exponents of this art from Bapu Nadkarni, Subhas Gupte, B.S. Chandrasekhar, Bishen
Singh Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna to S . Venkataraghavan have received special attention on and
off the cricket field. After a lapse of couple of seasons, the Indians are now in the
process of rediscovering this art.
The greatest Indian bowler, however, is undoubtedly Kapil Dev from Haryana. With speed
becoming the major aspect of the bowling armoury of most of the world cricket teams,
KapilDev lent a new dimension to Indian bowling since his debut for India against Pakistan
at Faislabad on 16 October 1978. Perhaps, the first genuine fast/ medium fast bowler
produced by India, Kapil Dev has become the best bowler in terms of wickets claimed in
Test cricket. Kapil Dev in the beginning of 1994 overhauled the 431 'Test' wickets tally
established by New Zealand's Richard Hadlee. Kapil Dev has also proved his prowess with
the bat and has been ranked among the top all-rounders of the world.
The Indian domestic cricket now has an organised format with the Board of Control for
Cricket in India and its affiliated associations at the helm of affairs. The tournaments
conducted at the various levels under different categories beginning from the school level
culminate in the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Irani Trophy and Deodhar Trophy matches at
the national level.
The second visit of the MCC team in 1933/34 to India under the captaincy of Douglas
Jardine made the Indian board realise the need for a tournament on a national basis. The
idea began to gain ground and the national championship was born in 1934 with the Maharaja
of Patiala agreeing to donate the 500?pound trophy to perpetuate the name of the great
Ranji. The tournament was to be played on an annual basis among the provincial cricket
associations. The inaugural match was played at Madras on 4 November 1934 with Madras
defeating Mysore by an innings and 23 runs in a single day.
Bombay, however, cornered the glory by winning the trophy in the year of inception. The
Bombay team also won the trophy 15 successive times from the 1958/59 to the 1972/73
seasons. After the partition and over the years, the format of the tournament has been
undergoing a lot of structural changes in tune with the demands of the changing times and
the growing popularity of the game in the country.
The Duleep Trophy tournament was started in the 1961/62 cricketing season. At the 33rd
annual general body meeting or the BCCI held on 30 September 1961, it was decided to
conduct a national tournament on a zonal basis and name it after Duleepsinghji. The first
match was between South Zone and North Zone in Madras. The idea for a tournament on the
lines of the Irani Trophy was first mooted by the well?known commentator A.F.S. Talyarkan
in the 1940s itself. The BCCl, however, decided to hold the event in 1959 and the first
match was played as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the Ranji Trophy
championship.
The Rohinton Baria interuniversity tournament was started in 1935 to tap the cricketing
talent at the university level itself. The tournament is being conducted by the
Inter?University Sports Board, since its formation in 1941.
The other major national level tournaments include, The Challenger Series, the Vizzy
Trophy, the C.K. Nayudu Trophy, the Wills Trophy, the Ghulam Ahmed Trophy and the
CoochBehar trophy.
ONEDAY CRICKET
This revolutionary change in the game was evolved during the 1970/71 "Ashes"
series in Australia between England and Australia when the Melbourne Test was forced to be
abandoned due to rains. The officials of the Australian Cricket Board with the consent of
the players from both the teams decided to arrange a 40?over?aside match on 5 January
1971, which was won by Australia by five wickets. The match witnessed by 46,000 spectators
gained instant popularity. Sponsored by the Prudential Insurance Company, three?One?day
games became a part of the package of the 1972 "Ashes" series.
However, the concept of One?day games was evolved earlier in England in the 1960s with the
introduction of the Gillette Cup in 1963 in England to attract audiences, who were slowly
being weaned away from cricket by more entertaining forms of sports and entertainment
packages. The Gillette Cup was replaced by the Natwest Trophy. Earlier, an Irish
businessman B.Harvey, had discovered and exploited the potentiality of short?duration,
limited over games in terms of TV sponsorship revenue. Harvey with Learie Constantine and
Ted Dexter formed the International Cavaliers, who played limited overs matches on Sunday
afternoons, which were telecast by the BBC, bringing in revenue in the form of commercial
sponsorship.
The ICC borrowed the idea and once again with the financial sponsorship of the Prudential
Insurance Company conducted the first World Cup One?day Championship on the lines of World
Cup Soccer in 1975. This form of cricket well suited the West Indian style and they
instantly emerged as the One?day heroes by winning the 1975 and 1979 championships. In
1983, when the West Indians were on the verge of a hat?trick of triumphs, the Indians, led
by Kapil Dev, upset their apple cart by defeating them in the final and claiming the Cup.
This is one of India's greatest glories of the 20th Century.
One day cricket has now become a very popular form of sport in almost all cricket playing
nations and each nation has evolved its own national one?day championship. Australian TV
tycoon, Kerry Packer, added a new dimension to the One?day version by introducing the
day?night matches under flood lights, coloured clothing for the players and the white ball
instead of the traditional cherry coloured ball.
In 1987, the World Cup championship moved out of its original home and was co?hosted by
India and Pakistan. While the 1992 World Cup was jointly conducted by Australia and New
Zealand, the 1996 edition saw a three?dimensional effect, with India, Pakistan and Sri
Lanka succeeding in their joint endeavour. The 1999 version on a different format and more
teams went back to England, while South Africa are scheduled to host the 2003 World Cup.
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