Cricket in India

In today’s context, it can be said without a shadow of a doubt that Cricket in India has now become synonymous with the passion and excitement of any Indian sports enthusiast. The impact of the game in the nation and the influence of the Cricket-stars are so overwhelming that it can easily challenge the glory and fan following of the Indian movie stars on any given day. Originated from the south-east England, the game moved further to the British colonies scattered all over the world and that is how it reached India in the middle half of the 18th century. The oldest references to the sport in India can be dated as early as the year 1725 when some sailors played a friendly match at a seaport in Kutch. The game was focused largely on the large cities earlier like Calcutta (now Kolkata), Bombay (now Mumbai) and Madras (now Chennai). Presidency matches were played initially between European and Parsis; the Hindus and the Muslims joined the league later.

The First Class Cricket in India began in 1864 when a match was played between Madras and Calcutta. In 1877, Bombay presidency joined the league. But the league was awarded the First Class status much later, in 1892-93. In the year 1889-90, an English team led by George Vernon arrived at India which was eventually the first foreign team to visit India. The matches they played were not, however, awarded the First Class Status. “The Board of Control for Cricket in India” (BCCI) was established in 1928. In 1934-35, the first ‘Ranji Trophy’ fixtures took place and the trophy was donated by the ‘Maharaja of Patiala’ in memory of His late Highness Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji of Nawanagar. The ‘Duleep Trophy’ competition was started by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1961-62 with the aim of providing a greater competitive edge in domestic cricket.

After the independence in 1947, India secured its first ever Test Series victory against the arch rival Pakistan cricket team in the year 1952. The victory was a great boost to the game as some of the all time gems of the Indian cricket showed their remarkable skills during this Test Series. These players included Vijay Manjarekar, S.M.Gupte and Polly Umrigar. During the 1970’s, Indian Cricket team got one of its most cherished possessions of all times – “The Spin Quartet” comprising of E.Prasanna, B.S.Chandrasekhar, Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Bishan Singh Bedi. The decade also saw the emergence of two Indian batting stalwarts, Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Biswanath. In 1983, Indian cricket reached the greatest height as Kapil Dev Nikhanj and his team won the only World Cup for India. India continued to produce world class performers in cricket like Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly. Rahul Dravid and the current crop of young talents like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Virendra Sehwag. Dhoni led the boys to win the first ever Twenty-Twenty World Cup in 2007. The Indian people’s passion for cricket is renowned in all parts of the world. With such glorious history and pleasant present, the future of Indian cricket certainly appears bright.

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