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W The 1970s witnessed many an inspired team and individual
hen Arthur Gilligan captained the MCC side that toured
India in 1926-7 he encountered sufficient levels of flair and talent performance, with Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath scoring
to convince him that the country was ready for the big time in plenty of runs, and the greatest spin quartet in the history of
Test cricket. the game - Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna and Venkataraghvan,
confusing and befuddling opponents.
His encouragement played a key role in the initiation of a chain
of events, which culminated with the establishment of the India stunned the world by winning the World Cup under Kapil
Board of Control for Cricket in India in December 1928. Dev in 1983. The team went on to clinch the Asia Cup in 1984
and the World Championship of Cricket in 1985, thus proving its
The Indian cricket team played its inaugural Test match at Lord’s, supremacy in limited-overs cricket.
the Mecca of the sport, in June 1932. The experienced England
outfit, led by Douglas Jardine, won the three-day affair, but not It was during this period that the BCCI teamed up with its
before the debutants made a rousing start. England were 19-3 on Pakistani counterpart to bid for the 1987 World Cup. The
the first morning, an outcome of the incisive bowling of India’s success of their endeavour, and that of the tournament itself,
new-ball pair of Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh Ladha. commenced the globalization of the sport. India’s status as the
‘hub’ of the sport in popular and financial terms was sealed in
The duo, along with Col. C.K. Nayudu, who was India’s first Test the 1990s, a decade that saw the emergence of a whole new
captain, dominated the Indian cricket scene in its initial phase. generation of legends, and the staging of another World Cup
Subsequent years saw the advent of Lala Amarnath, Vijay (1996) by the subcontinent.
Merchant and Syed Mushtaq Ali.
In the new millennium, Indian cricket finds itself within touching
World War II was followed by independence and partition. Lala distance of the dominators from down under. The ‘old guard’ of
Amarnath had the distinction of being the first cricket captain Tendulkar, Kumble, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman are still going
of independent India, when he took on an Australian side led by strong, and they have for company the young brigade that
Sir Donald Bradman in 1947-48. comprises Dhoni and his Twenty20 conquerors of 2007. They
have been joined recently by the boys who won the under-19
India opened its account in Test cricket in Madras in 1951-52, World Cup in 2008.
when Vinoo Mankad bagged twelve wickets to set up a win by
an innings and eight runs. Although the 1950s and 60s witnessed These talents will come together with international stars in the
some significant victories and individual achievements, it was sport’s newest and most exciting venture. The Indian Premier
only in 1971 that the Indian team came to be regarded as a League promises to be a spectacular combination of cricket and
consistent and formidable outfit. entertainment, as well as a platform for the stars of tomorrow,
from which to leap for the skies.
The arrival of Sunil Gavaskar on the international scene coincided
with back-to-back series wins in the West Indies and England. May the IPL begin.
