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Even though India's tryst with cricket dates back to the Eighteenth century, the concept of a central control authority was never deliberated upon till the end of World War I in 1918. The erstwhile Imperial Cricket Conference allowed two members of the Calcutta Cricket Club to attend the ICC meetings at Lord's on 31 May and 28 July 1926 on condition that the Indians would soon come up with a central authority for cricket.
In pursuance of the ICC directive, substantial deliberations ensued between various cricketing bodies on the constitution of a central cricket board in India. All the organizations were unanimous in their opinion that an Indian cricket board is indeed required to raise the level of the game in the country.
Subsequently on November 21, 1927, a congregation of 45 representatives from different parts of the country at the Roshanara Club in Delhi took the momentous step to form a central board for cricket with headquarters in Delhi. W. J. Cullen and J. E. MacDonell were asked to act temporarily as honorary joint secretaries of the provincial board.
In 1928, the provincial board was dissolved and the Board of Control for Cricket in India constituted with R. E. Grant Govan as its first president and Anthony S. De Mello as the first secretary. In the following year, BCCI got affiliated to the International Cricket Conference.
