History of Cricket in India

The history of cricket in India can be traced to the Eighteenth century with references of a friendly match between two teams of visiting sailors at a seaport in Kutch in 1725. This English game soon caught the fancy of the natives with the Pasis coming up with the first non-British cricket club of the country, the Orient Cricket Club in Mumbai in 1848.

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, one of the chief patrons of cricket in India, led the first unofficial tour of an "All India" team to England in 1911. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took root largely due to the efforts of the Maharaja along with A. S. De Mello, Lord Harris and R. E. Grant Govan.

The strenuous efforts of these visionaries bore fruit when India was admitted to the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1929 and subsequently granted test status in 1932. The day June 25, 1932, would be a red-letter day in the history of Indian cricket as on this fateful day India made its Test debut at Lord's, the Mecca of cricket.

During the early days, with cricket yet to find a firm footing in the country, three Indians - Ranjitsinghji, his nephew Duleepsinghji and the Nawab of Pataudi (Senior) had made a mark for themselves by playing for English teams. Ranjitsinghji even shouldered the responsibility of leading the Sussex team from 1899 to 1903.