Here's What Cricket India Played Before Its First Test In 1932
When the country is celebrating the 500th Test match, it is perhaps pertinent to go back to the 'pre-history' and celebrate the architects who enabled the playing of the first Test in 1932.
When the country is celebrating the 500th Test match, it is perhaps pertinent to go back to the 'pre-history' and celebrate the architects who enabled the playing of the first Test in 1932. So while we celebrate India@500, it¡¯s worth remembering how it all started - the tours that led to CK Nayudu leading an India team out at Lord¡¯s on June 25, 1932.
India In England, 1911
Perhaps the first Indian team to taste success in England was the Maharaja of Patiala¡¯s touring team in 1911. This team, unlike the Parsi teams of 1886 and 1888 were competitive, and included among others the Dalit superstar P Baloo.
Wikipedia
A slow left-arm spin bowler, Baloo represented the Bombay Hindus with enormous success and was an automatic choice for the All India team led by the Maharaja of Patiala in 1911. On this tour he took a rich haul of 114 wickets topping the bowling averages with 18.86. In the first class matches of the tour, he captured 75 wickets, averaging 20.12 runs per wicket. According to Deodhar, Baloo could easily rank alongside Wilfred Rhodes or Hedley Verity. However, this tour was followed by a period of lull, caused partly by the outbreak of the First World War and it was not until 1926 that the next major engagement in Indian cricket had taken place.
Gilligan¡¯s Team In India, 1926
When Arthur Gilligan¡¯s MCC team had reached Bombay undefeated, Indian cricket stood at a crossroads. Could an Indian side challenge the MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club)? Was there an Indian batsman capable of taking on the guile of Maurice Tate, W Astill and G Boyes? CK Nayadu¡¯s innings of 153 in Bombay was the answer. The aura of the MCC had been shattered. The innings was an assertion of indigenous cricketing prowess against the colonisers. It was a signal that the Indians were legitimately knocking on the doors of world cricket. This innings may be regarded as that moment when a Indian nationalism took off on the cricket field.
wikipedia
The quality of Nayadu¡¯s play also spoke well of the progress of the sport in the subcontinent. On more than one occasion he hit two sixes in succession, while in one of R Wyatt¡¯s overs he went on a rampage to score 22 runs. The first two balls were dispatched for six, the next two hit with disdain for fours. He had scored 100 runs in an hour and thirteen minutes against a combined attack of six English first class bowlers.
wikipedia
The reaction in colonial India was unparalleled. It wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to state that it successfully galvanised a colonised nation perennially in search of a cultural icon. Edward Docker, an early historian of the game in India, said this: ¡°It was amazing how fast the news spread, considering the city was still without a wireless set. When Nayadu¡ returned to the wicket after lunch, every tree was black with human spectators, every rooftop that commanded even a partial or distant view of the game.¡± This revival initiated by Nayudu was carried forward by DB Deodhar, who scored a gritty 148 soon after. India¡¯s admission to the ICC (then the Imperial Cricket Conference) was then just a matter of time, as was her playing.
Ranji
The man for whom the Australian government had relaxed its immigration laws in 1897-98, Ranjitsinhji was the first Indian cricketer to have captured the imagination of the West. While there¡¯s considerable debate about whether he was an anglophile, an imposter prince or a regional nationalist, that he played a role in India¡¯s cricketing journey is beyond doubt.
wikipedia
For example, he had a hand in discovering Amar Singh, one of the spearheads of the Indian attack on the first tour to England in 1932, a year before his death in April 1933. It is also known that Ranji was an admirer of Nayudu, congratulating him after his century against Gilligan¡¯s side in 1926.