Inaugural Cricket Test on Indian Soil - Bombay Gymkhana, Dec 15-18, 1933
Just one year after India was baptised into Test Cricket in England - 25 June, 1932, when India played their inaugural test against England at the Lords Stadium, India got an opportunity to host the English team in India and to play their inaugural home test in Bombay (Mumbai) in December 1933. The Indian team performance, which was higher than what was expected, in their inaugural Test provided that fillip and accentuated England's first official Test series tour to India in 1933-34., during which England played a three test series against the hosts India. The famous Bombay Gymkhana, which is inextricably linked with cricket in India during the formative years of Indian cricket, was the venue for the inaugural home Test, which was played from Dec 15 -18, 1933. The visiting English (MCC) team was captained by Douglas Jardine, who had helped England regain the Ashes in Australia by adopting the infamous bodyline tactics. Most interestingly it was a homecoming for Jardine, who was born in Bombay and therefore Jardine had a soft corner and liking for India, which was vividly seen during the series. The home team was captained by Col. CK Nayudu.
Bombay ( now Mumbai), which was famous for the highly popular Triangular and Quadrangular Cricket matches that witnessed unprecedented spectators and huge media coverage, was obviously the first choice for hosting the inaugural cricket Test on the Indian soil and the organisers were sure of record turn out of spectators for the match. True to expectations a record 40000 plus cricket crazy crowd thronged the stadium to witness the inaugural Test, on home soil, on all the four days of the inaugural Test in Bombay. The match began at the Bombay Gymkhana stadium, which was reserved only for the whites, on an unusually hot day - 15th December, 1933. Although it was winter time in Bombay (now Mumbai) it was a hot and humid day and the organisers, in anticipation of huge crowd, had created a temporary double-decker makeshift stands for the Indian spectators (colies or Aam aadmi), while for the whites there was an ostentatious arrangements with colourful shamianas with plentiful sofas for seating for the whites. It was part of the traditions that the colonial rulers practiced all through their rule in India - a racial discrimination, which often times bordered between insanity and inhuman when it came to discriminating the Indians.
The Indian captain, C K Naidu, won the toss and elected to bat first to the thunderous applause of the native audience. The opening pair of Wazir Ali and Navle began their innings on a cautious note putting on a respectable opening stand of 44 runs, before Navle was caught by Nicholas of the bowling of Verity. The young debutant Lala Amarnath walked into the crease and remained the top scorer for India with a score of 38. The minnows Indian team quickly folded up for a paltry 219 with their captain, CK Naidu scoring 28 and Wazir Ali 36. England, true to their form, having conquered the mighty Australians under Don Bradman in their infamous Body-line Ashes test series, scored an impressive 438 runs in their first innings with BH Valentine scoring an magnificent century (136) and Walters and their captain Jardine scoring half centuries each 78 and 60 respectively. England ended their innings scoring exactly double of what the Indians scored. Indian pacer, Nissar scalped five wickets to remain the top wicket taker in the English innings followed by Jamshedji who scalped three wickets.
India, with more than 200 runs in deficit, started their second innings on a very poor note losing two early wickets for just 21. The spectators were muted in their shocked response and all seemed lost and when it looked like India would face an ignominious innings defeat, suddenly things changed. Captain Nayadu and his partner young debutant Amarnath played outstandingly and created an enviable history and were involved in a record third wicket partnership of 186 runs. The young stylist debutant, Amarnath scored a spectacular debut century. Indian captain, Nayadu, who was dubbed the Hindu Bradman by the British during the Indian inaugural test tour to England in the previous year, played a cautious knock in this innings. Debutant Lala Amarnath outshined his illustrious and dashing partner, captain Nayadu, who conscientiously preferred to play second fiddle to the young Amarnath. The two played remarkably well and were involved in a record partnership in the match. As the lights began to fade on the third day - Sunday, December 17, 1933, and the spectators remained anxious Amarnath pushed for a single to record a historic first Test century for an Indian to the thunderous applause of the audience. This historic feat resulted in the play to be held up for some time since there were unending celebrations and hugs all around the stadium. The most ironical part of all the celebrations was the celebration tune, which was played by the band present at the ground. They played “God save the King” while waving the Union Jack flag. It was during this celebrations that one of the most memorable incidence, which will permanently be etched in history was witnessed on the ground. The moment Amarnath completed his single and scored his century, the spectators rose with a thunderous applause and started celebrating. One of the over zealous enthusiast spectator ran on to the field hoping to garland the centurion Amarnath. Skipper Nayadu, who was overwhelmed by the situation, ran towards the spectator to shoo him away from Amarnath, forgetting in the process that the ball was not dead yet and that he had not grounded his bat at the crease. Fortunately, Jardine, who had a soft corner for India, the land of his birth, managed with some extra effort to restrain his team mate and wicket-keeper Harry Elliott, who was preparing to take advantage of the situation and run the Indian captain out. This was truly memorable. It was the same Jardine who had showed his ugly sporting attitude when he toured Australia for the Ashes and adopted his infamous Body line tactic and here in India the same Jardine behaved in a completely different way showing restraint and exemplary sporting attitude and coercing his wicket keeper not to take the bails off to run out Naidu, which would have been completely legal. Most interestingly some of the reports which covered the match on the third day, when Amarnath had remained 102 not out at stumps, reported that women at the Indian spectators enclosure threw their jewellery at Amarnath as he walked out of the ground. The hero worship, which is now rampantly followed in India, where cricket players like Sachin Tendulkar are literally worshipped, perhaps owes its genesis to Lala Amaranth and his test century in inaugural test that India played in Bombay.
But most unfortunately the celebrations of the record third wicket partnership and the debut century by Lala Amarnath were short lived. From a very strong position of 207 for 2, on the third day, the Indian team lost both their record breaking partners - Amarnath and Naidu, in quick succession and the score line read 208 for 4. Amarnath was the fourth to go, out for 118. Thereafter the Indian team folded up meekly and were all out for 258 with some resistance shown by Vijay Merchant who scored a plucky 30 runs. This meant that England were left with a modest score of 40 runs to win the Test. England scored these runs loosing one wicket and won the inaugural Test in India by 9 wickets. The remaining two Tests were played in
Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Madras (now Chennai)and India lost the series 2-0 loosing at Bombay and Madras and managing a creditable draw at Calcutta.
Amarnath became an instant hero in India and his 118 made him rise to a level of stardom Indian cricketers had never reached before. Though he could not replicate his stellar performance in the subsequent two test matches in Calcutta and Madras with the bat, he did manage to take 4 wickets at Madras. The stardom which rightfully belonged to Amarnath in the inaugural test series continues to strive in India ever since and from time to time India has seen different cricket stars, who have huge fan following across India be it Sunny Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and now Virat Kohli.
India may have lost the inaugural series but the Indians had seen what Test Cricket was all about. Over the years India and BCCI have established as the unwritten leaders in international Cricket and every cricketer dreams to play against India in front of a massive crowd. The IPL tournament, which India has been hosting every year since its inaugural tournament in 2008, is one of the most sought after tournament for all the cricket players and ICC gets maximum revenues from India. Next time when we cheer our players we must cheer for Bombay (amchi Mumbai) and Mumbaikars who paved the way for what Cricket is now in India.
Just one year after India was baptised into Test Cricket in England - 25 June, 1932, when India played their inaugural test against England at the Lords Stadium, India got an opportunity to host the English team in India and to play their inaugural home test in Bombay (Mumbai) in December 1933. The Indian team performance, which was higher than what was expected, in their inaugural Test provided that fillip and accentuated England's first official Test series tour to India in 1933-34., during which England played a three test series against the hosts India. The famous Bombay Gymkhana, which is inextricably linked with cricket in India during the formative years of Indian cricket, was the venue for the inaugural home Test, which was played from Dec 15 -18, 1933. The visiting English (MCC) team was captained by Douglas Jardine, who had helped England regain the Ashes in Australia by adopting the infamous bodyline tactics. Most interestingly it was a homecoming for Jardine, who was born in Bombay and therefore Jardine had a soft corner and liking for India, which was vividly seen during the series. The home team was captained by Col. CK Nayudu.
Bombay ( now Mumbai), which was famous for the highly popular Triangular and Quadrangular Cricket matches that witnessed unprecedented spectators and huge media coverage, was obviously the first choice for hosting the inaugural cricket Test on the Indian soil and the organisers were sure of record turn out of spectators for the match. True to expectations a record 40000 plus cricket crazy crowd thronged the stadium to witness the inaugural Test, on home soil, on all the four days of the inaugural Test in Bombay. The match began at the Bombay Gymkhana stadium, which was reserved only for the whites, on an unusually hot day - 15th December, 1933. Although it was winter time in Bombay (now Mumbai) it was a hot and humid day and the organisers, in anticipation of huge crowd, had created a temporary double-decker makeshift stands for the Indian spectators (colies or Aam aadmi), while for the whites there was an ostentatious arrangements with colourful shamianas with plentiful sofas for seating for the whites. It was part of the traditions that the colonial rulers practiced all through their rule in India - a racial discrimination, which often times bordered between insanity and inhuman when it came to discriminating the Indians.
The Indian captain, C K Naidu, won the toss and elected to bat first to the thunderous applause of the native audience. The opening pair of Wazir Ali and Navle began their innings on a cautious note putting on a respectable opening stand of 44 runs, before Navle was caught by Nicholas of the bowling of Verity. The young debutant Lala Amarnath walked into the crease and remained the top scorer for India with a score of 38. The minnows Indian team quickly folded up for a paltry 219 with their captain, CK Naidu scoring 28 and Wazir Ali 36. England, true to their form, having conquered the mighty Australians under Don Bradman in their infamous Body-line Ashes test series, scored an impressive 438 runs in their first innings with BH Valentine scoring an magnificent century (136) and Walters and their captain Jardine scoring half centuries each 78 and 60 respectively. England ended their innings scoring exactly double of what the Indians scored. Indian pacer, Nissar scalped five wickets to remain the top wicket taker in the English innings followed by Jamshedji who scalped three wickets.
India, with more than 200 runs in deficit, started their second innings on a very poor note losing two early wickets for just 21. The spectators were muted in their shocked response and all seemed lost and when it looked like India would face an ignominious innings defeat, suddenly things changed. Captain Nayadu and his partner young debutant Amarnath played outstandingly and created an enviable history and were involved in a record third wicket partnership of 186 runs. The young stylist debutant, Amarnath scored a spectacular debut century. Indian captain, Nayadu, who was dubbed the Hindu Bradman by the British during the Indian inaugural test tour to England in the previous year, played a cautious knock in this innings. Debutant Lala Amarnath outshined his illustrious and dashing partner, captain Nayadu, who conscientiously preferred to play second fiddle to the young Amarnath. The two played remarkably well and were involved in a record partnership in the match. As the lights began to fade on the third day - Sunday, December 17, 1933, and the spectators remained anxious Amarnath pushed for a single to record a historic first Test century for an Indian to the thunderous applause of the audience. This historic feat resulted in the play to be held up for some time since there were unending celebrations and hugs all around the stadium. The most ironical part of all the celebrations was the celebration tune, which was played by the band present at the ground. They played “God save the King” while waving the Union Jack flag. It was during this celebrations that one of the most memorable incidence, which will permanently be etched in history was witnessed on the ground. The moment Amarnath completed his single and scored his century, the spectators rose with a thunderous applause and started celebrating. One of the over zealous enthusiast spectator ran on to the field hoping to garland the centurion Amarnath. Skipper Nayadu, who was overwhelmed by the situation, ran towards the spectator to shoo him away from Amarnath, forgetting in the process that the ball was not dead yet and that he had not grounded his bat at the crease. Fortunately, Jardine, who had a soft corner for India, the land of his birth, managed with some extra effort to restrain his team mate and wicket-keeper Harry Elliott, who was preparing to take advantage of the situation and run the Indian captain out. This was truly memorable. It was the same Jardine who had showed his ugly sporting attitude when he toured Australia for the Ashes and adopted his infamous Body line tactic and here in India the same Jardine behaved in a completely different way showing restraint and exemplary sporting attitude and coercing his wicket keeper not to take the bails off to run out Naidu, which would have been completely legal. Most interestingly some of the reports which covered the match on the third day, when Amarnath had remained 102 not out at stumps, reported that women at the Indian spectators enclosure threw their jewellery at Amarnath as he walked out of the ground. The hero worship, which is now rampantly followed in India, where cricket players like Sachin Tendulkar are literally worshipped, perhaps owes its genesis to Lala Amaranth and his test century in inaugural test that India played in Bombay.
But most unfortunately the celebrations of the record third wicket partnership and the debut century by Lala Amarnath were short lived. From a very strong position of 207 for 2, on the third day, the Indian team lost both their record breaking partners - Amarnath and Naidu, in quick succession and the score line read 208 for 4. Amarnath was the fourth to go, out for 118. Thereafter the Indian team folded up meekly and were all out for 258 with some resistance shown by Vijay Merchant who scored a plucky 30 runs. This meant that England were left with a modest score of 40 runs to win the Test. England scored these runs loosing one wicket and won the inaugural Test in India by 9 wickets. The remaining two Tests were played in
Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Madras (now Chennai)and India lost the series 2-0 loosing at Bombay and Madras and managing a creditable draw at Calcutta.
Amarnath became an instant hero in India and his 118 made him rise to a level of stardom Indian cricketers had never reached before. Though he could not replicate his stellar performance in the subsequent two test matches in Calcutta and Madras with the bat, he did manage to take 4 wickets at Madras. The stardom which rightfully belonged to Amarnath in the inaugural test series continues to strive in India ever since and from time to time India has seen different cricket stars, who have huge fan following across India be it Sunny Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and now Virat Kohli.
India may have lost the inaugural series but the Indians had seen what Test Cricket was all about. Over the years India and BCCI have established as the unwritten leaders in international Cricket and every cricketer dreams to play against India in front of a massive crowd. The IPL tournament, which India has been hosting every year since its inaugural tournament in 2008, is one of the most sought after tournament for all the cricket players and ICC gets maximum revenues from India. Next time when we cheer our players we must cheer for Bombay (amchi Mumbai) and Mumbaikars who paved the way for what Cricket is now in India.
No comments:
Post a Comment