NATIONS
Cricket in India
Cricket is the most popular
sport in India. It is being considered as a king of sports in India . It is
played by many people in open spaces throughout the country . It has gained the
maximum popularity in India from the years (2000 – 2013) whenGanguly was appointed the new captain of Indian
team and responsibilities were moved to the new core – Tendulkar, Dravid,
Kumble and Ganguly. The Bengal tiger (Ganguly) lead the team and took into a
new era. The Indian cricket team step up one ladder ahead
after Winning 2007 ICC World Twenty20, 2011 Cricket World Cup, the 2013
ICC Champions Trophy under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Indian
Cricket team have also won 1983 Cricket World Cup and shared the 2002
ICC Champions Trophy with Sri
Lanka.
As cricket is most popular game in India, there are many domestic cricket
tournaments being organize throughout the year. The domestic cricket
performance is being consider for the selection of Indian cricket team. The
major domestic competitions include the Ranji
Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Vijay
Hazare Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy, the Irani
Trophy and
the NKP
Salve Challenger Trophy. In addition, BCCI conducts the Indian
Premier League, a Twenty20 competition.
The cricket was introduced to India
in the early 1700s by the British Raj and the first cricket match being played
in 1721 at
Cambay, near Baroda. The first cricket club in
India was established in Calcutta in 1792. In 1799, the second cricket club was formed at Seringapatam
nearby Mysore (Karnataka) after
the successful British siege and the defeat of Tipu
Sultan .In 1864, a Madras v. Calcutta match
was arguably the start of first-class cricket in India. In 1848, a first
cricket club “Oriental Cricket Club” was established by
Indians in Bombay by the parsi community. The Europeans eventually invited the Parsis to play a match in 1877. By 1912, the Parsis, Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims of Bombay played a
quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year.
In the 1900s, some the Indian named RanjitSinhji and KS Duleepsinhji
were selected to play for the English cricket team. Ranji
Trophy and Duleep Trophy - two major first-class tournaments in
India being organize on their names.
Before Independence, Bombay Quadrangular, Bombay
Pentangular, Ranji Trophy tournament were organized as a domestic cricket
tournament. After the Independence of India in 1947, the Ranji Trophy came into
its own as the national championship.The Ranji Trophy was donated by the
Maharajah of Patiala but named after KS Ranjitsinhji ("Ranji").The
first winner was Bombay ( 1934 - 1935)
India's national cricket team did
not play its first Test match until 25 June 1932 at Lord. India made its debut as a Test playing nation in
1932 at lords led by CK
Nayudu against England and became the sixth
team to be granted Test cricket status. The first match was witnessed by a massive
crowd of 24,000 people as well as the King of England, who was also the Emperor
of India. India recorded its first Test victory in 1952, beating England by an
innings in Madras.
In the domestic cricket in India ,One team totally
dominated Indian cricket in the 1960s. As part of 15 consecutive victories in
the Ranji Trophy from 1958-59 to 1972-73, Bombay won the title in all ten
seasons of the period under review. The Bombay team players were Farokh
Engineer, Dilip Sardesai, Bapu Nadkarni, Ramakant Desai, Baloo Gupte, Ashok
Mankad and Ajit Wadekar.
In the 1961-1962 season, the Duleep Trophy was
inaugurated as a zonal competition. It was named after Ranji's nephew, Kumar
Shri Duleepsinhji (1905–59). With Bombay in its catchment, it is not surprising
that the West Zone won six of the first nine titles
Now , the Indian cricket team were in a phase of
winning overseas . India beat New Zealand, and holding Australia, South Africa
and England to a draw. The backbone of the team were the Indian spin quartet -
Bishen Bedi, E.A.S. Prasanna, BS Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan,
giving rise to what would later be called the Golden Era of Indian cricket
history. In the same decade, Indian team got the best ever batsmen, Sunil
Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath responsible for the back-to-back series wins in
1971 in the West Indies and in England, under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar.
From
1985 to 2000, India produced a more
attack-focused batting line-up with talented batsmen such as Mohammed
Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri. India won the Asia Cup in 1984
and won the World Championship of Cricket in Australia in 1985. The 1987
Cricket World Cup was held in India.
Since 2000, the Indian team underwent major
improvements with the appointment of John Wright, India's first ever foreign
coach . India also got the best captain Saurav Ganguly. India's victory against
the Australians in 2001 marked the beginning of a dream era for the team under
the captainship of Sourav Ganguly, winning Test matches in Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka,
West Indies and England. India also shared a joint victory with Sri Lanka in
the ICC Championship, and went on to the finals in the 2003 Cricket World Cup
only to be beaten by Australia.
The Indian national team is currently ranked the
no.4 team in test cricket and as the no. 2 team in one day international cricket.
Domestic Competitions
Ranji Trophy -
Founded as 'The Cricket Championship of India' at a meeting of the Board
of Control for Cricket in India in July 1934. The
first Ranji Trophy fixtures took place in the 1934-35 season. Syed
Mohammed Hadi of Hyderabad was
the first batsman to score a century in the tournament. The Trophy was donated
by H.H. Sir Bhupendra Singh Mahinder Baha-dur, Maharajah of Patiala in memory
of His late Highness Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji of Nawanagar. In the main, the
Ranji Trophy is composed of teams representing the states that make up India.
As the political states have multiplied, so have cricket teams, but not every
state has a team. Some states have more than one cricket team, e.g. Maharashtra
and Gujarat. There are also 'odd' teams like Railways, and Services
representing the armed forces. The various teams used to be grouped into zones
- North, West, East, Central and South - and the initial matches were played on
a league basis within the zones. The top two (until 1991-92) and then top three
teams (subsequent years) from each zone then played in a national knock-out
competition. Starting with the 2002-03 season, the zonal system has been
abandoned and a two-division structure has been adopted with two teams being
promoted from the plate league and two relegated from the elite league. If the
knockout matches are not finished they are decided on the first-innings lead.
Irani Trophy -
The Trophy tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the
completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship and was named after the
late Z.R. Irani, who was associated with the Board
of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from its
inception in 1928, till his death in 1970 and a keen patron of the game. The
first match, played between the Ranji Trophy champions and the Rest of India
was played in 1959-60. For the first few years, it was played at the fag end of
the season. Realising the importance of the fixture, the BCCI moved it to the
beginning of the season. Since 1965-66, it has traditionally heralded the start
of the new domestic season. The Irani Trophy game ranks high in popularity and
importance. It is one of the few domestic matches followed with keen interest
by cricket lovers in the country. Leading players take part in the game, which
has often been a sort of selection trial to pick the Indian team for foreign
tours.
NKP Salve Challenger Trophy - Started as the Challenger series by the Board
of Control for Cricket in India in 1994-95 and later
named as NKP
Salve Challenger Trophy in 1998-99, the
tournament features 3 teams: India senior, India A and India B playing each
other. They were later renamed India Blue, India Red and India Green
respectively. This competition also marked as the platform of return for some
big names like Syed Ali and A. Eshwar in
2005-06 season after they battled injury and form respectively. The tournament
features the top 36 players from across India and
is also the most popular domestic structure after IPL.
Duleep Trophy -
The Duleep Trophy competition, a first-class competition, was started by the BCCI
in 1961-62 with the aim of providing a greater competitive edge in domestic
cricket - because, apart from the knock-out stages of the Ranji Trophy, that
competition proved predictable, with Bombay winning for fifteen consecutive
years. The Duleep was also meant to help the selectors in assessing form. The
original format was that five teams, drawn from the five zones, play each other
on a knock-out basis. From the 1993-94 season, the competition has been
converted to a league format.
Vijay Hazare Trophy - Named after
the prolific Indian cricketer Vijay Hazare, the Trophy was started in 2002-03
as an attempt to bring the limited-overs game among a greater audience. The
competition involves state teams from the Ranji trophy plates battling out in a
50-over competition, much on the lines of Ford
Ranger Cup of
Australia and Friends Provident Trophy of
England. Since its conception, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai have won the trophy twice
each. It is also dubbed as the Premier Cup by BCCI. It now joins Deodhar Trophy
as the second one-day competition of Indian domestic circuit.
Deodhar Trophy -
Started in 1973-74 by Board of Control for
Cricket in India, it is the current one-day cricket competition in Indian
domestic cricket. 5 zonal teams - North zone, South zone, East zone, West zone
and Central zone feature in the competition. North zone have won this
competition 11th time. It is also called All-Star Series due to some big names
representing their Zonal sides in the one-day fixtures.
BCCI Corporate Trophy - BCCI have set up a
12 team inter-corporate tournament that involves all top Indian cricketers. The
tournament involves 50-over-a-side matches with the winner picking up Rs 1
crore and the runner up getting Rs 50 lakh.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy - To be played for
the first time in the 2008-09 season, this is the first of its kind zonal T20
championship and the third overall in the Indian cricket season, which would
see Ranji teams divided along zonal lines into two groups with the tournament
culminating in the All India T20 final between the winners of the two groups
for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Launched after the success of the IPL and the
need of the BCCI to search for more talent in the growing regions of cricket.
Indian Premier League - In response to the
rival ICL,
the BCCI started the Twenty20 Indian
Premier League (known as the IPL). This League has been launched by BCCI have
received support from all the other Cricket Boards, and International Players
could be drafted into City-based Franchises. The first IPL season was held from
April 18, 2008 to June 1, 2008 where underdogs Rajasthan Royals, led by Shane
Warne, won the first title at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Based
on regional loyalties, the nine-team tournament brings a unique and popular
team and play auction system hand-picking some of the best international
players in the world and teaming them with Indian players, both domestic and
international, in one arena.The total prize money for the IPL was $3 million.
Inter-State T20 Championship -
After India became another member of the ICC Twenty20 and played its first
international T20 against South Africa, BCCI launched its own state structure
in 2006-07 season, with 27 Ranji teams divided in 5 Zones. The final was played
between Punjab and Tamil Nadu, which the latter won by 2 wickets and 2 balls
remaining, thereby becoming the only ever winner of this series. In this
series, Rohit
Sharma also
became the only ever Indian to register a T20 century for Mumbai against
Gujarat. The competition was later replaced by a franchise-based IPL.
As cricket is most popular game in India, there are many domestic cricket tournaments being organize throughout the year. The domestic cricket performance is being consider for the selection of Indian cricket team. The major domestic competitions include the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy, the Irani Trophy and the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy. In addition, BCCI conducts the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 competition.
Ranji Trophy - Founded as 'The Cricket Championship of India' at a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in July 1934. The first Ranji Trophy fixtures took place in the 1934-35 season. Syed Mohammed Hadi of Hyderabad was the first batsman to score a century in the tournament. The Trophy was donated by H.H. Sir Bhupendra Singh Mahinder Baha-dur, Maharajah of Patiala in memory of His late Highness Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji of Nawanagar. In the main, the Ranji Trophy is composed of teams representing the states that make up India. As the political states have multiplied, so have cricket teams, but not every state has a team. Some states have more than one cricket team, e.g. Maharashtra and Gujarat. There are also 'odd' teams like Railways, and Services representing the armed forces. The various teams used to be grouped into zones - North, West, East, Central and South - and the initial matches were played on a league basis within the zones. The top two (until 1991-92) and then top three teams (subsequent years) from each zone then played in a national knock-out competition. Starting with the 2002-03 season, the zonal system has been abandoned and a two-division structure has been adopted with two teams being promoted from the plate league and two relegated from the elite league. If the knockout matches are not finished they are decided on the first-innings lead.
Irani Trophy - The Trophy tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship and was named after the late Z.R. Irani, who was associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) from its inception in 1928, till his death in 1970 and a keen patron of the game. The first match, played between the Ranji Trophy champions and the Rest of India was played in 1959-60. For the first few years, it was played at the fag end of the season. Realising the importance of the fixture, the BCCI moved it to the beginning of the season. Since 1965-66, it has traditionally heralded the start of the new domestic season. The Irani Trophy game ranks high in popularity and importance. It is one of the few domestic matches followed with keen interest by cricket lovers in the country. Leading players take part in the game, which has often been a sort of selection trial to pick the Indian team for foreign tours.
NKP Salve Challenger Trophy - Started as the Challenger series by the Board of Control for Cricket in India in 1994-95 and later named as NKP Salve Challenger Trophy in 1998-99, the tournament features 3 teams: India senior, India A and India B playing each other. They were later renamed India Blue, India Red and India Green respectively. This competition also marked as the platform of return for some big names like Syed Ali and A. Eshwar in 2005-06 season after they battled injury and form respectively. The tournament features the top 36 players from across India and is also the most popular domestic structure after IPL.
Duleep Trophy - The Duleep Trophy competition, a first-class competition, was started by the BCCI in 1961-62 with the aim of providing a greater competitive edge in domestic cricket - because, apart from the knock-out stages of the Ranji Trophy, that competition proved predictable, with Bombay winning for fifteen consecutive years. The Duleep was also meant to help the selectors in assessing form. The original format was that five teams, drawn from the five zones, play each other on a knock-out basis. From the 1993-94 season, the competition has been converted to a league format.
Vijay Hazare Trophy - Named after the prolific Indian cricketer Vijay Hazare, the Trophy was started in 2002-03 as an attempt to bring the limited-overs game among a greater audience. The competition involves state teams from the Ranji trophy plates battling out in a 50-over competition, much on the lines of Ford Ranger Cup of Australia and Friends Provident Trophy of England. Since its conception, Tamil Nadu and Mumbai have won the trophy twice each. It is also dubbed as the Premier Cup by BCCI. It now joins Deodhar Trophy as the second one-day competition of Indian domestic circuit.
Deodhar Trophy - Started in 1973-74 by Board of Control for Cricket in India, it is the current one-day cricket competition in Indian domestic cricket. 5 zonal teams - North zone, South zone, East zone, West zone and Central zone feature in the competition. North zone have won this competition 11th time. It is also called All-Star Series due to some big names representing their Zonal sides in the one-day fixtures.
BCCI Corporate Trophy - BCCI have set up a 12 team inter-corporate tournament that involves all top Indian cricketers. The tournament involves 50-over-a-side matches with the winner picking up Rs 1 crore and the runner up getting Rs 50 lakh.
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy - To be played for the first time in the 2008-09 season, this is the first of its kind zonal T20 championship and the third overall in the Indian cricket season, which would see Ranji teams divided along zonal lines into two groups with the tournament culminating in the All India T20 final between the winners of the two groups for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Launched after the success of the IPL and the need of the BCCI to search for more talent in the growing regions of cricket.
Indian Premier League - In response to the rival ICL, the BCCI started the Twenty20 Indian Premier League (known as the IPL). This League has been launched by BCCI have received support from all the other Cricket Boards, and International Players could be drafted into City-based Franchises. The first IPL season was held from April 18, 2008 to June 1, 2008 where underdogs Rajasthan Royals, led by Shane Warne, won the first title at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Based on regional loyalties, the nine-team tournament brings a unique and popular team and play auction system hand-picking some of the best international players in the world and teaming them with Indian players, both domestic and international, in one arena.The total prize money for the IPL was $3 million.
Inter-State T20 Championship - After India became another member of the ICC Twenty20 and played its first international T20 against South Africa, BCCI launched its own state structure in 2006-07 season, with 27 Ranji teams divided in 5 Zones. The final was played between Punjab and Tamil Nadu, which the latter won by 2 wickets and 2 balls remaining, thereby becoming the only ever winner of this series. In this series, Rohit Sharma also became the only ever Indian to register a T20 century for Mumbai against Gujarat. The competition was later replaced by a franchise-based IPL.
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