The Oriental Cricket Club and the Dawn of Indian Cricket

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1932 Indian Test Cricket team. The 1932 All-India side which toured England. Back: Lall Singh, Phiroze Palia, Jahangir Khan, Mohammad Nissar, Amar Singh, Bahadur Kapadia, Shankarrao Godambe, Ghulam Mohammad, Janardan Navle. Seated: Syed Wazir Ali, C.K.Nayudu, Maharaja of Porbandar (captain), KS Limbdi (vice-captain), Nazir Ali, Joginder Singh. Front: Naoomal Jaoomal, Sorabji Colah, Nariman Marshall. Image: Public Domain
From the Oriental Cricket Club in Bombay to religion and caste-based cricket clubs, Indian cricket has come a long way.

The dawn of Indian cricket took place, not in India, but in Sylhet, Bangladesh. There, in the 1830s, sepoys played cricket amongst themselves – and occasionally with the British.

In one report of a match, between European officers, sepoys and members of a rival company, there is mention of a “Sepoy Soophul” whose bowling was “first-rate in both matches”. Where the sepoys played each other, the British seemed to have enjoyed watching – and the sepoys themselves enjoyed having an audience. An excerpt published in Sporting Intelligence Magazine tells the tale:

The most enthusiastic European cricketers could not have played with more energy and cheerfulness than the native sepoys did. I am not a cricketer myself, but invariably attend as a spectator when the natives are playing; the knowledge that the officers, whether playing or not, take an active interest in their performances gratifies the sepoys.

The writer had high praise for the Indian fielders and predicted that within a season or two, Indian sepoys would be very able players. From 1833-1850, sepoys in the army played matches from Cuttack, Silchar, Barrackpore, Dum Dum, Agra, Midnapore, and Sylhet. Some reports viewed the sport as essential in “improving one of the great defects so often complained of, the distance of the Europeans in the intercourse with the native.”



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