Mumbai Cricket, INDIA
Airing Date: Jun 16th, 2007
Cricket is the unofficial national sport of
India, and its development has been closely tied up with the history of the country, mirroring many of the political and cultural developments around issues such as race, caste, religion and nationality.
Cricket was first introduced to India by the British.
The earliest recorded match was played in 17211 by British sailors on shore leave. With the expansion of British rule throughout the subcontinent, the British took the game with them wherever they went. However, the early history of the game was focused largely on the large cities, particularly
Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) .
The first Indians to play the game at a high level were the Parsi minority. Beginning in 1892, an annual match was played between the Parsis and the Europeans. In 1907, this became a triangular tournament with the Hindus fielding a team, and in 1912 a Muslim team entered what was for twenty years the biggest tournament in India-the Bombay Quadrangular.
Mumbai has seen Test matches played at three different grounds. The Bombay Gymkhana ground hosted the first ever Test in India, in 1933-34 against England.
After WW-II, the Cricket Club of India's Brabourne Stadium was used for 17 Tests.
However, due to a dispute between the CCI and the Bombay Cricket Association, the BCA built the 45000-capacity Wankhede Stadium, less than a mile away from the Brabourne Stadium.
Wankhede Stadium staged its first Test in the 1974-75 seasons when the Windies toured India. Clive Lloyd scored an unbeaten 242 and in Pataudi's last hurrah, India lost by 201 runs. India's first victory here was posted against the New Zealand two seasons later.
The stadium has been witness to great innings like Gavaskar's 205 against the Windies and Kallicharan's 187 in the same game in the 1978-79 series and all round heroics like Ian Botham's century and thirteen wickets in the Jubilee Test in 1980 which England won by ten wickets.
The highest score by an Indian at Wankhede remains Vinod Kambli's 224 against England in 1992-93 in only his third Test. Incidentally Ravi Shastri's six sixes in an over off Baroda's Tilak Raj en route to the fastest double-hundred in first-class cricket was on this ground in 1984-85.
The seaside situation of the Wankhede stadium means that the swing bowlers get a fair amount of assistance during the early part of each day. The pitch has traditionally been full of runs, but it does help the spinners during the last couple of days, and in the last Test played on the ground, against Australia in 2005, the ball spun viciously from early on and this, coupled with low bounce, helped India win in under three days even though almost a whole day was lost to rain.
The Wankhede stadium has stands named after famous Mumbai cricketers like Vijay Merchant, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar.
Further Information:Qantas - Fly return to Mumbai from $1600 ex Melbourne, $1605 ex Brisbane & Perth and $1620 ex Sydney & Adelaide. Prices correct at 10/5/07. Prices include surcharges, fees and taxes, subject to fluctuation. Conditions apply.
For all information on India:
www.incredibleindia.org
