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W                                                                                      The  1970s  witnessed  many  an  inspired  team  and  individual
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                hen Arthur Gilligan captained the MCC side that toured
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       India in 1926-7 he encountered sufficient levels of flair and talent                    performance, with Gavaskar and Gundappa Viswanath scoring
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       to convince him that the country was ready for the big time in                          plenty of runs, and the greatest spin quartet in the history of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Test cricket.                                                                           the game - Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna and Venkataraghvan,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               confusing and befuddling opponents.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       His encouragement played a key role in the initiation of a chain
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       of  events,  which  culminated  with  the  establishment  of  the                       India stunned the world by winning the World Cup under Kapil

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Board of Control for Cricket in India in December 1928.                                 Dev in 1983. The team went on to clinch the Asia Cup in 1984
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               and the World Championship of Cricket in 1985, thus proving its
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The Indian cricket team played its inaugural Test match at Lord’s,                      supremacy in limited-overs cricket.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       the Mecca of the sport, in June 1932. The experienced England
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       outfit, led by Douglas Jardine, won the three-day affair, but not                       It  was  during  this  period  that  the  BCCI  teamed  up  with  its
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       before the debutants made a rousing start. England were 19-3 on                         Pakistani  counterpart  to  bid  for  the  1987  World  Cup.  The
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       the first morning, an outcome of the incisive bowling of India’s                        success of their endeavour, and that of the tournament itself,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       new-ball pair of Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh Ladha.                                  commenced the globalization of the sport. India’s status as the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               ‘hub’ of the sport in popular and financial terms was sealed in
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The duo, along with Col. C.K. Nayudu, who was India’s first Test                        the 1990s, a decade that saw the emergence of a whole new
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       captain, dominated the Indian cricket scene in its initial phase.                       generation of legends, and the staging of another World Cup
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Subsequent  years  saw  the  advent  of  Lala  Amarnath,  Vijay                         (1996) by the subcontinent.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Merchant and Syed Mushtaq Ali.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               In the new millennium, Indian cricket finds itself within touching
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       World War II was followed by independence and partition. Lala                           distance of the dominators from down under. The ‘old guard’ of
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Amarnath had the distinction of being the first cricket captain                         Tendulkar, Kumble, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman are still going
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       of independent India, when he took on an Australian side led by                         strong,  and  they  have  for  company  the  young  brigade  that
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Sir Donald Bradman in 1947-48.                                                          comprises  Dhoni  and  his  Twenty20  conquerors  of  2007.  They
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               have been joined recently by the boys who won the under-19
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       India opened its account in Test cricket in Madras in 1951-52,                          World Cup in 2008.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       when Vinoo Mankad bagged twelve wickets to set up a win by
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       an innings and eight runs. Although the 1950s and 60s witnessed                         These talents will come together with international stars in the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       some significant victories and individual achievements, it was                          sport’s newest and most exciting venture. The Indian Premier
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       only  in  1971  that  the  Indian  team  came  to  be  regarded  as  a                  League promises to be a spectacular combination of cricket and
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       consistent and formidable outfit.                                                       entertainment, as well as a platform for the stars of tomorrow,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               from which to leap for the skies.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The arrival of Sunil Gavaskar on the international scene coincided
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       with back-to-back series wins in the West Indies and England.                           May the IPL begin.
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