When Bombay cricket was Indian cricket
In the beginning, there were 27 teams in the fray
Partab Ramchand
06-Apr-2000
In the beginning, there were 27 teams in the fray. The figure was down
to 15 when it came to the Super League. As the knock out stage
commenced, the figure was further whittled down to six. And now, as
this season's Ranji Trophy championship draws to a close, only the
four semifinalists remain in the contest. All the four - Mumbai, Tamil
Nadu, Hyderabad and Karnataka - are `founding fathers' as they have
been participating in the National competition since the inaugural
year of 1934-35. A trip down memory lane recounts how these teams, all of
which have won the trophy, have fared in the tournament and in the process helped shape the destiny of Indian cricket. The first of four articles deals with Mumbai.
Mumbai's victory in the inaugural year of 1934-35 has somehow been
symbolic. Simply put, they have dominated the National competition
like no team has ever done. They have won the title 33 times in 65
years. The next best is Delhi and Karnataka, each with six championships.
In fact, in the first 51 years of the competition,
Mumbai won the Ranji Trophy 30 times. This included a world
record run of 15 successive triumphs from 1958-59 to 1972-73.
Mumbai at their peak would normally provide five or six
players in the Indian team and around eight in a touring squad of
16. It used to be said that Mumbai cricket was Indian cricket and
while this may not necessarily be so today - it has won the trophy
only thrice in the last 13 years - it still ranks among the leading
sides and possesses in Sachin Tendulkar, the best batsman in the
world.
Indeed, among all the qualities that has made Bombay (as it has been
known till the change in the name came about a few years ago) a giant
in Indian cricket, it is the awesome batting strength that is the
foremost. Some of the tallest totals, the highest individual scores
and mind boggling partnerships have been the result of the Bombay
school of batting. From this school, which has taught budding
youngsters that a century should only be an appetiser, that patience
is a paramount virtue while at the crease, have graduated cricketers
like Vijay Merchant, Rusi Modi, Polly Umrigar, Gulabrai Ramchand, Bapu
Nadkarni, Dilip Sardesai, Ashok Mankad, Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip
Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, Sandip Patil, Sanjay Manjrekar, Vinod Kambli and Sachin
Tendulkar. Take the overall Ranji Trophy statistics - aggregates,
averages and partnerships - and you will find these names figure
prominently in the list.
After winning the first ever championship, Bombay retained the trophy
in 1935-36. That remained Bombay's only triumphs in the thirties but
as the batting of Merchant and Modi flowered, Bombay added three more
victories in the forties, even though there was strong opposition like
Holkar and Baroda. In the fifties however the gap between Bombay and
the other teams widened. Holkar became Madhya Bharat and then Madhya
Pradesh, Baroda following the retirement of Vijay Hazare were no
longer a force to reckon with, some other teams flattered only to
deceive and all this meant that Bombay was the headquarters of Indian
cricket in more ways than one. Triumphs in 1951-52, 1953-54, 1955-56
and 1956-57 confirmed the fact that Bombay were the team of the
fifties. But all this was only the precursor of the glorious era of
Bombay cricket.
In 1958-59, Bombay regained the trophy and held on to it will
1972-73. This was a truly remarkable run but what even more
significant was the emphatic manner in which Bombay kept
winning. Moreover, they were not affected by the fact that on many
occasions the side was not even at full strength, because the leading
players were away on national duty. Indeed this was the time it was
said that if Bombay fielded two teams, it was likely that they would
contest the final! The batting of Umrigar, Ramchand, Wadekar,
Sardesai, Nadkarni, Mankad and Gavaskar and the bowling of Ramakant
Desai, Nadkarni, Padmakar Shivalkar and Baloo Gupte highlighted the
15-year unbroken run.
Karnataka ended their dominance at Bangalore in 1973-74 but Bombay
bounced back with three successive triumphs from 1974-75. In the last
two decades however the Ranji Trophy has really gone around - from
Delhi, Punjab and Haryana in the North to Hyderabad, Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu in the South to Bengal in the East. But even as the great
stars have retired, Bombay have found the players to help them win the
trophy. Shaking off the stiff challenge posed by the other teams,
Bombay have had their share of the cup over the last two decades -
in 1980-81, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1993-94, 1994-95 and 1996-97.
And given the manner they have performed this season, they must
be favourites even in the strong remaining field. In any case,
Bombay's dominance is unparalleled in the history of national competitions
anywhere in the world and is part of cricketing folklore.