The story of how cricket found India — through secularism

Indian Express

a day ago

Najeeb Jung's moving and timely article on the positive role of religious minorities in Indian sport ('Simply Indian', IE, August 6) brought back memories of a call I got in November 2006 from an Urdu daily during the cricket team's tour of South Africa.
The ODI series was on and the India XI had in its ranks for the Durban match four outstanding young cricketers: Zaheer Khan, Wasim Jaffer, Mohammad Kaif and Munaf Patel. Nothing unusual in that but the query made me sit up: 'Was this the first time four Muslims were in an Indian playing XI?' Promptly came my reply: 'Please check the scorecard for the very first Test played by India at Lord's in 1932.'
That Indian team — 'All-India' as it was known pre-1947 — was led by C K Nayudu, one of the immortals of Indian cricket and consisted of four Hindus, four Muslims, two Parsis and a Sikh. The predecessors of the team of 2006 were Mohammad Nissar — arguably till today the fastest Indian bowler — all-rounders and brothers Syed Wazir Ali and Syed Nazir Ali and pace bowler Jahangir Khan, father and uncle of future Pakistan captains Majid Khan and Imran Khan respectively.
It was the Parsi Zoroastrian community, originally from Persia, and at its peak, barely touching 1,00,000 in number, who were the pioneers of cricket in India. They established the first club exclusively for Indians in 1848 in Bombay (now Mumbai) and took on and beat the cream of European cricketers domiciled in India as well as three visiting teams from England between 1889-90 and 1902-03. The victories — their lone defeats at the hands of an Indian side on the three tours — caused a sensation and a wave of patriotism which swept across the country. The Parsis had also been the first from India to tour England, in 1886 and 1888.
Hindus, Muslims and other communities soon followed and thus was born the only sporting tournament in history based on religious lines. Staged in Bombay, as well as smaller equivalents in other parts of India, these tournaments starting in 1892-93 with matches between Parsis and Europeans kept growing till it became the Pentangular which eventually was wound up in 1946-47. It consisted of teams representing Hindus, Muslims, Parsis, Europeans and The Rest, the last named consisting mainly of Christians, Buddhists and Jews.
The matches attracted massive crowds but not once was there an incident of communal disturbance. Indeed, players on all sides always maintained it brought the communities closer together. However, it came under pressure from Mahatma Gandhi and his followers who were of the opinion that a tournament based on religious grounds sent the wrong signal to the British rulers.
The last captain of an Indian team pre-Independence was Iftikhar Ali Khan, the Nawab of Pataudi. He was captain for the 1946 England tour, thus becoming the first and only cricketer to represent both England and India in Test cricket. His son, Mansur Ali Khan remains one of the most glamorous and popular sportspersons of all time.
Just as the Indian hockey team lost its star Anglo-Indian players with their emigration to Australia after Independence, so too the cricket team lost some big names with the creation of Pakistan. One of those was master swing bowler Fazal Mahmood, known as the 'king of matting' and the star of Pakistan's stunning defeat of England on their maiden tour in 1954 with 12 wickets in the Oval Test.
Aged just 20, Fazal was chosen for India's first tour of Australia in 1947-48 against Don Bradman's Invincibles. But events moved rapidly and when just five months later, India was partitioned, Fazal decided to stay back in Lahore and went on to represent Pakistan with great distinction in 34 Test matches. Thus India lost a rare talent. Two who did tour Australia, Amir Elahi and Gul Mohammad, later shifted to Pakistan and became a small band of cricketers to represent both India and Pakistan, including Abdul Hafeez Kardar.
Fortunately for Indian cricket, Iftikhar, decided to stay on in India unlike some of his siblings. His son took over the captaincy in 1962 in West Indies under traumatic circumstances and, according to the late Bishan Singh Bedi, was the first captain to bring 'Indian-ness' to the team, riven till then by regional rivalries. The tour was the high point for Parsi cricket with four — captain Nari Contractor, all-rounders Polly Umrigar and Rusi Surti and wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer — part of the playing XI for the first two Test matches, a remarkable achievement for a micro-community. Sadly, Contractor's career (and nearly his life) was ended by a Charlie Griffith bouncer in the tour match against Barbados after the second Test. Thus began the Tiger Pataudi era in Indian cricket.
Four Muslims (Ghulam Ahmed, Iftikhar, Mansur, Mohammad Azharuddin), three Sikhs (Bedi, Jasprit Bumrah, Shubman Gill), two Parsis (Umrigar, Contractor) and two Christians (Vijay Samuel Hazare, Chandu Borde) have captained India in Test cricket. It is a glorious record of secularism which India can be proud of and an object lesson to other nations including our neighbours to the West and the East.
The writer is a senior sports journalist and author of 18 cricket books, the latest being What If…? Indian Cricket's Counter-Factual History