Excerpt: When A Parsi Team Pulled Off India's First Cricket Victory

Young Parsi boys started playing cricket at a time the rest of India preferred to be mere spectators and watch British soldiers and civilians compete against each other in this very English sport. For the adventurous Parsis, cricket offered yet another opportunity to imitate the British rulers and explore new avenues. Initially other Indians held back, perhaps partly because of fears of violating social norms. The late author and cricketer Vasant Raiji writes that Parsi schoolboys were receiving instructions in cricket as far back as 1839 and the game was initially referred to simply as 'bat ball'. When the boys grew up they formed the first Parsi club in Bombay in 1848, named the Oriental Cricket Club. Initially, the Parsis played the game in their flimsy muslin sudrehs. But the religious undergarments were impractical, with the sudrehs flapping in the wind and the ball sometimes getting entangled in the kasti (girdle). Soon players were wearing shirts over the undergarment.

In 1876, Ardesher Patel founded the Parsee Cricket Club and he yearned to test his team's mettle against British players. Before the Parsee Cricket Club, cricket clubs in India were open only to Europeans. (The first club in India was the Calcutta Cricket Club formed in 1792.) In 1877 Patel arranged for the Parsi team to play against the whites-only Bombay Gymkhana team. Though the Parsi team lost to the Bombay Gymkhana by 63 runs, Patel's appetite was whetted and he was determined to take a Parsi team to England. The English were tickled that this was one group of natives that had enthusiastically embraced their nation's favourite sport and the London Graphic newspaper wrote approvingly of the possibility of 'descendants of the Fire Worshippers of Persia' competing with the English county teams.

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Expectedly, the Parsis were thrashed on their first English tour, losing 19 matches, drawing 8 and winning only 1. But there was considerable interest in Britain over the tour and applause for the spirit of the visiting team. Cricket Chat, in a feature on the tour, observed, 'Anything which can tend to promote an assimilation of tastes and habits between the English and the native subjects of our Empress Queen cannot fail to conduce to the solidity of the British empire.'

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In 1889-90, G.F. Vernon led the first English team of amateurs to tour India. By the time they reached Bombay, they had won six matches and drawn one. They defeated the Bombay Gymkhana by an innings and the Parsi team was expected to meet the same fate. The team captain, J.M. Framjee Patel, provided a delightful account of this encounter in his book Stray Thoughts on Indian Cricket. Patel believed that the golden age of Parsi cricket began on 30 January 1890, with the match with Vernon's team. The entire city was very excited over the game.  Businesses came to a standstill on the two days of the match. A crowd of some 12,000 descended on the Azad Maidan. The elite of Bombay sat in canvas tents and many Parsi women showed up as well. Zoroastrian priests in their white robes recited special chants invoking blessings for the victory of their co-religionists. Against all odds and predictions, the Parsis won the match. Two Parsi fast bowlers, Machliwalla and Meherwanji Pavri, were the heroes of the hour. Sir Dinshaw Petit and Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy hosted lavish receptions for both teams. Exuberance over the victory was immense. Sorabji Bengali was so elated that he declared that this was an avenge for the battle of Nahavand, where centuries earlier the Zoroastrians were badly beaten by the Arabs and had to flee. While most of England and the native press praised the team for their unexpected win, some unsporting Englishmen blamed the defeat on the lavish lunch arranged by Jamsetji Tata at his mansion during the game. The tour stimulated much interest in cricket and soon other Indians also took to the sport.

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At the start of the twentieth century, the Hindus taking inspiration from the Parsis had not only taken up cricket in a big way but had also set up their own Hindu Gymkhana next to the Parsi Gymkhana. This was followed by gymkhanas for the Muslims and the Christians. As the other teams joined the highly competitive cricket tournaments, the Presidency matches became known as the Triangulars, the Quadrangulars and finally the Pentangulars. These tournaments were the predecessors of the Ranji Trophy and today's IPL. (Incidentally, the practice of teams being formed on the basis of religion was finally ended at the urging of Mahatma Gandhi. Popular Parsi cricket commentator A.F.S. Talyarkhan also campaigned to discontinue the communal Pentangular matches, which were against the spirit of secularism.) With others in the country taking to cricket, inevitably the Parsis lost their dominant position. But it is to the credit of the community that for years they continued to throw up outstanding players.

(Published with permission of Penguin Random House from 'The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas: An Intimate History Of The Parsis' by Coomi Kapoor. Order your copy here.)

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