Bastions of Indian Cricket

Cricket in India began with the British officers bringing the game to the country before the wealthy Parsis in Bombay overwhelmingly embraced the game by playing in the gymkhanas of that era. The city soon became the centre of cricketing activities in India with promising players from other communities including Hindus and Muslims joining the bandwagon in the wake of the erstwhile Bombay Quadrangular and subsequently the Pentangular. Thanks to India’s first-ever Test cricketer Ranji and other cricket-loving rulers and princes’ insistence, the erstwhile princely states of Nawanagar, Baroda and Rajasthan also emerged as one of the power centres of the game in the early decades of Ranji Trophy. Gradually the game made a southward push with Hyderabad and Karnataka also turning out to be the formidable fortresses of Indian cricket. Then came the dominance of the sides from North Zone like Delhi and Punjab before the smaller centres and erstwhile underdogs like Railways, Rajasthan started ruling the roost.