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by Sreehari Venat
It's been quite a long time since people started savouring the whacking sound of a leather ball from the bat. From that, tournaments occurred, and strong forces were formed who were ready to compete at their best for the titles. It all started with the English and Aussies as prominent teams in international cricket, but now, there are other squads, including our own India.
Cricket got introduced in India by British sailors in the 18th century. In 1848, the Parsi community, who resided in Bombay, constituted the Oriental Cricket Club, the first one by Indians. The Europeans later summoned them to play a match in 1877.
Around 1912, an annual quadrangular tournament was eventuated in which Europeans, Sikhs, Hindus, Parsis, and Muslims of Bombay participated. Some Indians even wielded their weapons for the English squad. After that, two renowned first-class tournaments emerged in the Indian cricketing circuit: the Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy.
India got their invitation by the Imperial Cricket council in 1926 to play their first test match. But it took till 1932 for their debut encounter. Later, they were not able to play during the 1940s due to the Second World War, and it took twenty years for their first victory. It happened at Madras in 1952 against England.
The team had a forgettable time fifty years from their arrival to the international circuit. But things became different when veterans like Gavaskar, Vishwanath, and Kapil Dev decided to dedicate themselves to the squad. The Indian pitch often favoured spin bowling in the 1970s. They achieved a swashbuckling win in the World Cup final under the leadership of Kapil in 1983.
After that, the men in blue were not lucky enough to grab another World cup title for a few years. The dominant Aussies group did not let anyone near the trophy in four out of six tournaments since 1983. Even though the squad mostly fell near victory, cricket admirers watched flamboyant performances of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, and Rahul Dravid, who drove the team into the final stages.
India showed sheer mettle in the ICC T20 World cup tournament, which took off in 2007. They knocked out Pakistan in the final, securing the inaugural title. The squad dominated a
few years since then. They bagged two more ICC titles, both under the leadership of M. S. Dhoni, the strategic mastermind. It was quite enough to mark their territory in the international circuit.
The team has not won any ICC tournaments since 2013, but they got fiercer in the test format than before. They made the mighty Aussies flinch under Virat's captaincy in 2019, which never happened before.
Currently, the men in blue are not in their best. They got omitted in the group stage recently from the T20 World Cup 2021 and lost the World test championship to New Zealand. The cricket enthusiasts eagerly wait for the team to bounce back as before, and all hope is not lost since it's the men in blue.
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