How Jawaharlal Nehru saved Indian cricket

The modular of cricket successful South Africa astatine the clip was hardly that of an English region 2nd XI. Yet they got rank implicit much deserving candidates, peculiarly the US and Argentina wherever cricket was overmuch stronger (purely owed to their being a subordinate of the Commonwealth). This was 1 of the main clauses of the ICC: Only members of the Commonwealth would beryllium allowed membership.

India played its inaugural Test arsenic a subordinate of the ICC astatine Lord’s successful 1932 erstwhile inactive nether British rule. It played its archetypal bid arsenic an autarkic federation successful Australia successful 1947-48, and archetypal astatine location with West Indies successful 1948-49.

Prime Minister’s squad astatine the tract during the Parliament cricket lucifer held successful assistance of the flood alleviation money astatine the National stadium New Delhi connected September 13, 1953. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (C) is seen moving to prime up the ball. (Express archive)

A piquant concern arose successful 1950 erstwhile aft becoming a republic, the authorities was considering leaving the Commonwealth altogether, which, successful turn, would person meant India losing rank successful the ICC and its Test status.

But contempt unit from Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel and his ain ruling Congress party, India’s archetypal Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to enactment wrong the Commonwealth fold.

At the yearly gathering astatine Lord’s, London, successful 1948, adjacent portion the statement was raging successful India whether to enactment oregon permission the Commonwealth, the ICC, for its part, deferred a determination connected India’s rank for 2 years and granted it provisional status.

India became a Republic connected January 26, 1950, but acknowledgment to Nehru remained portion of the Commonwealth. This meant that astatine its 1950 ICC meeting, India was granted imperishable membership.

Nehru had played cricket portion astatine schoolhouse successful Harrow and would regularly crook retired for the yearly parliamentarians’ lucifer successful Delhi. Whether oregon not his determination was partially motivated by a tendency for India to clasp the Test presumption is not known. But successful effect helium did prevention cricket successful India astatine a clip erstwhile it was competing for attraction with shot and hockey. Being stripped of the Test presumption truthful soon aft Independence would surely person sounded the decease knell for the crippled successful the country.

This incidental was narrated by Mihir Bose successful his 2019 publication The Nine Waves: The Extraordinary History of Indian Cricket.

However, determination was different twist to the story. Just implicit a decennary aboriginal different piquant governmental concern arose which sorely tested the ICC. South Africa, nether the menace of sanctions from subordinate nations owed to its racist Apartheid policy, decided to unilaterally retreat from the Commonwealth nether hard-line Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd.

This meant automatic suspension from the ICC. It had been founded mostly connected the inaugural of the South African golden and diamond tycoon Sir Abe Bailey, with Clause 5 of its constitution implicitly intended to exclude the almighty American team.

This came backmost to wound South Africa. At the 1961 ICC gathering astatine Lord’s, a determination connected the vexed contented was deferred till the adjacent year. And successful 1962, the determination was: There was thing preventing matches played by South Africa from being called Tests, though these were not recognised arsenic authoritative by the ICC. This lone added to the confusion.

In essence, the full contented was brushed nether the carpet with South Africa continuing to play against England, New Zealand and Australia alone, arsenic had been their practice. Despite the mixed signals astir the presumption of their matches — authoritative oregon unofficial — each cricket statistical records person gone with the former.

With England and Australia having the veto, the non-white members — Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies — had small accidental successful the matter.

But South Africa was yet banned from each planetary cricket successful 1970 arsenic good from the International Olympic Committee and different satellite sporting bodies owed to unit from the non-White bloc. It made a instrumentality to satellite cricket lone successful November 1991 with a historical circuit of India consisting of 3 One Day Internationals. This, aft the unbanning of the African National Congress and the merchandise successful 1990 of its iconic person Nelson Mandela aft 27 years of imprisonment.

A batch has changed successful satellite cricket implicit the past 75 years. The veto powerfulness of England and Australia was abolished soon aft Jagmohan Dalmiya became ICC President successful 1997. The ICC’s rank present extends to implicit 100 countries worldwide. Today, with its tremendous fiscal clout, acknowledgment mostly to the cash-rich Indian Premier League, launched successful 2008, it is India that calls the shots successful planetary cricket. All acknowledgment to India’s archetypal Prime Minister, nevertheless inadvertently.

The writer is the writer of galore sports books including his latest, Salim Durani: The Prince of Indian Cricket