The British Army was stationed in Secunderabad providing cover and help to the Nizam. Considering that the Secunderabad Club was established in 1878 one can safely guess that was about the time when the British actively engaged in leisurely activities. That was the time that the British practiced cricket in the Hindu Boys Hostel grounds which were opposite Tivoli Gardens which meant that Gymkhana was the hub of cricketing activity until 1970 when it moved to Lal Bahadur Stadium. The extent of the research shows right up front with a photograph of a team called Oxford Authentics which played against the Hyderabad team in 1902-03, a game sponsored by Raja Lokhan Chand. Players of repute those days were Khurshid Baig, Masood Ahmed, Nasir Baig, Ahmed Ali among others.
In the first phase of Hyderabad cricket (1880 - 1920) which was mostly unorganized, the nobles and royalty of Hyderabad who were fond of sport encouraged it by donating the following cups. The Salar Jung Cup for educational institutions was donated by Prince Salar Jung where teams like Nizam College, Osmania College, Madarsi i Aliya competed. The Kishen Pershad Prime Minister's Trophy was for government departments. In 1911 the Moin Ud Dowla Cup was donated for city competitions and also drew teams from outside. Thus there were tournaments for educational institutions, private clubs and one between Indians and Europeans.
The second phase of Hyderabad cricket began in 1921 when cricket became even more firmly entrenched in India and was picked up by the locals. In 1921 the Behram Ud Dowlah trophy was donated by Nawab Behram Ud Dowlah for schools (one of its patrons was Raja Dhanrajgir). In 1922 the Quadrangular Tournament was held between Mohammedans (Nawab Behram Ud Dowlah and Nawab Turab Yar Jung being their patrons), Hindus (Padma Rao and Raja Ekbal Chand being their patrons), Nadirsha Chenoy (Parsees) and the Europeans. When the Quadrangular Tournament was discontinued, the Moin Ud Dowlah Gold Cup was reinstated by Nawab Moin Ud Dowlah. Record shows that Col CK Nayudu, Mushtaq Ali, Prof Deodhar played in those matches. League championship was begun between a few clubs.
Sometime then the Hyderabad State Cricket Association (HSCA) was formed which was changed to Hyderabad Cricket Association in 1934 which was when the Ranji Trophy was probably started. Mostly it was royalty from larger kingdoms who became part of the BCCI and participated in the Ranji Trophy as there were no states as there are now. (Which is the reason why Bombay and Maharashtra had two teams, Gujarat, Saurashtra and Baroda have three separate teams and Hyderabad and Andhra were two separate teams.) Among the kingdoms that participated in the Ranji trophy then were Punjab, Baroda, Hyderabad, Nawanagar (Ranji came from there) and others. Hyderabad won the 1936 edition of the Ranji Trophy in a thrilling final against Nawanagar where our much loved coach Eddie Aibara scored an unbeaten hundred and in the company of the last man, guided Hyderabad home! It would be 49 years before Hyderabad won the Ranji Trophy again - in 1986-87 (Eddie Aibara was the coach then) and thereafter never again.
Nawab Moin Ud Dowlah was the first patron of HCA and nine clubs participated in the league of which Saroor Nagar CC, City College Old Boys CC (CCOB), Nizam College CC, Osmania College CC, Residency CC, Die Hards CC, Jolly Youngsters CC, Star CC were part of. In 1936 there was a qualifying tournament for teams to play the main league. The two bottom teams were demoted and the two top teams from the qualifying tournament were promoted. In 1939 second division league was started. The first constitution of the HCA was made in 1946. The format (in 1961-62) was that 18 teams played first division (days matches initially and then 60 over matches) and 20 second division teams which played half day matches on Saturday afternoons..
Somewhere along the way HCA moved its office to the Lal Bahadur stadium where it conducted its affairs along with all other sports and games. This continued till 1985-86 or so when they moved office to Gymkhana.
Earlier Presidents and administrators of the HCA were people of high standing in society - Nawab Turab Yar Jung, Col Syed Ali Raza, Nadirsha Chenoy, SR Mehta, Raja Rameshwara Rao, Major NK Guruswamy, R Jaiwanth Rao, Dr Mohan Kanda, MN Abbasi, SM Hadi, Ghulam Ahmed and others. When Ghulam Ahmed retired from Test cricket he was made Secretary of the HCA and he held the post till 1975 when he became Secretary of BCCI. In 1975 Man Singh and Jaisimha fought an intensely contested election which Man Singh won and he continued as Secretary until 1991.
In 1976 a district tournament was held to bring in talent from upcountry. In 1982 a CM XI vs Starlet XI was organised as a fund raiser for the China war. In 1992 Inter district and Inter collegiate tournaments were conducted which unearthed fresh talent. Mano Trophy was conducted for Under 15 and Under 19 ages which was sponsored by Amar Singh Agarwal, Basalath Jah tournament for schools, Kishen Pershad Trophy for institutions and leagues for one days, Behram Ud Dowla tournament for days for league teams, MN Abbasi tournament for days cricket for colleges, Ranga Reddy Trophy for one day tournament for colleges. Cricket was well organised and stream lined and many opportunities were provided at all levels. Players such as Hardik Raj and Sultan Saleem played for All Saints while Abbas Ali Baig played for Madarse I Aliya. In 1976 there was an Under 11 tournament conducted which was a brilliant move and later on in 1984-85 there was an Under 12 tournament where young talent played Inter-state matches. VVS Laxman was part of that team. All this focused activity around cricket was clearly instrumental in helping Hyderabad win the Ranji Trophy in 1986-87 and a slew of other trophies in various age groups.
Of particular interest in the history of Hyderabad cricket is the story of the man who has become Hyderabad's most known cricket connection in domestic cricket - Nawab Moin-Ud-Dowlah - in whose name the Mon-Ud-Dowlah Gold Cup was donated. The Nawab was rated Hyderabad's best sportsman, proficient at horse riding, hunting big game and foxes, shooting, tennis and later in his life picked up a love for cricket. So passionate was he that he watched matches between Nizam College and Jagirdar College from his custom-made Rolls Royce. He had a cricket ground in the campus of his Saroor Nagar palace and would watch the matches from the balcony. Since Saroor Nagar Cricket Club was also owned by him he would select good players who were treated very well - picked up and dropped from their homes and treated like royalty during the match. When teams from other states visited to play matches their place of stay was his Basheer Bagh Palace. Many a mischievous cricketer was known to take advantage of his generous heart by faking losing their kit or other stuff which was replaced by the Nawab. Nawab Moin-Ud-Dowlah donated the Gold Cup (which mysteriously went missing from the HCA in recent years), and which became the best known tournament associated with Hyderabad as the season opener. Competitive cricket in Hyderabad was sustained by this tournament after the Quadrangular Tournament was done away with when Gandhiji asked it to be stopped owing to its communal nature. Some of the teams that participated in the Moin Ud Dowlah in the early years were Vizianagaram XI, Free Looters XI, Rawalpindi CC, Karachi CC and so on. Players of repute such as Jack Hobbs, Herbert Sutcliffe, Vijay Merchant, Vijay Hazare, Learie Constantine, Lala Amarnath, Vinoo Mankad, Prof Deodhar would be hired to play for those teams including foreign professionals which made the tournament one of very high calibre. Nawab Moin Ud Dowla passed away at the age of 51 while watching a cricket match from the Saroor Nagar palace balconies.
Over the years HCA has produced players of individual brilliance who played for India - Nawab Syed Mohammed Hussain, Gul Mohammed, Ghulam Ahmed, ML Jaisimha, Abbas Ali Baig, MAK Pataudi, A Abid Ali, K Jayantilal, P Krishnamurthy, D Govind Raj, MV Narasimha Rao, Shivlal Yadav, Md Azharuddin, Arshad Ayub, Venkatapathi Raju, VVS Laxman, Noel David, Pragyan Ojha (and since then Md Siraj, Tilak Varma). Others such as Roy Gilchrist of the West Indies who played for Hyderabad, Asif Iqbal who played before migrating to Pakistan and leading Pakistan, and AG Kripal Singh who played here are mentioned.
Interestingly Man Saab mentions the owners of popular sports shops - Regal, Sachdev, Indiana, Asiad - all of whom had pitted in their little in sponsoring Cup and tournaments. One must remember that in those days there was no money from the BCCI (now the HCA gets about 100 crore a year to spend on cricket) and administrators had to raise money by themselves. Man Singh did an admirable job by holding cricket at all levels, running the administration like clockwork, and his work showed in the Trophies Hyderabad won in those years.
In 1984-85 the HCA celebrated its Golden Jubilee and in 2009 the Platinum Jubilee was celebrated.
Man Singh saab has taken care to mention umpires, junior level cricketers, those who missed playing for India, scores of every single international match, scores of all Ranji matches played by Hyderabad. To see the names and pictures of Sam, Gopal, Blessington Thomas and others who we grew up with was heartening. Many valuable pictures which otherwise we would not be able to see are available. A picture of the 1936 Indian team to England, of Fateh Singh Rao Gaekwad of Baroda and Mushtaq Ali at the National Defence fund raiser, a farewell organised by the HCA Executive Committee to see of ML Jaisimha on his selection to Tests in 1959, pictures of SBI and Andhra Bank, the first HCA schools team, the Osmania University team which won the South Zone championship, a picture of the Saroor Nagar Palace grounds, a picture of Nawab Moin Ud Dowla and one of his Basheer Bagh palace.
A couple of pages are dedicated to his work of love, the cricket museum he curates called ‘The Pavilion’. I would like to visit the Pavilion sometime soon. Interestingly Man Singh saab also chose Rajan Bala, one of my mentors, to write parts of the books, specially the character sketches. R Mohan, MAK Pataudi and Abbas Ali Baig wrote forewords.
It is a work of love and I am thankful to Man Singh saab who was perhaps the best administrator we had, fair, just and strict, knew what had to be done and did that. I was so glad that Pankaj Tripathi immortalised him as the Manager of the victorious World Cup winning team in the movie 83, which also highlighted the importance of people in the background a lot (normally cricket administrators are shown as villains). When Prakash and Hemanth visited Mr Man Singh to interview him about Baig sir I asked them to pick up a copy of Cricket Biryani (almost two years ago). Man Singh saab refused to take money and signed a copy for me which I will forever treasure.
Thank you Man saab for the gift of the book, for your brilliant and capable administration and mostly for writing this book and putting Hyderabad cricket in context.
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