| On November 9, 1933, during D.R.Jardine’s
M.C.C. team’s visit to India, C.C.I. was incorporated
as a company limited by guarantee with its registered
office in New Delhi. As the name suggests the main object
of the company was to promote sports in general and
the game of cricket in particular throughout the country. |
| As the committee had announced
its decision to build a stadium and clubhouse in Bombay,
a large number of Bombayites had enrolled themselves
as members. The negotiations for land, which was the
stumbling block, were carried out by A.S. De Mello with
Lord Brabourne who was at Ganeskhind (Pune), the summer
capital of Bombay Presidency. De Mello’s highest offer
was Rs.10 per square yard for an area of atleast 100,000
square yards. De Mello asked Lord Brabourne: Your Excellency
which would you prefer to accept from sportsmen, money
for your Government or immortality for yourself? When
Lord Brabourne answered without any hesitation “Immortality”,
De Mello knew he had succeeded in his mission. |
| A site measuring around 90,000
square yards was allotted to C.C.I. at a price of Rs.13.40
per square yard. The land was still being reclaimed
from the sea and the cost of reclamation alone was Rs.160
per square yard. |
| Despite all the financial worries,
the construction work, thanks to the co-operation of
Messrs. Shapoorji Pallonji & Co the contractors,
did not slow down and the project was completed in the
record time of 18 months. The first match at the Brabourne
Stadium, formally inaugurated and parts of it still
under construction, was played in October 1937 between
C.C.I. and SpencerCup XI, L.P.Jai, the famous Bombay
Cricketer, captaining the Club side had the distinction
of facing the first ball on the new ground, the bowler
being H.J.Vajifdar, another well known Bombay cricketer.
|
| C.C.I. with the help of
the Board of Control for Cricket in India arranged for
a team of English cricketers led by Lord Tennyson, a
former England Captain to visit India and play the inaugural
first-class match at the Stadium against the Club team. |
| Thanks to the business acumen
of Sir Nowroji Saklatvala and A.A.Jasdenvala, the support
lent by the House of Tatas, the Maharaj of Patiala and
some of the other Princes and well wishers of the Club
and the leniency shown by the Club’s creditors in not
pressing their claims until the Club set its financial
house in order, the Club survived and later grew into
a sound and efficient organization. |
| In 1937, the Pentangular was shifted
from Bombay Gymkhana to the newly constructed Brabourne
Stadium. Though the start (December 1937) was inauspicious,
the Pentangular years were perhaps C.C.I.’s most glorious
years. The Hindu Gymkhana withdrew their team from the
inaugural tournament. Though played under the label
of “Pentangular” the first tournament became in fact
a “Quadrangular” contest. Without the Hindus, the champions
of 1936, the inaugural tournament lost much of its glamour. |
| In the following two years the
tournament was played with its full quota of teams.
But again in 1940 the Hindus opted out of the tournament;
there was a section of the public, which was opposed
to the matches on communal lines. In August 1942, with
political unrest all round, atmosphere was hardly condusive
to cricket and the tournament was suspended for a year. |
| In January 1946 it was the last
series and with it ended the most exciting chapter in
the history of C.C.I. With the partition of the country
in 1947 and its aftermath, communal cricket was forever
doomed and died a natural death. |
| The first Ranji Trophy match to
be played on the Brabourne Stadium was on February 23
1938. It was the Final match of 1937-38 season and the
rival teams were Nawanagar, the reigning champions and
Hyderabad. |
| No official Test match was played
until 1948. When the war ended and Test cricket was
resumed, India played the first two post-war Test series
abroad – in England in 1946 and in Australia in 1947-48
before playing a series at home. |
| The last Test match to be played
on the Brabourne Stadium, beforeTest cricket moved to
the Wankhede Stadium, was against England in 1972-73.
Between 1948-1973, seventeen Test matches were played
on the C.C.I. ground of which India won four (two against
New Zealand and one each against Pakistan and Australia),
lost two (one against West Indies and the other against
Australia) and eleven matches were drawn. |
| C.C.I. of the new Millennium easily
meets the modern day demands of over 8000 strong exclusive
membership, which includes leading lights of India
Inc. |
| Sporting and dining facilities
have been continously upgraded for the Club to be recognized
as the premier Institution in the City. |