BCCI Founded — December 1928, Delhi

Cricket in India in the 1920s was patronised both by British administrators and by the princely states, with the Maharajas of Patiala, Kathiawar and Vizianagram among the leading sponsors. The Hindu, Parsi, Muslim and European communities competed in the Bombay Quadrangular, but no governing body could speak for India as a whole.

Indian cricket in the 1920s was administered through a patchwork of presidency, princely and city associations — Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, the United Provinces, Karachi, Lahore — with no national authority. Arthur Gilligan's 1926-27 tour had recommended Test status, but for the Imperial Cricket Conference at Lord's to admit India, a single national governing body had to exist.

The foundation meeting took place in Delhi on 4 December 1928. Representatives from Bombay, the Hindu Gymkhana, the Calcutta Cricket Club, and the princely states of Patiala and Kathiawar elected R.E. Grant Govan as the first BCCI president, with Anthony de Mello as honorary secretary. The headquarters were located in Bombay. Within months the new Board had affiliated all major Indian cricket associations and submitted India's application for full membership of the Imperial Cricket Conference.

India was admitted to the ICC at the Lord's meeting of 31 May 1929 and granted Test status. The first Test followed in June 1932 at Lord's, with C.K. Nayudu as captain. The Ranji Trophy, the BCCI's national first-class competition, was inaugurated in 1934-35 with a final at Bombay. The BCCI established what was effectively the longest continuous national cricket administration outside England and Australia.

“We must speak with one voice if we are to be heard at Lord's.”

The BCCI grew through the 1930s into the dominant cricketing institution in South Asia. The Ranji Trophy began in 1934-35, named after K.S. Ranjitsinhji. The Duleep Trophy was added in the 1960s. By the early 21st century the BCCI was the wealthiest cricket administration in the world.