India v England
1933-12-17
On 17 December 1933 Lala Amarnath, batting at No. 5 on his Test debut, scored 118 to become the first Indian to make a Test century. The innings, made out of 219 added with C.K. Nayudu, came against an MCC attack of Nichols, Clark and Verity and was greeted by spectators tearing off jewellery to throw onto the field.
India v England
1933-12-15
On 15 December 1933 India played its first home Test, against Douglas Jardine's MCC at the Bombay Gymkhana Ground, a colonial members' club from which most Indians were excluded by membership rules. Lala Amarnath produced India's first Test century, 118 in 117 minutes on debut, and the new ground hosted only this single Test before the Brabourne Stadium took over Bombay's international cricket. England won by nine wickets; Indian Test cricket finally had a home address.
Hindus v MCC
1926-12-01
On a December afternoon in 1926, the 31-year-old C.K. Nayudu hit eleven sixes in an innings of 153 against the touring MCC at the Bombay Gymkhana. Watched by Arthur Gilligan and an emotional crowd of 50,000, the innings is regarded as the single performance that secured India's case for Test status — granted three years later.
Parsis v Europeans
1892-08-26
On 26 August 1892, the annual Parsis v Europeans fixture at Bombay Gymkhana was played as a two-innings match — the first first-class match on Indian soil. The match was drawn, but it formalised what would become the Bombay Tournament: the first organised cricket competition in India, founded with the encouragement of Bombay Governor Lord Harris and run continuously until 1946. Mehellasha Pavri, the Parsi fast bowler who had toured England in 1888, took several wickets.
Calcutta CC / Parsi cricketers (Bombay)
1848-12-01
Cricket in 1840s India was concentrated in two cities. In Calcutta the Calcutta Cricket Club, founded in 1792 (the second-oldest cricket club in the world after MCC), continued as a European-only institution. In Bombay the Parsi community, having watched cricket on the Esplanade for decades, took up the game seriously and founded the Oriental Cricket Club in 1848 — the first organised non-European cricket club outside Britain.