Historical Perspectives of Mumbai Cricket : Formation, Growth And Development

Mumbai, being the financial capital of the country, is seen to have taken the lead in various art, cultural and commercial aspects. Mumbai also seems to have taken the lead in the glorious construction of the sports field. At the heart of this sports field is cricket, which is the subject of Mumbai’s and alternatively the country’s affection. Even so, considering cricket as the centre in the study of Mumbai’s structure and history, it is seen that the study of cricket’s foundation, its development, its expansion, its socio-cultural threads, the economy developed from it has remained neglected from a historical point of view. Various players, critics, commentators, cricket connoisseurs, cricket analysts, journalists have written extensively on the history and quality of Mumbai cricket. In this, Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar through his autobiography ‘Playing it My Way’ and renowned socio-political scholar Ramchandra Guha have shed light on Mumbai’s cricket through his literature like ‘The Commonwealth of Cricket’, Gandhi and Cricket’ Despite such wealth of literature, there does not seem to have been substantial research on the history of Mumbai cricket. Today even children from ordinary middle-class families are looking at cricket as a professional career. It is said that ‘the future is guided by history’. Likewise, the Research papar will be an innovative guide for the coming generation. Therefore, through this research paper, I intend to reveal the rich heritage of Mumbai cricket and keep the progress, formation, and expansion of the history-rich Mumbai cricket before the society