Parsi Khabar PARSIS: THE ZOROASTRIANS OF INDIA HOME ABOUT GUIDELINES SUBSCRIBE SUGGEST AN ARTICLE ARCHIVES CONTACT US BOOKS Enter seSaErcARhC tHerm and hit enter. PARSI CRICKET PIONEERS IN SIGN UP FOR EMAIL AKISTAN P NEWSLETTER Edited by: a r Z a n on March 26, 2012 * indicates S p o r t s required Email Arzan Sam Wa WHILE we celebrate Pakistan’s sensational victory in the Asia Address * Parsis: Zarathushti Cup against Bangladesh at Dhaka we must also not ignore the fact that the game that we are passionately in love with owes much to the pioneering work initially taken up by the Parsi First Name community who were the first ones in the subcontinent to fall in love with the English game and then popularise it in the length and width of the country. Last Name By Qamar Ahmed | The DAWN Email Format html text See On Subscribe FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER parsikhabar Parsi Khabar @parsikhabar Like At the Wadiaji Atash Behram in Mumbai India. Image courtesy: Shirrin Kumana Parsi fb.me/4sNZLYxHZ Khabar shared Shirrin ­ £ove & parsikhabar Miracles @parsikhabar photo Yesterday was the traditional 2 hrs Chula Jhari no divas !! fb.me/1CXGW97SD At the Wadiaji Atash Behram in Mumbai India. parsikhabar Image courtesy: @parsikhabar Shirrin Kumana Ervad Nadarsha Navroji Aibara: In the second half of the Played by the sailors, tradesmen and mariners of the East nineteenth century there was an Ervad by ... bit.ly/1QmW3A5,41o19 people like Parsi Khabar India company, cricket traces its history in the subcontinent as Z net] long back as 1721 when on the west coast of Cambay near Show Summary Bombay (now Mumbai) and in Kutch the Englishmen were seen indulging in it. parsikhabar @parsikhabar The Parsis settled in these areas having migrated from Iran Ruttie & Bella: nearly a thousand years ago being well suited because of their cool and quiet temperament very similar to the Englishmen. Ratanbai Petit I was recently struck by the strangely inverted but Therefore, they were the first to adopt the game which later parallel live... bit.ly/1DRxi81Facebook social plugin was picked up by the Hindus and Muslims as East India Z net] Company spread its wings and British Raj took over which Show Summary resulted in the soldiers of the army posted in garrison towns making it even more popular. parsikhabar @parsikhabar Inspired and encouraged, the Parsis then formed the Oriental Banaji Limji Agiary, Mumbai’s oldest fire temple, turns 306: Cricket Club in Bombay in 1846 and then a Parsi Cricket Club Banaji Limji Agiary, the oldest backed up by one A.B. Patel to play regularly against the Fir... bit.ly/1HplmP0 Europeans. Show Summary That of course gave them the idea of touring England, the Parsi Khabar mother country of the game with which they had fallen in love is a with. Wadias.Inc Enterprise The first two teams from India, therefore, to leave the shores in 1886 and in 1888 to tour England consisted of only Parsi players. The one in 1886 was led by one Dhanjishaw H. Patel, an Flights to underhand bowler, and also in the team were three Parsis — Pestonji Dinshaw Dastur, Dinshaw D. Khambatta and Burorji P. Vancouver Balla — from Karachi. Fly to Vancouver, Their tour was a huge failure for the fact that they were not Canada and Get trained and experienced to play against the English bowlers Our Guaranteed and batsmen. In 28 matches on the tour, they lost 19, drew eight and won only once against the Normanhurst team. Lowest Fare. What is important of course is that this team played two very important matches, one against MCC at Lord’s which they lost by an innings and 224 runs and in which W.G. Grace took 11 for 44 runs and scored 63 before being caught by Balla, the Karachi cricketer. I suppose Dastur, Balla and Khambatta remain the only Karachiites to have played against Grace. The other important match that they played was at Great Windsor Park against the grandson of Queen Victoria Prince Christian Victor in which his brother Prince Albert also played. Not forgetting of course the match against Lord Sheffield XI in which Alfred Shaw, the man who bowled the first ball in Test cricket in 1877 against Australia also played. Dastur of Karachi, whose highest score on tour was 89 against North Riding at Middlesborough in Yorkshire, also had the honour of leading the batting averages of the tour. Keen as I was to trace these Karachi men who pioneered Karachi cricket I managed to discover through Iqbal Umar, a former president of Karachi Gymkhana, the 79-year-old grandson of Khanbahadur Pestonji Dastur only a few months ago. Darius Dastur, the grandson, was delighted when I told him of his grandfather’s achievements which he did not seem to know. He moaned the fact that he did not even have his picture in the family. When I told him that I have it in my collection, he was over the moon; even more happy when I presented him the group photo of the 1886 Parsis in England. Balla’s and Khambatta’s families sadly still remain untraced. In 1926, Dastur’s son Manek Dastur also played at Karachi Gymkhana against Arthur Gilligan’s MCC team scoring 32 and 38 for Parsis and Muslims and 1 and 61 for All Karachi before he died in a motorcycle accident at Macleod Road (now I.I. Chundrigar Road) trying to avoid a Makrani pedestrian. As cricket established its roots, India produced great Parsi cricketers like Polly Umrigar, Nari Contractor and Farukh Engineer, Rusi Surti to name a few. Karachi Parsi Institute (KPI) formed in 1893 could also boast fine cricketers one of which Rusi Dinshaw toured India with Pakistan team in 1952 but did not play in Tests. A.H. Mehta was even on the staff of Lancashire at Old Trafford but failed to qualify as their main player. Jamshed Khudadad Irani played for India. Other fine Karachi cricketers were S.K. Irani, S.R. Mavalvala, Rusi and Homi Mobed the nephew of Minochehr Mobed who was one of the umpires with Daud Khan when Pakistan beat MCC in 1951 in an unofficial Test at Karachi Gymkhana by four wickets to gain Test status. Minochehr Mobed had played in the Sind Pentangular in 1919 and his nephew had toured England with Pakistan Eaglets. Not forgetting the services of Bomi Khambatta, Jagus and Jamshed Markar, the diplomat and cricket commentator who as ambassador, high commissioner and Pakistan envoy to UNO excelled in his job. Let us therefore pay them a huge tribute for their contribution and wish them a ‘Happy Nauroz’. ► Live Cricket ► Pakistan Cricket ← Zarathushtra: The Bombay High Court: Go Amar Chitra Katha by income criteria for Edition for Children house allotment to Parsis → Comments Community 1 Login Recommend 3 Sort by Newest Join the discussion… Scdave65 • 3 years ago Dearest Dinkoo thnx for sharing......and how can we forget AFST TALYARKHAN...the Eminent Commentrator who used to give Commentry NON­ STOP and only one and used to write in Times of India too.....Poly Umrigar..Nari Contractor....Rusi Surti.....Hoshi Amroliwalla...I have seen ALL these Playing and meet personally AFST in Brabourne stadium...and last GR8..Anandji Dossa..the Ever Ready Reckoner of Cricket.......GBU jsk Long live PARSI...Long Live Gujarat....Long Live Bharat....... Sanatkumar Dave......Findlay..ohio..usa.......( 26.3.12......12.08PM)..... 1 △ ▽ • Reply • Share › Delkash • 3 years ago This same picture was displayed on a "timeline" showing the development of Cricket at the recently held ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Dubai. Not sure if it is part of a permanent installation at the ICC Headquarters in Dubai. An ex­Pakistani cricket player who played with Parsi Cricketers in Karachi sent me this picture on his recent trip to the T20's in Dubai. 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