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The early years of Indian cricket, going back to the 1880s, is a story of pace, pace and more pace. A few of express pace, many fast medium and some just medium pace/swing, these bowlers dominated the narrative of Indian cricket, extending through the 1950s even though spin bowling had come into its own in the previous decade.
Broken bones, fractured jaws and skulls, bruised bodies and bruised egos — even one apparent fatality — was the lot of visiting cricketers who toured India for both official and unofficial Test matches in the 1920s and ’30s.
Even homegrown batsmen were not spared from the fast bowling onslaught that saw visiting captains from Arthur Gilligan to Douglas Jardine — yes, the same Jardine of ‘Bodyline’ infamy — and Jack Ryder to Lord Lionel Tennyson cry foul at the "bumper barrage” that greeted them at the hands of our pace battery.
So what was behind this phenomenon?
The first community to take to cricket in India were the Parsis. They maintained close ties with the British rulers who sent the first cricket teams abroad, to England in 1886 and again two years later.
The first fully representative "All India” side toured England in 1911 while the first team from England to India was led and organized by G. F. Vernon in 1889-90 and included Lord Hawke, a legendary figure in English cricket of that era. Hawke himself led the next team to India in 1892-93 that included F. S. Jackson, later Sir Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal.
In 1902-03 the Oxford University Authentics captained by K. J. Key toured India and had in its ranks the famous lob bowler W. Simpson-Hayward. It was not till 1926-27, however, that the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), which controlled the game in England, sent out their first official team to India led by England and Sussex captain Arthur Gilligan.
In the book Not So Unofficial by P. N. Sundaresan, one of the early doyens of Indian cricket writing, the author states the match against "All India” (as the Indian team was known till independence in 1947) at Bombay Gymkhana from December 16-18, 1926 "though it was not considered as such, can be taken as the first unofficial ‘Test’ played by India.” The team for that match consisted entirely of Indians.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For those unfamiliar with the term, one of the first Test players to emerge from Madras, M. J. Gopalan explained, in his foreword to the book: "They really played a very significant part in building up our cricket both on and off the field at a crucial period of this development. The game could not have progressed without public support and these unofficial ‘Tests’ helped in a great measure to get it…These matches shaped and strengthened our cricketers for the highly competitive international matches. Having played against most of these overseas teams I can vouchsafe to their high caliber.”
Who then were the early fast bowlers that made such an impact both in India and abroad?
Inevitably these came from the Parsi community which dominated the early cricket scene in India.

Pavri: The Parsi pioneer
Perhaps the most famous of these, Dr Mehellasha Edulji Pavri played a stellar role in what was then the most famous day in Indian cricket history when the Parsis defeated Vernon’s XI by four wickets at the Bombay Gymkhana on January 30-31, 1890.
Pavri, according to cricket historian Vasant Raiji, was the first star of Indian cricket, his massive physique coupled with an impressive beard giving him a formidable look.
The team was captained by J. M. Framjee Patel who penned a vivid account of the historic match in one of the earliest Indian cricket books, Stray Thoughts on Indian Cricket (1905).
The visitors collapsed for 97 in the first innings with Pavri taking two wickets. The Parsis in turn fell for 82, Pavri opening the batting.
Pavri was at his lethal best in the second innings grabbing seven for 34 in 13.2 overs with the English folding up for a miserable 61 all out in 27.2 overs.
Pavri was the top scorer for the home side with 21 in the second innings as they lost six wickets before getting the 77 runs required for victory.
Wrote the elated captain: "Messrs Pavri and R. E. Modi (five wickets in the match) divided the bowling honors and it was not underhand (underarm) bowling ‘that wrought the ruin,’ but first-class overarm bowling.” An important point this, as a number of the bowlers on the two Parsi tours of 1886 and 1888 bowled underarm or lobs as was quite common then.
This was Vernon’s only defeat on the tour where their record read 10 wins, two draws and one defeat.
Remarkably, less than three years later the Parsis repeated the feat against Lord Hawke’s side and once again Pavri was the star.
Pavri indeed was the star bowler on the 1888 tour of England on which the team enjoyed more success than the disastrous visit two years earlier. On both tours it was the quick bowlers, both underarm and "round-arm” who dominated, with Pavri finishing the 1888 tour with outstanding figures of 170 wickets at less than 12 runs per wicket.
Lillywhite’s annual described his bowling thus: "He bowled fast round-arm of a good length, and towards the end of the tour developed a very good style, varying his pace and pitch well, besides making the ball do a good deal at times.”
That experience of bowling in England obviously held Pavri in good stead when he returned to India.
The three-day match at the Bombay Gymkhana (December 22-24, 1892) against Hawke’s XI saw the Parsis romp home by 109 runs. Pavri’s six for 36 in the second innings (two for 18 in the first) were his best figures in first class cricket since the earlier Vernon game was of two days’ duration, hence not first class. It was the first of just two defeats for Hawke’s team out of 23 matches on tour.
The tour was also significant as for the first time the name "All India” appeared on the scorecard, on January 26, 1893 at Allahabad in a three-day match, 18 years before the 1911 All India tour of England.
This was misleading however, as only three Indians were in the team, the rest being Englishmen domiciled in India. And expectedly all three were Parsis: Pavri (who took two wickets in the innings defeat), N. P. Bapasola and B. D. Gagrat. It was thus not truly representative of a national side. The venue was then known as Alfred Park, now Madan Mohan Malviya Stadium.
The Parsis completed a glorious hat-trick when they defeated the third English team to visit India, beating the Oxford University Authentics — the weakest of the three visiting sides — at Bombay Gymkhana in November 1902 by eight wickets.
Led by Pavri, the team included two bowlers who by the turn of the century had gained a ferocious reputation, M. D. Bulsara and K. B. Mistry, both from Ajmer. Bulsara was nicknamed "The Demon” after the legendary Australian fast bowler of Ashes fame, Fred Spofforth. But it was the left armer Mistry, making his first class debut against the English, who struck terror in the hearts of batsmen across the land and had best figures of nine for 81 against the Europeans in the Bombay Presidency match at Poona in the 1906-07 season.
Bulsara was the outstanding Parsi fast bowler in the Presidency matches played against the Europeans between 1892-93 to 1906-7.
In only his second match in 1900-01 he had the outstanding figures of five for 21 and eight for 31 as the Parsis won by 135 runs at Poona. The Europeans could only muster 51 and 82 in their two innings.
In the 1907-08 season in the final of the inaugural triangular tournament against the Europeans in Bombay (the Hindus being the third team), he had match figures of 10 for 50, the Parsis winning by 143 runs.