HISTORY OF THE POLICE INVITATION SHIELD CRICKET TOURNAMENT |
| |
History |
|
The City's major tournament before Independence was the Quadrangular and Pentangular. It was played amongst various communities like Hindus, Christians, Parsees, Muslims, etc. After 1947, It is reported that at the behest of Mahatma Gandhiji, the then Commissioner of Police, Bombay, took mantle of running this Community tournament and was named as Police Invitation Shield Cricket Tournament, better known as "Police Shield". This coveted tournament heralds the beginning of Cricket season in Mumbai, as it is played immediately after the rainy season i.e. from October to December every year. |
|
Since 1947, Police Shield has been played amongst the various Gymkhanas as the Founder Members as per the communities. The Gymkhanas were Hindu Gymkhana, Parsee Gymkhana, Islam Gymkhana and Catholic Gymkhana. Police Shield used to be played on knock out basis with 8 teams till the recent years. However, about 12- 13 years back, there was a down swing in the performance of Mumbai Ranji Team. Hence, the then Technical Committee of Mumbai Cricket Association comprising of Shri. Sunil Gavaskar, Polly Umrigar & Bapu Nadkarni changed the format of this tournament from knock-out to league basis & the result was there for everybody to see as the Mumbai Ranji team regained its lost glory by winning the Ranji Championship. In the Golden Jubilee year of Police Shield in 1997, the number of participating teams was increased from 8 to 12. As such, the champions of other senior tournaments viz. Purshottam Shield, Young Comrade Shield, Talim Shield, Kanga League “A” Division & Police Shield started getting opportunity, not only to participate in this tournament but to win it also on most of the occasions. |
|
This Tournament has been a stepping stone for the young promising cricketers to exhibit their talents along with the established players, and it has always given opportunity for the Youngsters to perform and get a chance to be selected for the higher grades of Cricket in the Country and even selectors follow performances of the players in the Tournament. Almost all legendry cricketers from this country right from Ajit Wadekar, Nawab Pataudi, Salim Durrani, G. Ramchand, Poly Umrigar, Bapu Nadkarni, Dilip Sardesai, Hemu Adhikari, Vijay Hajare, M.L. Apte, Sunil Gavaskar, G. R. Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Eknath Solkar, Sandip Patil, Lalchand Rajput, Sanjay Manjrekar, Chandrkant Pandit, Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli, Wasim Jaffer, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar to Rohit Sharma have played this Tournament. |
|
The Police Shield, which is in its 62nd year, now has been continuously played for the last 61 years, with only a gap of three years in between the year 1981- 83 and has been acclaimed as one of the best tournament in the City of Mumbai. This is the only Tournament where the Police personnel's are involved in organizing this tournament anywhere in the world & a lot of credit goes to the Police Department for patronizing this tournament. This tournament is being successfully organized by Police Department, with the financial assistance from bonafide sponsors and with the co- operation of Mumbai Cricket Association and participating Teams. |
|
| |
| |
|
