Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup precursor to IPL in many ways

Some memories simply refuse to acquire sepia tones, no matter how deep they reside in one's sub-consciousness. As I track the return of the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup tournament in Hyderabad and Secunderabad to the three-day format, images from what is easily the nursery of one's cricket education come in a rush.

Take, for example, this memorable bit about an ice-cream vendor. Aziz chacha, him of the wonderful smile, spotless white kurta pyjama and the neatly-trimmed beard, was a fixture outside the All Saints High School in Gunfoundry. After exhausting stock from his push-cart, he would stop by to watch the school team practice cricket skills.

Yet, there was little in his countenance for us to imagine that we would hear his name mentioned at the end of the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup cricket tournament at Lal Bahadur Stadium sometime in the early 70s. He had gifted a small trophy and convinced the Hyderabad Cricket Association officials to present it to a young left-handed allrounder answering to the name of Karsan Ghavri.

Indeed, long before corporate sponsors came on the scene to offer sundry prizes in international events, Aziz chacha had stolen a march. Just as the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup tournament had been the pioneer of inter-club events at the all-India level, giving emerging players the chance to rub shoulders with international stars, long before Indian Premier League was even thought of.

It is tough not to remember the amazing display of running between the wickets that Syed Abid Ali and Syed Kirmani, team-mates in the redoubtable State Bank of India squad, would produce to harass the opposition. It is tough also not to recall the fact that players from different State sides would play for outfits like SBI, U-Foam XI, VST Colts XI, helping bridge some cultural barriers.

Indeed, Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup tournament holds a special place in Indian cricket as one of the few events that held first-class status for around a dozen years despite not being run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Thousands of fans would soak in the intensity of contests and pick some stardust from the best of players from India and some from overseas.

It is the tournament where India's cricket leaders watched the emerging talent and formed opinion. As Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his book Idols, a net session on a drying track at the Lal Bahadur Stadium convinced Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi that Gundappa Viswanath was extraordinarily gifted as a batsman.

Personally, watching matches from an assortment of locations in the Lal Bahadur Stadium - the concrete terraces, the galleries that came up next to the pavilion and, occasionally on very lucky days, the press box on the roof of the Fateh Maidan Club (thanks to a doting sports journalist father) the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup tournament was a veritable cricket university.

Yet, the tournament has seen ups and downs.

Raja Lochan Chand was said to be the first chief patron of the game in Hyderabad in late 19th century and early 20th century. That let Hyderabad establish the early lead among India's princely States in embracing cricket. Nawab Basalat Jah Bahadur and Maharaj Kishen Prasad, the Dewan of Hyderabad, championed the cause of cricket. Nawab Behram-ud-Dowla and Nawab Moin-ud-Dowla followed suit in creating greater interest in the game by donating two priceless cups to be contested on an all-India level.

The Behram-ud-Dowla Cup started in 1928 and proved to be a great success, becoming the second most important competition for cricketers across the country after the Quadrangular tournament. Raja Dhanrajir's team, with Prof DB Deodhar at the helm, won the trophy outright by winning the tournament three years in-a-row.

It was then that Nawab Moin-ud-Dowla instituted another Gold Cup. Thanks to the patronage and efforts of the Nawab, first class cricket arrived in Hyderabad in 1930-31 with the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup. Three teams-- Hyderabad, Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram XI and Nawab of Moin-ud-Dowla XI participated in the carnival, as it was called.

The fans witnessed world class players for the first time in MCC Test stars Jack Hobbs and Bert Sutcliffe, who turned out for the Maharajkumar of Vizianagaram XI alongside players like Prof Deodhar and CK Nayudu. A number of famous Indian players like Wazir Ali, JG Nalve, Amar Singh and Naoomal Jaoomal who went on to represent India in inaugural Test at Lord's in 1932 also featured in the tournament.

AU Botawala, who had played a huge part in the Muslims winning the Quadrangular tournament in 1924 with his bowling, gathered a team called the Freeloters. Many years later, Prof Deodhar termed this a fine, cosmopolitan gathering which encouraged others like the Maharaja of Patiala try his hand at assembling such a collection of stars under one banner, Patiala Retreivers. That led to cricketers like the West Indian Learie Constantine, Lala Amarnath, Mohamed Nissar and Vijay Merchant taking part in the tournament, hosted by the genial and generous Nawab until his death.

The demise of the Nawab and the onset of the Ranji Trophy led to the Hyderabad tournament fading away from the national cricket calendar until after India's Independence. From 1948, The Gold Cup was vied for only by local teams until 1962 when the Hyderabad Cricket Association officials KK Guruswamy, Ghulam Ahmed and (my father) N Ganesan worked to revive the tournament on a scale big enough for it to secure first-class status.

My own earliest memory from Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup tournament is from 1971 when I lined up with my brothers for a photograph with Sunil Gavaskar outside the Fateh Maidan Club dining hall when he turned up for Associated Cement Company XI after successful tours of the West Indies and England in 1971. The black and white photographs have acquired a touch of the sepia over 44 years but the mental images of the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup tournament and all that it did to youngsters are fresh as ever.