Indian Gymkhana Club

The Club, which had been formed in 1916 without a clubhouse, fielded its own cricket team immediately after inception. At the first match, played on 2nd June 1916, M. P. Banjana scored a century against the Australian team and C. H. Gunasekra, another County cricketer on the tam, pulled off a hat trick. Most prominent cricketers and hockey players from India, and also Pakistan and Ceylon, have played on the Osterley grounds at one time or another, including the Maharaja of Visianagram, President of the Indian Board of Cricket Control, Vijay Merchant, Nazir Ali, Jahangir Khan, Sil Learie Constantine, Vijay Hazare, Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar, the Nawab of Pataudi, and more recently, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Imran Khan. Rohan Kanhai came to the IGC when his team came to Britain in 1952, along with Sonny Ramadhin and Valentine.

The 1917 Sir James Walked C. I. E. presented the Club with a Challenge Cup for lawn tennis. The Maharani of Cooch Behar followed with a Cricket Shield given in memory of her husband called ‘The Maharaja Jitendra Narayan of Cooch Behar Memorial Shield’. Then in 1961 a silver trophy also for cricket, was given in memory of Shri Narottan Morarjee by the Scindia Steamship Co. of Bombay, and it provides a valuable record of the best batsmen and bowlers each year.