Board of Control for Cricket in India

Board of Control for Cricket in Inida (BCCI) is the governing body which is responsible for administration of all Cricket related activities in the country. These activities range from selection process, training, organization of the championships and arrangement of funds from the sponsors. The BCCI is a non government society, and has been registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.

Although the board is not a Government of India enterprise, due to the huge popularity of Cricket in India, it is a very rich organization and undoubtedly the wealthiest sport association of the country. The level of strength and influence possessed by the BCCI can be well understood from the fact that even the biggest political shots have to try very hard in order to grab the coveted seat of the Chairman of BCCI.

History of BCCI
The history of Cricket in India dates back to the Eighteenth Century, still no administrative body for management of the sport in the county was constituted till a long time. It was only after the World War I ended in the year 1918 that such an effort was thought upon. Even before that the Maharaja of Patiala sponsored and himself captained an Indian Cricket team which visited England. The team comprised the best Cricket players India had at that time.

After this, 2 members of the Calcutta Cricket Club were allowed by the Imperial Cricket Conference to attend the ICC meetings at Lord�s on 31st of May and 28th of July 1926. Chairman of the ICC, Lord Harris himself granted this permission. Although, this permission was granted upon a condition that an administrative body for the control of Cricket in India would soon be formed.

After the directive had been passed by the ICC, a number of Cricket bodies in India started interacting and discussing about the formation of a central Cricket body in the nation. All the Cricket associations of India agreed upon the belief that a central administrative organization for the control of Cricket in India was very essential for improvement of the sport in the country.

Formation of BCCI
On the 27th of November 1927, a group of 45 people representing the Cricket associations located in different parts of India got together at the Roshnara Club in Delhi to take some concrete initiatives towards the formation of such an association. It was decided that the headquarters of the association will remain at Delhi itself. The group requested W.J.Cullen and J.E.McDonell to temporarily hold the positions of Honorary Joint Secretaries of the provincial board.

Further, in the year 1928, the previously formed provincial board was dissolved and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was formed. R.E.Grant Govan was named the first President of the board, while Anthony S. DeMello was announced its first Secretary. The next year, BCCI got affiliated to the International Cricket Conference (ICC), giving it an accredited status as the representative body of Indian Cricket at international level.