State Bank of India cricket team

State Bank of India were a first-class cricket team sponsored by the State Bank of India that played 23 first-class matches between 1963 and 1973. They won the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament seven times.

Early matches

State Bank of India were one of several sponsored teams in the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament. They lost their first match in 1963-64, did not participate in 1964-65, and progressed through to the final in 1965-66 on the basis of first-innings leads in two drawn matches, but lost the final to Hyderabad Cricket Association XI.[1]

They were one of the four teams in the Indore Tournament in January 1966 in Indore, but were eliminated in the first round.[2] It was the only time the tournament was held. In August 1966 they toured Ceylon, playing ten matches,[3] one of them first-class against a strong Ceylon Prime Minister's XI, who won by nine wickets.[4]

Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament champions

State Bank of India won the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament for the first time in 1966-67, beating Indian Starlets by 16 runs in the final after trailing by 108 runs on the first innings.[5] Sharad Diwadkar took 11 wickets with his off-spin. They won again in 1967-68, beating Dungarpur XI by seven wickets, Eknath Solkar making 49 and taking 3 for 24 and 6 for 38.[6] Hanumant Singh captained the side to both victories.

They toured Ceylon again in September 1968, playing seven matches, two of them first-class.[7] They won the first match, against Ceylon Board President's Under-27s XI, by an innings, Devraj Govindraj taking 11 wickets for 70.[8] They also beat the Ceylon Board President's XI, by 75 runs, Bishan Bedi taking 3 for 42 and 6 for 37.[9]

Now under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar, they won the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament again in 1968-69, beating Bandodkar's XI by nine wickets.[10] Their run of success was interrupted in 1969-70, when they failed to reach the final, but they won again in 1970-71,[11] 1971-72,[12] 1972-73, when Bedi took 11 wickets in the final against U-Foam,[13] and the last first-class final of the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament in 1973-74, when Wadekar scored 176 against U-Foam.[14]

Overall record and leading players

In the Moin-ud-Dowlah Gold Cup Tournament, State Bank of India played 19 matches, winning 7, losing 2 and drawing 10. They were undefeated in their last 15 matches. Their overall first-class record was: played 23, won 9, lost 3, drawn 11.

Ajit Wadekar captained the team's last five championship-winning sides. In all he played 20 times for State Bank of India, scoring 1267 runs at an average of 46.92, with four centuries.[15] Hanumant Singh, his predecessor as captain, played in all 23 of State Bank of India's matches, scoring 1496 runs at 49.86, also with four centuries.[16] Sharad Diwadkar took the most wickets: 64 at 22.15 in 19 matches.[17] Bishan Bedi took 40 wickets at 12.22 in five matches.[18]

References
  1. Hyderabad Cricket Association XI v State Bank of India 1965-66
  2. Indore Tournament 1965-66
  3. State Bank of India in Ceylon 1966-67
  4. Ceylon Prime Minister's XI v State Bank of India 1966-67
  5. Indian Starlets v State Bank of India 1966-67
  6. Dungarpur XI v State Bank of India 1967-68
  7. State Bank of India in Ceylon 1968-69
  8. Ceylon Board President's Under-27s XI v State Bank of India 1968-69
  9. Ceylon Board President's XI v State Bank of India 1968-69
  10. Bandodkar's XI v State Bank of India 1968-69
  11. Hyderabad Cricket Association XI v State Bank of India 1970-71
  12. Associated Cement Company v State Bank of India 1971-72
  13. State Bank of India v U-Foam 1972-73
  14. State Bank of India v U-Foam 1973-74
  15. Ajit Wadekar batting by team
  16. Hanumant Singh batting by team
  17. Sharad Diwadkar bowling by team
  18. Bishan Bedi bowling by team
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