A Brief History of Assam Cricket Association

The 30th November, 1947 is a” Red letter Day” for Assam Cricket Association. On that auspicious day, a group of Noble Cricket lovers led by none other but the then Primier of undivided Assam, Gopinath Bordoloi, convened a meeting at the Cotton Collegiate School Hostel at Guwahati to set up the Assam Cricket Association(ACA). Representatives from various places of the State like Guwahati, Jorhat, Silchar, Nawgaon, Darrang, Shillong, N.F.Railways attended the Meeting considering its gravity. As proposed, the Meeting, with Joykanta Baruah in the Chair, gave birth to the Assam Cricket Association(ACA) on that very day. The Premier of Assam, Gopinath Bordoloi was unanimously chosen as the first President of the Assam Cricket Association in the historic meeting.


The members of the first committee were: Chief Patron: Akbar Hydri, Governor of Assam, President: Gopinath Bardoloi, Vice President: Dr. Kanak Chandra Baruah, Nurul Amin; Secretary: Pulin Das, Treasurer: Annaram Baruah, Asssistant Secretary: Suranjan Chakravarty, Executive Members: Sudha Sindhu Roy, Dulal Chandra Bhattacharya, SM Dev, Ramesh Chandra Saraswati, Golap Chandra Choudhury, Prof. Rayhan Shah, Joykanta Baruah, Prof. Phani Dutta, Prof. Atul Dutta, Patrons: Sayed Md. Sadulla, Rohini Kumar Choudhury, NC Laskar, Dr. Bhubaneswar Barooah, PD Himatsinka, Sashi Prasad Baruah, DB Mazumdar. Immediately after the inception of the State Body, Assam sought affiliation from BCCI which was formed in December 1928. The Indian board also brought Assam under its umbrella allowed to take part in Ranji Trophy, the premier cricket championship of the country which was started in the year 1933. The Garisson Ground of Shillong became the proud venue which hosted the maiden Ranji Trophy Match of Assam. Assam was pitted against United Provience and the match was played on December 17,18 and 19in 1948. Assam was represented by RF Kettle (capt.) BB Bose, Naba Kamal Bhuyan, PW Bullock, A Guharoy, Col. Pahlajani, H Sandhu, LN Karanji, A Ahmed, P Atkins, Nalini Choudhury, 12th Man: Ratnahash Goswami; Extra Man: Pulin Das, Amulyahash Goswami.


Time has taken its own course and Assam Cricket Association gradually came of age. The man who seriously thought of the development of the game in the state was Late Sashi Prasad Baruah. The renowned tea planter from the state took keen interest for the improvement of the standard of the game and took initiatives for laying a turf wicket at Jorhat at his own cost. He also invited noted players like SK Giridhari and B Frank in mid 1950s to train local boys. Baruah’s effort paid dividend and Assam produced some good players like Madhurya Prasad Baruah who was Sashi Prasad Baruah’s son, Tapan Baruah, Siba Gogoi etc. Till 1991-92 season Assam was not able to make it to the knock out stage of the Ranji Trophy. But in the year 1992-93,1993-94,1994-95; 2000-01 and 2001-02 Assam reached Pre Quarter Final of the prestigious Ranji Trophy Senior Cricket Tournament. In 2009-10 session Assam reached the Quarter Finals of the Ranji Trophy for the first time. In 2014-15 Assam once again reached the Quarter Final of the Ranji Trophy; and in the year 2015-16 Assam made into the Semi Final of the Ranji Triophy.