The Bombay Quadrangular — Indian Cricket's Premier Tournament, 1920s

Indian cricket had been organised through the Bombay tournaments since 1892, with religious and community sides reflecting the social structure of British India. The format was politically controversial even at the time but produced the most competitive non-British cricket in the world before the Ranji Trophy.

The Bombay Tournament had begun in 1892 as a fixture between the Parsis and Europeans. By the 1900s it had become the Triangular (Hindus added) and from 1912 the Quadrangular (Muslims added). Through the 1920s it was the most-watched cricket tournament in India, drawing crowds of 30,000 to the Bombay Gymkhana for the major matches.

The star of the 1920s tournaments was C.K. Nayudu of the Hindus. His 153 against the visiting MCC in December 1926 had been made in the same conditions and against the same Bombay backdrop. Nayudu, the all-rounder Vijay Hazare, the wicketkeeper J.G. Navle, the Parsi batsmen Bahadur Kapadia and Naoomal Jaoomal, and the Muslim opener Wazir Ali — the entire generation that would form India's first Test side in 1932 — was largely produced by the Quadrangular.

By the late 1920s the Quadrangular had become the Pentangular (with The Rest added) and continued until 1945-46, when the BCCI's growing first-class structure and post-Independence political concerns led to its discontinuation. The Ranji Trophy, beginning in 1934-35, was the formal national first-class competition that succeeded it.

“It was at the Quadrangular that we learned the trade of cricket; the Test status that followed was earned on those grounds.”

The Pentangular continued until 1945-46. After Indian independence the BCCI rapidly built up the Ranji Trophy as the national first-class competition, and the religious-community basis of the Bombay tournaments was discontinued. Many of the Bombay Quadrangular's leading players became India's founding Test cricketers.