The M. J. Gopalan Trophy was an annual

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

competition played between

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(now Sri Lanka) and

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

(now Tamil Nadu) between 1952–53 and 2007–08.

History

The idea of the competition came about with the starting of a silver jubilee fund in 1952 to celebrate M.J. Gopalan's 25 years as a cricket and hockey player. Through the fund, an annual cricket match was instituted between Madras and Ceylon and named after Gopalan. The trophy was donated by the Madras cricket administrator V. Pattabhiraman and was presented to the victors after the first match by

Learie Constantine Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine (21 September 19011 July 1971) was a Trinidadian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black peer ...

. Ceylon won the first match. The match became a regular fixture in the calendar until Sri Lanka received Test status and the competition was stopped. It was revived in 2000 with a match between Tamil Nadu and a Colombo District Cricket Association. Two years later the fixture was dropped again but in 2007 the Sri Lankan and Tamil Nadu boards agreed to restart the competition. A match was played in September 2007 between Tamil Nadu and a Sri Lankan XI, won by the Sri Lankan team. No matches for the trophy have been played since.

Results

There have been 27 first-class matches for the Gopalan Trophy. The names of the competing sides have varied, especially the Sri Lankan teams. Ceylon/Sri Lanka have won 10 times, Madras/Tamil Nadu 5 times, and 12 matches have been drawn.

Individual records

The highest score for Ceylon/Sri Lanka is 212 by Ievers Gunasekera in 1958–59, and the highest for Madras/Tamil Nadu is 179 by Michael Dalvi in 1974–75. The best innings figures for Ceylon/Sri Lanka are 8 for 43 by

Lalith Kaluperuma Lalith Wasantha Silva Kaluperuma (born 25 June 1949) is a former Sri Lankan international cricketer, who played first-class cricket from 1970 to 1983. He played in Sri Lanka's first Test team in 1982. Cricket career Kaluperuma was educated at K ...

in 1975–76, and the best for Madras/Tamil Nadu are 8 for 60 by V.V. Kumar in 1957–58. The best match figures for Ceylon/Sri Lanka are 11 for 43 (6 for 17 and 5 for 26) by John Arenhold in 1956–57, and the best for Madras/Tamil Nadu are 12 for 108 (4 for 48 and 8 for 60) by V.V. Kumar in 1957–58. Dalvi of Tamil Nadu, and A. C. M. Lafir and

Duleep Mendis Deshamanya Louis Rohan Duleep Mendis (born 25 August 1952), known as Duleep Mendis, is a Sri Lankan former cricketer and former captain of the team. Mendis captained Sri Lanka to their first Test series victory in 1985. He was primarily a speci ...

of Sri Lanka, have scored two centuries.

Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan (; born 21 April 1945), also known as Venkat, is an Indian former international cricketer and umpire. He was a right arm off break bowler and a lower order batter. He captained the Indian cricket team in te ...

of Tamil Nadu has taken 10 or more wickets in a match four times.

History

Results

Individual records

References

External links

Further reading