Activities relating to Sports and Physical Education are essential components of human resource development, helping to promote good health, comradeship and a spirit of friendly competition, which, in turn, has positive impact on the overall development of personality of the youth. Excellence in sports enhances the sense of achievement, national pride and patriotism. Sports also provide beneficial recreation, improve productivity and foster social harmony and discipline.
The Indian Twenty20 cricket federation ITCF INDIA is the national apex body that controls and regulates activities related to the game of Twenty20 cricket in India. ITCF is one of the Founder full Members affiliated to the International Twenty20 Cricket federation (ITCF-USA) headquartered in Florida-USA that controls the TWENTY20 game globally.
ITCF is headquartered in Patiala (Pb.) India.
The ITCF INDIA was formed in 2001 as the national governing body for Twenty 20 & Twenty 20 innings cricket in India. ITCF-INDIA is the original promoter of T20 Cricket in INDIA. It is a society, registered under the Societies Registration Act. & Also get its Trade Mark, Copy Rights & Intellectual Property Rights etc under patent act issued by Bharat Sarkar Trade Mark Registry, New Delhi. The ITCF INDIA often uses government-owned stadiums across the country at a nominal rent. it has the authority to select players, umpires and officials to participate in international events and exercises total control over them. Without its recognition, no competitive cricket involving ITCF INDIA-contracted Indian players can be host within or outside the country.
Game of cricket has always been compared to religion in India and it is undoubtedly one of the most popular games in India, at the moment. The game is being played in India at different levels. The Indian people play the game at school level, college level, district level, state level, national level and also in the international level. In order to govern the game and also to maintain a high standard of cricket, there are several cricket associations in India. The Indian cricket associations are formed at various levels like district cricket associations, state/City cricket associations or women`s Twenty20 cricket association. The national body for governing the game in India is the Indian Twenty20 Cricket Federation (ITCF India).
The ITCF is the main cricket governing body in India and almost all the other Indian cricket associations are working under its umbrella. The Indian cricket associations are engaged in finding out talented cricketers from the remote areas and also in upbringing new cricket players for India. The associations also organize several cricket tournaments from time to time and these tournaments really help the cricketers to show their talents in front of the cricket administrators. Apart from that, the state/city Twenty 20 cricket associations manage and organize a large number of cricket playing clubs and help them in operating their activities properly. The Twenty20 cricket associations also build new stadiums, gymnasiums and maintain the quality of the existing cricket facilities. They are always working on providing state-of-the-art facilities to the young cricketers, as well.
Almost all the 32 States/City/UT’s of India have their own Twenty 20 cricket associations and there is more than one association in some of the states/city like Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Gujarat etc. The Indian cricket associations are in charge of selecting players to take part in various tournaments. The state associations select the State teams for taking part in the national level tournaments like U-14-Sub Jr. PJLN, U-16-Jr.SCB, U-20-Youth LBS,U-25-BGT, Sr. SVBP & All India Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Cricket Trophy etc. The State/City Twenty 20 Cricket associations also send their own representatives to the ITCF so that they can look after the interests of the cricketers of their respective states. The representatives also help ITCF in governing the game of Twenty 20 cricket in India, in a better and improved way.
The Federation comprised of:
In 1911, an all-India cricket team visited England for the first time, sponsored and captained by the Maharaja of Patiala, and featuring the best cricketers of the time. It was in 1926 that two representatives of the Calcutta Cricket Club traveled to London to attend a couple of meetings of the Imperial Cricket Conference, predecessor to the current International Cricket Council. Although technically not an official representative of Indian cricket, it was allowed to attend by Lord Harris, chairman of the conference. An outcome of the meeting was the MCC’s decision to send a team to India, led by Arthur Gilligan, who had captained England in The Ashes. The Hindus, as well as the all-India team, performed impressively during this tour.
In a meeting with the Maharaja of Patiala and others, Gilligan praised Indian cricket and promised to press for its inclusion in the ICC if all the promoters of the game in the land came together to establish a single controlling body. An assurance was given and a meeting held in Delhi on November 21, 1927, attended by delegates from Sind, Punjab, Patiala, Delhi, United Provinces, Rajputana, Alwar, Bhopal, Gwalior, Baroda, Kathiawar and Central India. A consensus was reached to create a board for control of cricket in India. Another meeting, on December 10, 1927, brought a unanimous decision to form a “provisional” board of control to represent cricket in India.
The ITCF has 32 affiliated State/CityTwenty20 Cricket Association Members Across Five Zones (viz. North Zone, South Zone, East Zone, West Zone and Central Zone) in India.
Some states have more than one association ie Maharashtra state, for instance, has Maharashtra State Twenty20 Cricket Association, MumbaiTwenty20 Cricket Association & Vidarbha Twenty20 Cricket Association and Gujarat State has Gujarat State Twenty20 Cricket Association, Baroda Twenty20 Cricket Association & Saurashtra Twenty20 Cricket Association. & In Punjab State has Punjab State Twenty20 Cricket Association, Pepsu Twenty Cricket Association & In West Bengal State has West Bengal State Twenty20 Cricket Association, Kolkata Twenty20 Cricket Association & In Karnataka State has Karnataka State Twenty20 Cricket Association , Bangalore Twenty20 Cricket Association & In Tamil Nadu State has Tamil Nadu State Twenty20 Cricket Association, Chennai Twenty20 Cricket Association & in U.P State has Utter Pradesh State Twenty20 Cricket Association, Purvanchal Twenty20 Cricket Association, & In A.P State has Andhra Pradesh State Twenty20 Cricket Association, Hyderabad Twenty20 Cricket Association.