Parsi Gymkhana is a

gymkhana Gymkhana () ( ur, جِمخانہ, sd, جمخانه, hi, जिमख़ाना, as, জিমখানা, bn, জিমখানা) is a British Raj term which originally referred to a place of assembly. The meaning then altered to den ...

(social and sporting club) located along

Marine Drive Marine Drive may refer to: Roads Bangladesh * Cox Bazar-Tekhnaf Marine Drive, world's longest marine drive road. Canada *Marine Drive (Nova Scotia), a scenic route in Nova Scotia *Marine Drive (Greater Vancouver), a number of roadways in Metropo ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. It was built for sports and social activities of

Parsis Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

. The gymkhana is one of the founder members of the Bombay Cricket Association The club have its own cricket ground, the

Parsi Gymkhana Ground Parsi Gymkhana Ground is a multipurpose club ground in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The ground is mainly used for organizing matches of football, cricket and other sports. The ground was founded by Parsi cricketers, the Gymkhana fielded the Parsees cri ...

, where they organise their Parsis cricket team's matches. It was the first gymkhana to be built on communal lines in Bombay. Founded by

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

cricketers, the Gymkhana fielded the Parsi XI during the

Bombay Quadrangular The Bombay Quadrangular was an influential cricket tournament held in Bombay, British India between 1892–93 and 1945–46. At other times it was known variously as the Presidency Match, Bombay Triangular, and the Bombay Pentangular. Presidency ...

and its successor Bombay Pentangular cricket tournaments. Parsi Gymkhana was founded in 1884 and was opened in 1888. In 2010, Parsi Gymkhana along with other community organisations announced a project to revive interest in cricket among the community. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the government occupied the gymkhana premises as well as that of Islam Gymkhana, leading the adjacent Hindu Gymkhana to offer membership to Muslims and

s as an "emergency measure". As the gymkhana land belongs to the collector, one of its lease conditions is that the grounds should be accessible by the general public and non-sporting activities such as weddings are allowed to be held at the ground for up to 30 days in the year. During one such event in 2003, a fire caused by a leaking LPG cylinder injured 27 people. In 2010, the local residents association moved in court to ban non-sporting activities at the ground, on the grounds that the general public was being denied access to it, something which the gymkhana denied. Parsi Gymkhana had received special permission to hold events on 60 days during the year. In 2011, the collector restricted non-sport events to 25 days a year only on weekdays. The gymkhana is also used for other events, such as the unveiling of the world's cheapest car,

Tata Nano The Tata Nano is a compact city car that was manufactured and marketed by Indian automaker Tata Motors over a single generation, primarily in India, as an inexpensive rear-engined hatchback intended to appeal to current riders of motorcycles a ...

Ratan Tata Ratan Naval Tata, GBE (born 28 December 1937) is an Indian industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons. He was also the chairman of the Tata Group from 1990 to 2012, serving also as interim chairman from October 2016 through February 2017 ...

in 2009.

History

It is one of the historic, prestigious Gymkhana of Mumbai along with Hindu Gymkhana. Parsi Gymkhana won ''police shield'' tournament in 1956 and 2021. Legendry cricketer such as Farookh Engineer and Polly Umrigar have been played for Parsees in past. In 2021, the club became first to win back-to-back trophies in three different format, that is Talim Shield T20, Police Shield triumph (Test format) and Madhav Mantri Centenary One-Day 45 overs League. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/news/parsee-gymkhana-create-history-by-winning-third-successive-title/articleshow/88520509.cms

Notable Players

Following is the list players who has played for Parsi Gymkhana : *

Farokh Engineer Farokh Maneksha Engineer (born 25 February 1938) is an Indian former cricketer. He played 46 Test matches for India, played first-class cricket for Bombay in India from 1959 to 1975 and for Lancashire County Cricket Club in England from 1968 ...

Polly Umrigar Pahlan Ratanji "Polly" Umrigar (28 March 1926 – 7 November 2006) was an Indian cricketer. He played in Indian cricket team (1948- 1962) and played first-class cricket for Bombay and Gujarat. Umrigar played mainly as a middle-order batsman ...

* Hoshang Dadachanji * * Suryakumar Yadav

References

{{Cricket-team-stub Sports clubs in Mumbai Zoroastrianism in India Zoroastrian organizations Sports organizations established in 1888 1888 establishments in British India Organisations based in Mumbai Category : Organisations based in Maharashtra