Competitive cricket matches were held regularly on Sundays and other holidays. It was on this coir-matting and the sandy outfield that pre-Partition cricketers of high pedigree like J. Naoomal, Ghulam Muhammad, Abdul Aziz, Daud Khan, Abbas Khan, Kishan Chand, Wazir Ali, Pammanmal Punjabi, G. S. Ramchand, A. S. De Mello, Jacob Harris, Jack Britto, M. J. Abdullah, Shaikh Hassan, Gopal Das, B. D. Shankar, C. B. Ruble, D. J. Mobed, Ibrahim Gullia, J. K Irani, N. M. Dinshaw and D. J. Jagus to name a few, posted their most prominent performances.
The post-Independence (1947) Cricket on the ground is studded with the magnificent achievements of Hanif Muhammad, Wazir Muhammad, Muhammad Munaf, Muhammad Farooq, Raees Muhammad, Munawwar Ali Khan, Ikram Ellahi, Wallis Mathais, Nasimul Ghani, M. E. Z. Ghazali, Ziaullah, Muhammad Shaflq (Pak Mughals), Abdul Qadir, Abdul Rasheed, Asif Ahmed, M. S. Baloch, Khalid Wazir, Tahir Shaikh, Bashir Mirza, Prince Aslarn Khan and other innumerable youngsters from schools, colleges and clubs affiliated to KCA.
Unfortunately, the City Administration of the 1960s decided to close down the park for cricket and converted it into a garden with a fountain at the centre. It deprived the city of its most cherished cricketing spot. Years after when the park was almost desolate, the CDGK of Mustafa Kamal planned for raising a multi-storied car parking plaza thereon. His plans were resisted by Ardshir Cowasjee, a valiant fighter for environment, sports and human rights, NGOs and several journalists, including Amar Jalil (who played Inter-School Rubie Shield matches on the park) and Arshad Shami also voiced their dissent over the misuse of the historical playground. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the affair and finally settled the issue, and accordingly, the City Government decided to drop the project.
The Karachi City Cricket Association whose Zone-III conducts cricket in the Old Town, Saddar and Defence areas, made several efforts in the past for restoration of Jehangir Park as a playground but in vain.
Now that under the directions of Sindh High Court, the encroachments inside the park have been demolished and the city administration appears to be committed to restore the park to its original shape, the cricketing community in Karachi appropriately looks forward for rehabilitation of Jehangir Park as a cricket ground.
It will be a befitting tribute to the memory of the noble person late Behram Jehangir Rajkotwala who donated his high value land property for service to the people of this city.
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