Here are some of the most iconic stamps that sports lovers have collected over the years

The gymkhana was established in 1875 and designed by English architect Claude Batley. Pic/Getty Images

What all do cricket memorabilia junkies collect? Bats, balls, stumps… the list is endless. And somewhere in between, figure cricket-themed stamps. I remembered I have a modest stamp collection when one was released to commemorate the 150th year of Bombay Gymkhana's existence. The south Mumbai gymkhana hosted India's first home Test match in December 1933.

Stamp collecting was a late entrant to what Barclays World of Cricket, a massive book encompassing all aspects of the game, called "the field of cricketana". Marcus Williams in the cricket tome wrote: "A group of windswept Atlantic islands forming the then Portuguese colony of Cape Verde were the unlikely pioneers, followed by Pakistan with two separate issues later the same year [1962]. Since then, collectors' needs have been satisfied - sometimes sated - by a steady output of stamps, postmarks and special envelopes commemorating cricketing events and personalities from the major Test-playing countries and from more exotic spots such as Western Samoa, New Caledonia and Christmas Island."

The recently released Bombay Gymkhana stamp

Bombay Gymkhana's stamp follows a Special Cover that was released last January as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Wankhede Stadium. And cricket stamp collectors were thrilled when Sachin Tendulkar made an entry in their albums with stamps released to mark his 200th Test at the Wankhede Stadium in November 2013. One would have expected an Indian postal stamp honouring Sunil Gavaskar, the first man to score 10,000 Test runs, but there isn't a stamp of him in his own country. Interestingly, there was one featuring him released for the 1998 Wills International Cup played in Bangladesh and one released by the Caribbean island of St Vincent.

Maiden Test series wins in the West Indies and England in 1971 moved the Indian postal department to issue a stamp to do justice to the achievements

Sports author, collector, and historian Gulu Ezekiel tells Sunday mid-day that the India Post has released only nine cricket-centric stamps - KS Ranjitsinhji, CK Nayudu, Prof DB Deodhar, Vijay Merchant, Vinoo Mankad, 1971 victories, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association 75th anniversary, Sachin Tendulkar and Wankhede Stadium's golden jubilee. "India Post never released a stamp on the Olympics hockey golds, the 1975 World Cup hockey triumph, the 1983 cricket World Cup win and the recent women's World Cup glory [as of yet], which is the only world team title won by our women in any sports," he said.

Here are some stamps that sports lovers have collected and traded over the years.

This Fiji stamp shows when cricket started there - in 1874

A sheet of stamps released to mark Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test in November 2013

Australian cricket legend Sir Don Bradman

A stamp released to celebrate 100 years of Test cricket in 1977

Clive Lloyd, who captained the West Indies from 1974 to 1985 features on this stamp released in his country of Guyana

A stamp featuring Vijay Merchant, known for his copybook batting technique

Trinidad & Tobago issued this stamp for WI's World Cup win in 1975. Trinidadians Deryck Murray & Bernard Julien were part of the playing XI that beat Aus in the final

KS Ranjitsinhji, after whom India's national cricket championships is named, is ‘stamped'

Vinoo Mankad, the great India all-rounder

A stamp released in Pakistan to mark their 1992 World Cup cricket win under the great Imran Khan

A stamp released in Bangladesh in 1998 featuring Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar

CK Nayudu, India's first Test captain is aptly honoured

Sunil Gavaskar was a hit on all his three Test tours to the West Indies. Here, he is honoured by the island of St Vincent

Prof DB Deodhar, known as the grand old man of Indian cricket, is featured in this stamp. He lived to reach 101

A stamp marking the centenary of Australia's national cricket championship, the Sheffield Shield

Other sports

Barcelona Olympics 1992

Wrestlers feature in this Barcelona 1992 stamp issued in Cuba

A Cuba-issued stamp displaying football action at the 1982 World Cup held in Spain.

A 1986 World Cup-winning Argentine footballer is seen surging ahead in this stamp

A stamp to mark the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California

1962
The year in which the concept of cricket postal stamps began