Nostalgia was imminent at the Ceat cricket awards last Friday. This year they recognised the heroes of World Cups from 1975 to 2007
Nostalgia was imminent at the Ceat cricket awards last Friday. This year they recognised the heroes of World Cups from 1975 to 2007. Some of them unfortunately had missed out on recognition as in the initial period, there was no player of the tournament award.
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| Glenn and Sukhi Turner in India in the 1970s. PIC/mId day archives |
Award winners, Glenn Turner (1975), Gordon Greenidge (1979), Kapil Dev (1983), Geoff Marsh (1987), Wasim Akram (1992), Aravinda de Silva (1996), Rahul Dravid (1999) Mathew Hayden (2007) all sat together with Sunil Gavaskar, chatting of the days gone by.
The evening soon progressed with past cricketers alongwith corporate Czars discussing World Cup 2011. Even for us former cricketers, the presence of these fine players, made us feel like schoolboys.
Glenn Turner, the strokeless wonder, as some of the Indian journalists branded him when he played a painstakingly slow 25 against India in the 1960's, grew to become one of the best batsmen of his time and the highest run-getter of the 1975 World Cup. He not only humbled the Indian attack in the 1975 World Cup game at Old Trafford, but also married a Sikh girl from India. Nandini Sardesai, wife of late Dilip, reminded him of the time she introduced him to Sukhi and one could see the smile of gratitude beaming all over his face. Sukhi went on to become the Mayor of Dunedin.
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Two fast bowling legends - Akram and Kapil sat next to each other and from the way their fingers were being twisted, one could conclude that they were talking about how they mesmerised so many batsmen. Both still have a full head of hair. Why is it that all the fast bowlers have plenty of hair while the batsmen from each era were all bald? Nari Contractor put it rightly when he said it shows quite clearly as to who the underdogs in the game of cricket are.
Kapil Dev rightly stressed on the fact that World Cup 2011 is not about Sachin Tendulkar, but about the one billion Indians, who want the Cup. The bartender and waiters were so agreeable that we were sent two glasses of very fine French wine. As usual, Paaji hit the right note.
The writer was a member of the Indian team at the 1979 World Cup
