Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar and former India captain and coach Ravi Shastri were conferred the SJFI Medal and made honorary life member of the Sports Journalists’ Federation of India for their contribution to cricket as commentators, writers and analysts at an event here on Tuesday evening.

Gavaskar, who received the medal and citation from former BCCI secretary SK Nair and current joint secretary Jayesh George, said he was thrilled to accept the medal. “During my second year of playing cricket, I wrote an article for the Sportsweek. Mr (Sharad) Kotnis was the deputy editor and also the manager of the West Zone team that won the Cooch Behar Trophy. In those days, there was considerable interaction between the media and players. There was a trust factor. You could talk and you could sense that they wanted you to do well, they wished you well and wanted you to go forward in your career and that they would help you with their articles. That was such a big thing for a budding cricketer.”