Oct 04: Nostalgia rules as cricketers relived their golden past at the 10 th Castrol Awards night
The Indian cricketing heroes of yesteryears and present were bestowed with absolute honour, celebrating the platinum jubilee year of the Indian cricket, at the glittering night of the 10 th Castrol Awards for Cricketing Excellence in Kochi on Tuesday.
The night witnessed the presence of some of the greats of Indian cricket of past 75 years, to recognise the services of outstanding Indian cricketers in the three-quarters of a century, the period was divided into six different ‘eras’ — 1932-47, 1947-61, 1961-71, 1971-81, 1981-97 and 1997-2006.
Sourav Ganguly stood out among some of the biggest names in Indian cricket when he was named 'Best Captain' in 75 years of Test cricket. Jhulan Goswami, who was chosen the best women cricketer of the year by the ICC, was given a special award for her outstanding performance in 2006.
Besides Ganguly, Colonel C K Nayudu was chosen the Castrol Indian Cricketer for 1932-47. Vinoo Mankad, the first Indian to complete the ‘double’ of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket, was the winner for the 1947-61 era.
‘Tiger’ Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi (1961-71), Sunil Gavaskar (1971-81) and Kapil Dev (1981-97) were also honoured while Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, who have been dominating Indian cricket and the Castrol Awards since their foundation in 1997, shared the award for the sixth era.
Nayudu's daughter Chandra and Mankad's son Atul received the awards on behalf of their illustrious fathers.
NOSTALGIC MOMENTS
The never-ending award night had numerous nostalgic moments flowing like champagne from the former stars. Everyone came out with an anecdote of its own lighting up the mood of the cricketing glorious extravaganza.
"I became an opening batsman only because of Vinoo. I had never opened in my life and for some reason Vinoo was not available for a Test against New Zealand," reminded Contractor.
"Polly Umrigar was the captain and he asked me to open the innings. And in the next Test, me and Vinoo opened the innings and that’s how I became an opener.", added contractor.
Nayudu's daughter Chandra too went down the memory lane, saying, "My father used to say 'cricket khelne ke liye dimag ki zaroorat hoti hain' (You need brains to play cricket)."
Chandra put at par to her father and new Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as both acknowledged for their big hitting.
"I think Dhoni plays the way my father used to play. Both want to hit big sixes. But there is one difference between my father and Dhoni. As a captain, my father was more of a commander while Dhoni seems like a buddy," added Chandra.
“These cricketers have provided unprecedented moments of joy for millions of Indians, Castrol is proud to recognise their outstanding achievements,” said Naveen Kshatriya, MD, Castrol India.
Sachin Tendulkar feels cricket has changed a lot in recent times with fitness becoming an integral part of the game. “The young crop of players were enjoying their game and it was good to see them in a positive frame of mind,” Tendulkar said.
“Beating England in England recently was one of my most memorable moments,” said Tendulkar.
“Tiger could anticipate what I wanted to do all the time. And if my bowling was not going well, he’d look at me with a look that said, ‘look son, pull up your socks and do well’,” said the great spinner Prasanna, praising Pataudi’s captaincy.
The Castrol awards are given to outstanding performers of the year every year but this time, they celebrated 75 years of Indian Test cricket, this being the landmark year.
The Twenty20 World Cup champion team was also honoured but skipper Dhoni missed the function. Sreesanth and Dinesh Karthik were among the few from the victorious team who turned up. Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Ajit Wadekar, Gundappa Viswanath and B.S. Chandrasekhar were among the other stars in the ceremony.
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