Cricket crazy aficionados are famously known to be crazy about their idols and cricket legends and I am no exception. Being from the time of black & white TV and ‘Test’ cricket in whites, my all time favourites have been the classy Vishy and Dada Ganguly for offside elegance and the swashbuckling Farokh Engineer for a cavalier style (that’s now English team’s bazball brand and which Hitman and his boys also follow in the post Sehwag era ! ).
It was in the fitness of cricketing sense that a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award was overdue for Engineer and this was duly conferred by the BCCI in the Naman Cricket Awards on 23rd Jan. telecast on ‘Jio Cinema’. True to form, the former wicket-keeper dasher regaled the audience with funny anecdotes and was grace personified in showing his gratitude for the recognition.
However there was another ‘Life Achievement’ winner that evening, none other than the 1985 ‘Champion of Champions’ Ravi Shastri, the doughty all rounder who played for India in the 1980-90’s and later wore many hats as Head Coach of India Team & commentator extraordinaire with inimitable and ‘spirited’ articulation (pun intended) and his trademark exclamations.
For those who saw him play, if Shastri’s batting was built on anything it was solid defense that had him booed by crowds at times for it’s dourness yet he was a tough all rounder, a fighter and a man who could remain motivated. His bold attitude rubbed off on the Indian team buoyed by brilliance of Virat the batter, till his form dipped and the Indian team remained winless as far as World Cups went- last win famously came under Dhoni in 2011 !
Often in controversies for his candid remarks and a colourful life-style, Ravi Shastri has been a tall, imposing figure in Indian Cricket who stands out for sheer attitude and flamboyance. His speech after receiving the ‘Lifetime’ was a typical Shastri rhetoric that had the entire team applauding – he was motivating them to be spirited on the field and with ‘spirits’ in the evening ! For his eloquent nonchalance on stage, he was my ‘Man of the Evening’ !
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