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Prasad, Akram win Ceat cricket awards

As we entered the Cricket Club of India premises, a gentleman in a suit barred the way.

"Sir," he goes, "only people in formal or traditional attire are allowed beyond this point."

My T-shirt and jeans, his look indicated, was neither formal, nor traditional. "Sorry, sir, you can’t attend the party."

With due apologies for my informality of dress, I point out that I only received the invite late that evening, and there really was no time for me to get all togged up for the do.

The gent wasn’t buying it. But to my luck, I noticed a few other journalist types in extremely informal gear, so pointing to them, I asked the gent why I was being discriminated against.

He was all apology. Profuse ones at that. And as if to make amends, kept pressing beer on me, despite my protestations that I do not drink.

I look around, sipping something suitably non-alchoholic, and see a couple saunter in, signalling a veritable explosion of lensmen’s flashbulbs. Venkatesh Prasad, Ceat’s International Cricketer of the Year, who had arrived with his wife, was evidently the cynosure, the star of the evening.

Close on the heels of Mrs and Mr Prasad, came the immaculate Wasim Akram, who was scheduled to receive on behalf of his side the award for the Ceat International Team of the Year. The photo op was too good to miss, obviously, so the lensmen went berserk.

Watching the fun were a galaxy of stars. Dilip Vengsarkar, Ajit Wadekar, Mushtaq Ali, Nari Contractor, newly re-elected president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India Raj Singh Dungarpur and, of course, Sunil Gavaskar.

The ubiquitous boom mike – wielded, in this instance, by Charu Sharma – was very much in evidence, as the TV crew went around gathering sound bites from Akram, Prasad and the star lineup of former greats.

Henry Blofeld’s commentary – and more to the point, his asides on ear-rings and other items of jewellery – are a trademark. Here we saw him in a new role – that of compere, announcing that dinner was being served.

Everyone grabbed seats, Stevie Wonder hits blasted through the speakers…

And with the food, came a video presentation, again compered by Blofeld, of the great moments, and personalities, of Indian cricket in the 50 years of its Independence. Often grainy, sometimes blurred, always inspiring, the parade of past champions flashed past on the big screens -- Mushtaq Ali, Polly Umrigar, Nari Contractor, Vijay Merchant, Pankaj Roy, Vinoo Mankad, M A K Pataudi, M L Jaisimha, Ramakant Desai (now chairman of selectors), Bapu Nadkarni, Chandu Borde, E A S Prasanna, Bishen Singh Bedi, B S Chandrashekhar, G R Vishwanath, Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Sardesai, Sunil Gavaskar, Chetan Chauhan, Anshuman Gaikwad, Mohinder Amarnath, Kapil Dev, Karsan Gharavi, Madan Lal and Ravi Shastri.. the creme de la creme, in fact, of Indian cricket’s vintage period.

Wadekar spoke eloquently and well about the twin triumphs he was part of, when India for the first time pulled off a series victory against the mighty West Indians, then followed it up with a win against England. Asked, by Blofeld, which of the three roles – batsman, captain or team manager – he had most enjoyed, Wadekar laughingly opted for manager. Why? Because if a team loses, the manager is the only person who is never blamed, came the prompt reply, delivered with the straightest of faces.

Mushtaq Ali, all of 84 years old, went back into the past, to recall the days of bodyline. And, in a day and age when the dice are heavily loaded against bowlers, the veteran gladdened their collective hearts when he argued, "I think bowlers have the right to bowl bodyline. The batsmen must not object to bodyline bowling, because they have their bats and they must know how to use it against bowlers."

Akram and Prasad must have felt a touch of joy at that little speech – for today, with batsmen kitted out as if for war, and still needing the protection of laws against bumpers and bouncers, the bowler is pretty much a toothless tiger. Mushtaq Ali, who in his time was famed for dancing down the wicket to the fastest of bowlers, recalled memories of a gayer, more cavalier era.

Nari Contractor for his part didn’t quite like the choice of video clipping – which showed him sitting on the ground, head in his hands, after that crippling blow on the head from Charlie Griffith. "I never ducked into the ball, as is being made out. The ball directly came onto my face, I turned, and only then did it hit me," was Contractor’s explanation.

Regrets? Yes, came the pat response from the ex-India captain. "Never in my life had I played in the number one position. That day, I decided to open – and I got hit, and that was the end of my international career," Contractor lamented.

RPG group chairman Harsh Goenka, as sponsor of the awards, spoke wittily about his wife’S constant laments. She cribs about how I spend five days before the TV watching cricket, and then get annoyed if she takes five minutes more to dress for a party, quipped Goenka to much laughter.

Ian Chappell, one of the jury members, could not be present. The former Australian skipper, now one of the most respected commentators in the game, sent instead a taped message wherein he lavished praise on Venkatesh Prasad. "He has done very well in his debut year," Chappell said in his message. "He is an intelligent bowler. I was impressed when he took ten wickets in the Durban Test. He uses his brains when he bowls, and his leg cutters are excellent."

Prasad, receiving the award, thanked his wife, parents, colleagues whose help, he said, had gone towards his performances. "And I am honoured that a panel of such distinction as Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Chappell and Clive Lloyd have picked me for this award," Prasad said.

Came the turn of Wasim Akram, to accept the Team of the Year award on behalf of Pakistan. "We played like a team, and I am happy to achieve this award. I am thankful to every Pakistani player, who helped me to win this award," went Akram’s acceptance speech.

The business of the day over and done with, we got down to the serious business of being wined and dined – to the accompaniment of a scintillating fireworks display.

And as we left at the end of what had developed into quite a swinging party – some of us juggling the cricket ball, autographed by Venkatesh Prasad, that was the official souvenir of the occasion -- we were left pondering one very interesting fact – Sunil Gavaskar never did ‘grace the occasion with a speech’, did he? Strange.

And if further food for thought were needed, there's this -- Venkatesh Prasad was the star of the evening. Applauded. Feted. Lionised. Made much of, for a spectacular performance in his debut year in international cricket.

And when the party winds down and the lights dim, there is a different kind of reality -- Venkatesh Prasad, today, has to fight to regain his berth in the national cricket squad.

Whoever said that cricket is the greatest of levellers, got it dead right.

Pix: Jewella C Miranda