Breaching Australia’s fortress at the Gabba in the iconic Test series of 2021 was the “icing on the cake” in the illustrious career of multi-faceted Ravi Shastri, who was honoured with the Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award here on Tuesday.
In a glittering ceremony, the BCCI awarded a host of top men’s and women’s performers from the 2019-20 season. Former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer too was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Shastri was part of India’s World Cup winning squad in 1983 and was the Player of the Series when they bagged the World Series in 1985.
Later as a coach, Shastri masterminded India’s back-to-back Test series wins in Australia, the first Asian side to achieve the feat.
Shastri said it was an emotional moment for him and picked the Gabba Test three Australian summers ago among the many highs he experienced in his career.
“It is a special evening for me. I think picking one (moment) would be difficult. But I will just go very quickly. You showed one that the 1985 final vs Pakistan was special in Melbourne. 1983 when India won the World Cup.
“But in commentary, 2007 when they won the T20 World Cup and 2011 when MS hit that ball for six. Two back to back wins in Australia. But the icing on the cake was the last day at the Gabba when Rishabh Pant took us past the finishing line,” said Shastri.
The 61-year-old also lauded the BCCI for looking after him through his career.
“I thank the BCCI for bestowing this honour on me. It’s four decades in the game, you have not missed a beat and you have been involved with Indian cricket right through.
“It is a very touching moment for me because when I started my cricket at the age of 17 and I finished at 31 as a player, 30 in fact, BCCI was my guardian right through.
“They showed me the path to play the sport. You know when the bucks were not big in the game as Farokh (Engineer), had mentioned. But there was pride in playing for your country.” Shastri said the board’s growth as an influential sporting entity has benefitted a generation of players.
“I saw the BCCI growing up in the 40 years of mine, you know, powerhouse in world cricket and because of that you can see generations after generations of players benefitting. So, for me this is very special evening with the women’s team, the men’s cricket team there.”
Star batter Shubman Gill was conferred with the Polly Umrigar Best Men’s International Cricketer of the Year (2022-23) award.
Gill was India’s standout batter in the white ball formats, especially in the ODIs during the season that was considered for the award.
Last year, Gill became the fastest batsman to reach the 2000-run mark in ODIs in the process of making 1584 runs from 29 matches at an average of 63.36 including five hundreds.
Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal grabbed the award for the Best International debut during the 2022-23 season after cracking a 171 against the West Indies at Roseau in July last year.
Spinner Deepti Sharma grabbed the International Women’s Cricketer of the Year award for the 2022-23 season.
Deepti’s bowling had a massive impact on India’s facile win over England recently in the one-off Test as she picked up nine wickets for 39 in the match besides making a crucial fifty.
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