Former India captain and member of the 1983 World Cup - winning team Krishnamachari Srikkanth will be the recipient of this year’s prestigious CK Nayudu Lifetime Award given by the BCCI.
Former India women’s captain Anjum Chopra is the co-recipient of the lifetime achievement award for the year 2019.
The BCCI Annual Award function will be held in Mumbai on January 12 ahead of the first ODI against Australia on January 14.
“Srikkanth and Anjum will be conferred with the Lifetime Achievement award for their contributions to Indian cricket. Everyone in BCCI feels that they are perfect choices for the award,” a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.
Srikkanth inarguably is one of the biggest names to have come out of the Tamil Nadu cricket stable apart from another former India skipper S Venkataraghavan and Ravichandran Ashwin. He represented India between 1981 and 1992.
The 60-year-old Srikkanth played 43 Tests, scoring 2062 runs with two hundreds and 12 half-centuries.
However, it was ODI cricket where he was a trailblazer, way ahead of his time hitting those audacious hook shots off fast bowlers without wearing a helmet.
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His crowning glory certainly was the top score of 38 in the Prudential World Cup final in 1983 against a fearsome West Indies attack comprising Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts and Michael Holding.
He also scored a half-century against Pakistan in the Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket final in 1985.
Srikkanth was appointed captain in 1989 for a tough tour of Pakistan where Sachin Tendulkar made his international debut. However after a drawn series, he was removed from captaincy as it is believed that a heavyweight BCCI official from the all-powerful Mumbai lobby went by feedback on his captaincy from neutral umpire John Hampshire.
Srikkanth retired in 1992 after the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and then from 2009-12 served as the chairman of national selection committee.
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It was the Srikkanth-led committee that selected the Indian squad for the 2011 World Cup.
He was also associated with the Indian Premier League side Chennai Super Kings (CSK) during its initial years and has been an analyst on various platforms including TV, print and digital.
The 42-year-old Anjum is considered to be one of India’s finest batswomen before Mithali Raj. A left-hander, Anjum played 12 Tests scoring 548 runs.
Anjum also played 127 ODIs in which she scored a hundred and 18 fifties. She also played 18 T20 Internationals.
She was a part of the Indian XI that played in the Women’s World Cup final against Australia in 2005.
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