Indian cricket celebrates 75 years at Castrol Awards ceremony

Release date: 02 October 2007

Kochi, October 2, 2007 - It was a spectacular celebration of 75 years of Indian Test cricket at the 10th Castrol Awards for Cricketing Excellence. The brightest stars of Indian cricket – the past, present and future were there in full strength as Castrol honoured and felicitated the outstanding cricketers who have played for India in the last 75 years.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Naveen Kshatriya – Managing Director, Castrol India Limited, said, “It is a great honour and privilege for Castrol to felicitate and recognize the most outstanding Indian cricketers. These great cricketers have provided unprecedented moments of joy for millions of Indians across the world and Castrol is proud to recognize their outstanding achievements through the Castrol Awards for Cricketing Excellence.”

Amongst the cricketers who attended the function were stars of yesteryears like Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Ajit Wadekar, Bishan Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, EAS Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar. Also present were the current heroes, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan, and of course the T20 champions. It was indeed heartening to have the young guns of Indian cricket present to respect and honour their seniors – those who inspired them to follow their footsteps.

To recognize the outstanding cricketers of the last 75 years, the period was divided into six ‘eras’; 1932 – 47, 1947 – 61, 1961 –71, 1971 – 81, 1981 – 97 and 1997 – 2006. Col. C.K. Nayudu, the man they still call the ‘Shahenshah’ of Indian cricket, was nominated as the Castrol Indian Cricketer for the first era - 1932 – 47. The award was received by his daughter Chandra Nayudu. The awardee for the second era 1947 – 61, was Vinoo Mankad, the first Indian to complete the ‘double’ of 1000 runs and 100 wickets in Tests. This Award was received by his son Atul Mankad.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, the ‘tiger’ of a cricketer who revolutionized fielding standards and instilled the ‘winning’ habit into his team, received the Best Indian Cricketer Award for the third era – 1961 – 1971. He could not make it to the function due to prior commitments, but sent in a recorded message. The winners for the next two eras virtually picked themselves. Sunil Gavaskar, the first batsman to score 10,000 runs, and Kapil Dev, the first Indian to take 400 Test wickets, won the award for the fourth (1971 – 1981) and fifth era (1981 – 1997) respectively.

The last era was the decade of the Castrol Awards for Cricketing Excellence and appropriately, two individuals who have dominated Indian cricket and the Castrol Awards since their inception in 1997, shared the award for the sixth era – Rahul Dravid (five-time winner of the Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year) and Sachin Tendulkar (four-time winner of the Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year).

One of the high points of the evening was the felicitation of India’s Test captains Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Ajit Wadekar, Bishan Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, all members of this elite club who were present on the occasion, were honoured for their outstanding service to Indian cricket. A special trophy was presented to Ganguly for being India’s most successful captain in Test cricket.

A pleasant surprise during the evening was the announcement by Jhulan Goswami, of Castrol’s intention to start a special category for Outstanding Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year award for women cricketers. Jhulan Goswami was a recipient of a special Castrol Award for Outstanding performance in 2006. More recently, she won the ICC Player of the Year Award for Women Cricketers.

The ceremony culminated with a leap into the future. The Castrol Outstanding Achievement Award was given away this year to the recent ICC T20 Champions.