Former men and women cricket captains were honoured on the occasion of India playing its 500th Test against New Zealand at the Green Park Stadium here on Thursday.
They were felicitated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), represented by its president Anurag Thakur, Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) secretary Rajeev Shukla and Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik.
Among those honoured were Sachin Tendulkar, M.S. Dhoni, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, K. Srikkanth, Sourav Ganguly, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ajit Wadekar and Mohammad Azharuddin.
The women captains to be facilitated were Shantha Rangaswamy, Nilima Jogalekar, Diana Eduljee, Shubhangi Kulkarni, Promila Bhat, Purnima Rao, Anju Jain, Anjum Chopra, Mamatha Maben, Mithali Raj, Harman Kaur.
Jhulan Goswani and Chandrakanta were also invited but failed to make it.
Pleasant moment“It was such a pleasant moment for women’s cricket. In the eyes of the public they (men players) are stars. To share the same platform with them was great. It was especially satisfying that the BCCI and the UPCA called all the women captains on this solemn occasion. The men have played 500 Tests but I’ll be happy if I am around when Indian women play their 100th Test,” said Shantha.
Anjum hoped it would inspire the women cricketers. “It is always an honour to be recognised by your Board. It felt nice to be a part of this journey. It also gave us an opportunity to interact with some stalwarts and legends of the game.”
The former captains were presented with a memento, a specially minted silver coin with ‘500th Test’ printed on it and a shawl.
