Sourav Ganguly, Pankaj Roy, Jagmohan Dalmiya and Biswanath Dutt were immortalised on Sunday, with four stands at the Eden Gardens being named after them.
The only other aspect of the 150-year-old venue to be named after an individual was the club house, which bears the name of Bengal’s first Chief Minister, B.C. Roy. The short ceremony, which was held during the innings break of the third India-England ODI here on Sunday, also saw the CAB felicitating Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in recognition of a career during the course of which he led India to World Cup triumphs in both the ODI and the T20 formats, and to the No. 1 ranking in Tests.
Over the last few years, Eden Gardens has made it a tradition, when it hosts an international match, of felicitating those to have graced the game with distinction.
Dhoni was feted by another World Cup-winning captain, Kapil Dev. He was presented with a memento and a shawl, and the spectators were shown a short video of him playing his trademark shots.
Dhoni was in his usual self, receiving the accolades with a smile, before rushing back to his colleagues in the pavilion.
Kapil Dev joined other former captains — India’s Sunil Gavaskar and England’s Nasser Hussein — in unveiling the illuminated signages bearing the names of the four stalwarts who had served Indian cricket as players (Ganguly and Roy) or administrators (Dalmiya and Dutt).
