After six long years, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) organised the Jagmohan Dalmiya Conclave. The keynote speech was delivered by the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. It was an evening that brought together the members of the association, past and present office-bearers, cricketers from the state and legends like Anil Kumble and Jhulan Goswami. Under President Sourav Ganguly’s aegis, the event helped set the tone for the Test match that will start in less than 12 hours.
Sunil Gavaskar was provocative and witty as always. And that’s what helped set up the interactive session. As host, all I had to do was get Sunny bhai going. Sample this: Responding to a question why he did not wear a helmet, Gavaskar said, “Actually, there was nothing to protect in the head, so there was no real point.” The laughter hadn’t yet died down when he added, “the current players are a lot more intelligent and hence they need a helmet.”
Labelling Dalmiya as the greatest cricket administrator of all time, Gavaskar was all praise for Jaggu Da’s work ethic and commitment. He even urged the ICC to seriously think about naming a key trophy after the former President.
Speaking about the current teams, both men and women, Gavaskar expressed the hope that Indian cricket was all set to dominate across formats with the kind of talent pool we now have. Saying that he expected the women’s team to build more on the recent World Cup win, he said that the BCCI could now take the women’s game to the next level and make it a huge brand in its own right.
Ganguly, who felicitated Gavaskar and Kumble, said that the conclave would now be an annual affair and he was keen to have Kumble over to deliver the next edition of the lecture.
Gavaskar asked me to suggest a trophy that could be named after Mr Dalmiya. Here’s my suggestion – he started the ICC Champions Trophy in 1998, though it was initially named the ICC Knockout. Why not name it after the man who initiated it?
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