1983 World Cup, heroes bring cheer again

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of an exact replica of the Prudential World Cup by Mr Mark Tucker of the Prudential Corporation Asia, to Mr Raj Singh Dungarpur, president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Mr Tucker also announced a free life insurance cover to the 14 Indian cricketers of the 1983 team.

Selectors are usually a much-maligned lot. But Kapil showed grace and thoughtfulness in inviting onstage Chandu Borde, Bishen Bedi and Hanumant Singh, three of the five selectors Ghulam Ahmed and Pankaj Roy were the other two who picked the World Cup winning combination. An act that had Bedi singing: 8220;Palmolive da jawaab nahin!8221;

Among the celebrity gathering were also Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Sardesai, Ajay Jadeja and Ajit Agarkar. The only jarring note was the absence of Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri and Sandeep Patil.

Bedi took the opportunity to bowl his inimitable harm ball8217;. 8220;I and the Bombay boys can8217;t be sitting in the same room,8221; Bedi said in a lighter vein. But there was no mistaking whom the outspoken sardar was targeting.Indeed, it was an evening laced with much humour and wit 8212; sometimes casual, at times caustic.

But the man who drew the loudest laughter was the man who was a tourist8217; in the 1983 World Cup. Poor Valson was the only member of the side who did not get to play a single game.

Kapil was again thoughtful when he asked8220;Wally8221; to welcome first on stage with the words: 8220;A unique person who was a very important member of the side. He was the one who told us where we are going wrong. Something that you cannot analyse for yourself when you are playing.8221;

One then understood why Kapil said Valson has a great sense of humour. 8220;In that World Cup of 1983, there was a lot of changing and chopping in every match. Only my place was not messed around with,8221; Valson said amid alround laughter. 8220;Even today, Prudential and ICICI have ensured that. I8217;m right there at the back!8221; he added to sustain the laughter.

And when it was Krishnamachari Srikkanth8217;s turn to collect his memento, Kapil praised the Tamil Nadu dasher by calling him a 8220;great team-man8221; who did all the accounting for the side. But Kapil wondered if it wouldn8217;t be better if Mrs Vidya Srikkanth collected the memento for her husband as Srikkanth had the habit of slipping. Ever a joker, Srikkanth nonetheless came on the dias and told the audience that he is aware thatKapil has been having a glad eye for his wife, as the audience went into splits. Later, Kapil assured8217; Srikkanth that he could sleep in peace as he will call Vidya his sister. Not to be quietened, Srikkanth shouted 8220;sour grapes8221; from his table!

It was obvious that Kapil 8212; now sporting spectacles 8212; has come a long way as a speaker, though he had digs at his own English. But it was apparent that he is making effort to become a good after-dinner speaker when he said: 8220;Speeches, are like babies. Easy to conceive, difficult to deliver.8221;

Former Union Minister and senior Congressman NKP Salve, who was the BCCI president in 1983, had earlier set the tone for the World Cup heroes when he said: 8220;People have wondered that being a politician, I may have come into the BCCI administration through the backdoor. But then politicians do not distinguish between the frontdoor and backdoor,8221; getting the expected reaction from the audience.

But any talk of the 1983 World Cup and there has to be a mandatoryreference to the banana inswinger that bowled the great Gordon Greenidge 8212; bowled, shouldering arms! A ball that people will talk all of this century and the next, as Mr Dungarpur said in his speech.

As the TV sets in the room were showing the India-West Indies game at the start of the evening, a viewer walked up to Sandhu and asked: 8220;How did you ball that bowl?8221;

8220;Simple,8221; replied Sandhu. 8220;You see that knock pointing to the screen to show the blow on the head he received from Malcolm Marshall. That set my brain working,8221; he said to floor the man.

As the function ended close to midnight, almost everybody in the gathering were floored too with the wit, repartee and sense of timing of the men who held centrestage in 1983 and now, 15 years later.