Mumbai, Nov 23 The Cricket Club of India (CCI) celebrated 75 years of the Brabourne Stadium on the lawns of the ground on the evening of November 22. The stadium was inaugurated on December 7, 1937. The Indian Cricket Team, the visiting England Cricket Team and Board members and dignitaries of the Board of Cricket Control in India and the CCI were present at the occasion.
The highlight of the evening was the felicitation of legendary cricketer Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who played for CCI and against it during the early stages of his career. Speaking on the momentous occasion, where he was felicitated by CCI President, Sevanti Parekh, the Little Master said, “It is a special occasion when I come to CCI. Thank you for this love and affection. It really means a lot to me. I remember my association with CCI started when I was playing school cricket.” He added, “I got some runs against the CCI; I was may be 13 or 14 years old. And that’s when the decision was taken that I will play for CCI. But as we have heard, Under-18s were not allowed to be around the dressing room [at the time], and I was only 13 or 14 so [the rules were relaxed]. Thanks to Raj bhai [Raj Singh Dungarpur] and Mr. Madhav Apte [former CCI President] for relaxing that rule for me and allowing me to be part of that dressing room. From there on things started looking different for me in cricket.”
Recalling some of his most memorable moments playing at the venue he said, “I remember another wonderful moment was when we played Australia here with the Mumbai team and we won convincingly, which was a fantastic moment for a Mumbaikar. The best moment was when we played IPL here. Just the energy of this ground is so positive.”
“I have come across so many guys who have not got much to do with cricket [but] they have come here just to feel the club and feel the ambience, which is so positive and so invigorating. I just want to thank CCI for this wonderful gesture,” Tendulkar added.
The BCCI President, Mr. N Srinivasan was also bestowed with honorary life membership of CCI and presented with a memento. Thanking CCI for the gesture he recounted, “I first came here in October 1963, 49 years ago. I was admiring the ground, I was still in college when I came to play Tennis here [and] I never realised that this honour would be bestowed upon me. Thank you very much. I think it is something that I will greatly cherish.”
“I am also very happy that I am here today when the Cricket Club of India is felicitating one of India’s greatest cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar. I am very happy that I have the opportunity to be present this evening. Thank you for your gesture and wish the club all success.”
IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla, Coach of the Indian cricket team Duncan Fletcher and the England captain Alastair Cook were also awarded the honorary life memberships of CCI along with England’s batting coach Graham Gooch and coach Andy Flower.
Indian cricket statistician Anandji Jamnadas Dossa was also honoured for his contribution to cricket.
