It was a star-studded affair at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday morning as some of the former India internationals, who also served as the Mumbai captain, were felicitated by the Mumbai Cricket Association as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the iconic venue.
From Sunil Gavaskar to Prithvi Shaw – it was a perfect congregation across generations, and along with the captains of the men’s team, the women skippers from Mumbai were also felicitated.
While Gavaskar lauded the MCA for guiding him in his illustrious journey, the likes of Vinod Kambli and Nilesh Kulkarni, too, had fond memories of playing at the iconic venue. “It is a great gesture by the MCA to felicitate the Mumbai captains for their efforts and all of us have so much memories associated with the Wankhede Stadium. We have literally grown up playing here,” an emotional Kambli told Sportstar.
As Gavaskar obliged to the requests for pictures and selfies from the fans, Prithvi walked up to him and was engaged in a conversation; even some of the women captains were seen walking down the memory lane.
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“I am what I am because the Mumbai Cricket Association lifted me up there, helped me to take those steps and subsequently was always a great sense of support even when I was playing for India,” Gavaskar said.
“At my age, whenever I meet my cricketing fraternity people I’ve played with, people have just come a little bit after me, it just gives me another life,” the former India captain said, amid cheers from his former teammates and spectators.
“Wankhede Stadium’s 50th anniversary is a special occasion for us. Today was the start of the grand celebration and our main goal behind this week-long event is to inform the next generation about Mumbai’s cricket history and contributions of men’s and women’s players who played for Mumbai and inspire the young generation to take forward this legacy,” MCA president Ajinkya Naik said.
The morning began with the members of the MCA featuring in a friendly match with the members of the media, which was followed by another friendly with the counsel generals and other dignitaries.
The 50th anniversary celebrations will continue throughout the week. The MCA will felicitate the groundsmen of MCA’s clubs and grounds, and organise Polly Umrigar Health Camp and special lunch for them on January 15. It will be followed by felicitation of the members of the Mumbai team which played the first first-class match at the Wankhede Stadium in 1974.
The mega event will be held at the historic venue on January 19.