MUMBAI: On Wednesday night, in a rare instance, the first man to score 10,000 runs (Sunil Gavaskar), the first to score 11,000 runs (Allan Border) and the first to score 12,000 and the only one to score 15,000 runs (Sachin Tendulkar) in Test cricket all came together for a special celebration. The occasion, truly memorable, was Ravi Shastri's lavish bash in a five-star hotel in Mumbai on Wednesday night, to celebrate the naming of a stand at the Wankhede Stadium. The party had all the ingredients that one would expect from the former India allrounder-turned commentator, who was also the Team India coach: top cricket stars, free flowing alcohol and some delicious food.
On April 9, the Mumbai Cricket Association, in a glittering ceremony, had named a stand at the Wankhede Stadium, fittingly below the commentators' box, after Shastri, while naming the gates of the stadium after Indian cricket's 70s heroes Dilip Sardesai and Eknath Solkar and ex-India women's team captain Diana Edulji. In a short, emotional speech during the party, which was obviously celebrated in a ‘high spirit’ considering the inimitable personality of the host, Shastri, with his mother Lakshmi Shastri, wife Ritu Singh, daughter Aleka, said, “I value everyone's presence here. I might have known some people here for 40 years, 30, 20 years, they have all played a part in my journey. My mother (Lakshmi), wife (Ritu Singh) and daughter (Aleka) are here.”
Asserting on the pedigree of the great cricketers who have a stand named after them at the Wankhede Stadium, Shastri said, “You've got to work your backside off to get there (having a stand named after you at the Wankhede Stadium). I've got colleagues here who are already there. And three of them are there tonight. So before I join the gang, let me take their names. Sunil Manohar Gavaskar. Dilip Balwant Vengsarkar and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The four of us there have played 521 Tests put together.”
Acknowledging the presence of Border, the legendary former Australian captain under whom the Aussies clinched the 1987 World Cup in India, Shastri said, “I took names. Why don't we take one special name tonight. He happens to be here. Thanks to ‘Sunny’ (Gavaskar). His name is Allan Border. Allan, amongst all the players I've played with or against. He was one of the toughest competitors that I've played against. We had a good morning, good evening together. Off the field. On the field it was at times different. But you learned the game. You played the hard way. And yet you played fair, in the Australian way.”
Border is in India to watch three IPL matches, including the marquee clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings on Thursday night at the Wankhede Stadium. The former left-hander had revealed in June 2023 that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2016. Also present at Shastri's party were a bevy of former India cricketers: left-arm pace ace Zaheer Khan, Shastri’s 1983 World Cup-winning teammate Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Sanjay Manjrekar, Yajurvindra Singh, Nilesh Kulkarni, Jatin Paranjape (currently a member of the BCCI’s Cricket Advisory Committee), ex-Mumbai captain and opener Shishir Hattangadi (a close friend of Shastri), and MCA president Ajinkya Naik.
Shastri enjoyed a fair bit of success at the Wankhede Stadium, smashing Baroda’s spinner Tilak Raj for six sixes in an over in a Ranji Trophy match in 1984-85, taking a match-winning eight for 91 in the final that season against Delhi with his left-arm spin, and leading a young Mumbai team to a memorable Ranji Trophy triumph in the 1993-94 season, which marked his farewell in first-class cricket. He played six of his 80 Tests at the Wankhede Stadium, scoring 457 runs at an average of 57.12, including two centuries, besides taking 17 wickets at 29.94, with a best haul of four for 45.
