Sharjah: The UAE is gearing up to host the 14th edition of the Asia Cup next month. Thirty four years ago, when Sharjah Cricket Stadium hosted the first edition of the Asia Cup, former Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Surinder Khanna emerged as the first hero of this tournament by bagging the Man of the Tournament award. Khanna cracked two half-centuries that won him the man of the match awards against Sri Lanka and Pakistan and helped India become the first champions of the tournament.
Khanna, who is on a personal visit to the UAE, returned to the Sharjah Stadium where he was once cheered all the way back to the pavilion for his match-winning knocks in the first official international tournament to be hosted by the venue, which later went on to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the maximum number of One Day Internationals. He recalled his three-decade-old glorious moments during an exclusive interview with Gulf News.
The first Asia Cup was a low-scoring tournament and Khanna cracked an unbeaten 51 after Sri Lanka were bowled out for 97 to give India a 10-wicket win. In the final against Pakistan, Khanna scored 56 to help India post a fighting total of 188 for 4 and win the match by 54 runs.
“It was the first tournament at Sharjah Stadium and the first Asia Cup,” he said. “The matches were low-scoring ones due to the quality of bowling in every team. All the teams had good seamers and quality spinners. The pitch had lot of grass and seam movement too. No team could score more than 200 runs in the tournament. When India won the tournament the atmosphere was electrifying. I am happy I could visit the stadium where I became part of Asia Cup history.”
Khanna revealed that everyone was anxious when it was announced that Asia Cup was to be held in Sharjah. “Except for a few who played in some unofficial matches in UAE, most of us were on our first visit to Sharjah,” he said. “For me, it was a comeback tournament as I was out of the Indian team for five years since playing in the 1979 World Cup. I got picked for the Asia Cup due to my top performance in the domestic season. For the match against Sri Lanka, I was sitting next to the great wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani when our captain Sunil Gavaskar told me that I would be keeping the wickets. I was surprised with the happy news. Kirmani, despite not being including in the XI, got up and hugged me and wished me all the best. He was not only a fantastic wicketkeeper and a great team man. That was the kind of camaraderie that was there in the team despite being a senior player. We were anxious about how the wicket will behave and crowd will respond. It was great in both fronts with the pitch behaving well and a jampacked stadium cheering everyone. Abdul Rahman Bukhatir and his team had organised everything very well including the dinner parties after the match, which is now regular after an Indian Premier League match. We never expected such an atmosphere.”
Though Khanna toured Pakistan with the Indian team in October 1984, it was in Sharjah he first experienced the excitement of playing against the arch-rivals. “India and Pakistan match has its own colour, pressure and entertainment,” he said. “The crowd wanted their stars to perform during that Asia Cup. The atmosphere charged everyone to raise their performance. International cricket should never have stopped in Sharjah.”
Khanna not only sparkled with the bat but also as a wicketkeeper. Recalling his quick stumping of Pakistan batsman Mudassar Nasar, Khanna said: “Mudassar was a great cricketer but underrated as he played under the shadow of big names like Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas and Majid Khan. He was a fantastic all-rounder and to get him out was special. Ravi Shastri bowled that delivery, which pitched on the middle and leg. Mudassar went for the flick on the on-side and it turned a bit and I was lucky to stump him despite being blinded by the delivery.”
Khanna was so thrilled on wining the man of the tournament award that he shared the prize money with his teammates. “Though it was the norm to share the man of series award, there were some instances of some players not sharing and even sharing it late,” he said. “So as soon as I got $10,000 for the award and I gave it to Abbas Ali Baig, who was the manager of the team who distributed the money. I also believed that cricket is a team game and everyone deserves the honour.”
Khanna revealed that the first Asia Cup win was special in many ways as it was also a tournament India won without the star player Kapil Dev, who was to undergo a knee surgery. “We missed the services of Kapil due to his knee operation and we won through our pacers Manoj Prabhakar, Madan Lal, Roger Binny and Chetan Sharma, who all bowled well,” he said. “In fact, Kapil was giving commentary for that match as he stopped over to watch the match on his way for surgery.”
Khanna wants Asia Cup to remain as a ODI tournament, even though last edition was staged as a T20 event. “Asia Cup should remain as a 50-over event because so many leagues are played in T20 format,” he said. “I believe that a good bowler should have about ten overs to bowl and show his skills. A batsman batting at the top order will also have 50 overs to display his skills too. Everything will depend on how many days the Asian Cricket Council can get from the top nations and the economics of the event though I would like it to remain as a 50 over event.”
Khanna, after retirement, set up his own cricket academy and held roles like Delhi Ranji Trophy team selector and manger ushering in many Test cricketers.
