Dubai: India's former captain and legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar has been inducted into the International Cricket Council's Hall of Fame here.
Gavaskar was presented the Hall of Fame cap by another former India captain Kapil Dev, in the presence of Haroon Lorgat, ICC chief executive, at a function held at the residence of Ajay Sethi, the chairman of the Channel 2 Group Corporation, on Wednesday night.
"This award, coming from the body that runs the game, is a tremendous honour as [the] ICC is also the custodian of the game," Gavaskar told Gulf News.
"It makes you feel that all the effort you put in has been worthwhile. At the end of the day it is a select sort of body that selects you into the Hall of Fame so, therefore, you certainly feel fulfilled, you also feel humbled by the fact that so many of your peers feel you are good enough."
The function was attended by former Pakistan cricketers Waqar Younis, Rameez Raja and Aamir Sohail, Indian Ambassador M.K. Lokesh, Indian Consul-General Sanjay Verma and other dignitaries.
When asked how he compares this accolade with the many awards he has received Gavaskar said: "It is a tremendous honour. The biggest honour really was to be in the first batch of 55, but as Lorgat said, it somehow got delayed for some reason or the other. So they have given it to me nearly three years down the road."
However, Gavaskar feels that ICC awards and the ICC Hall of Fame should be independent of any association.
"I have one observation to make about this. I just hope it is not taken in the wrong spirit. I believe that the ICC awards and ICC Hall of Fame should be purely ICC and not in association with a players' body," he said.
Players' interests
"I have nothing against the Federation of International Cricketers' Association [FICA], which is doing [its] job as far as players' interests are concerned and player interests need to be protected. Fifa also has an award but it is solely a Fifa award and is not in association with their football players' association," he said. "Even the tennis awards are not in association with the tennis players' association. Similarly, ICC should have their own award."
Elaborating on why such awards should be independent, Gavaskar said: "My simple reason for it is that nobody should feel that the players' association has put pressure to include somebody. Only if you do this it will become completely an independent award."
"I hope the ICC in future will be able to have its own independent Hall of Fame and other independent awards. I have also received awards either from FICA or from [the] Professional Cricketers Association (PCA) of England and have been inducted into their Hall of Fame, so I have got nothing against them."
