THE 2000-01 AWARDS CEREMONY

The CEAT Cricket Rating Awards for the year 2000-01 were held in March 2002, at the Brabourne Stadium. It was a star studded affair with the crème de la crème from Bollywood, Cricket and Corporates making their appearances at the event. Some of those present were Akshay Kumar with his beautiful wife Twinkle Khanna, Milind Soman, Marc Robinson, Tina and Anil Ambani, Nina and Mukesh Ambani, Sanjay Manjrekar, Poonam Dhillon, Deepak Parekh, Malavika Sanghvi, Shobha and Dilip De, and Sunil Gavaskar among others.

The hosts for the evening were the gorgeous looking Lisa Ray along with Shekhar Suman and interspersed with the awards presentation were performances by Miss India Diya Mirza, Adnan Sami, Stereo Nation, Akshay Kumar and Bipasha Basu. A unique dance performance by model-turned actress Namrata Shirodkar and cricketer Vinod Kambli enthralled the audiences.

A special fashion fiesta was also held featuring Neeta Lulla creations. The range was modeled by Lara Dutta, Shruti Sharma, Aditi Gowitrikar, Nina Manuel, Reshmi Ghosh, Dipanita Sharma, and our very own Indian cricketers, Salil Ankola, Sameer Dighe, Nayan Mongia and Hrishikesh Kanitkar. It was choreographed by Sangeeta Chopra.

Another highlight of the evening was a quiz organized by Ian Chappell to select the Most Knowledgeable Cricketer of the Year. Sourish Sen from Varanasi won this award against four other contenders. Sourish won a trophy and he also had the pleasure of dinning with Muttiah Muralitharan, the CEAT International Cricketer of the Year.

Sunil Gavaskar was honoured with the CEAT Lifetime Achievement Award and was presented with a painting painted by Yusuf Arrakal, an eminent Bangalore-based artist. Sachin Tendulkar won the CEAT Viewers' Choice Award, which was collected on his behalf by his brother Ajit Tendulkar. The special privilege of presenting this award went to Ms Aarti Chandiramani from Mumbai, an ardent Sachin fan who was among the contestants that selected Mr. Tendulkar as the current favourite Indian Cricketer.

The grand finale of the evening was the presentation of the CEAT Cricketer of the Year Award to Sri Lankan cricketer, Muttiah Muralitharan by Mr. Sunil Gavaskar and Mr. Harsh Goenka, Vice Chairman, CEAT Ltd.

The evening came to a close with the flags of all the cricketing nations been carried across the stage along with a dazzling display of fireworks.

The following awards were given during the function -

• Muttiah Muralitharan - CCR International Cricketer of the Year - Trophy and cheque for Rs. 5 lacs.
  
  
• South Africa - CCR International Team of the Year - Trophy and cheque for Rs. 10 lacs.
  
  
• Marvan Atapattu - CCR International Batsman of the Year - Trophy and cheque for Rs. 1 lac.
  
  
• Muttiah Muralitharan - CCR International Bowler of the Year - Trophy
  
  
• Mark Waugh - CCR International Fielder of the Year - Trophy.
  
  
• Sachin Tendulkar - Viewers' Choice Award - Life-size portrait.
  
  
• Sunil Gavaskar - Lifetime Achievement Award - Life-size portrait.
  
  
• S. Venkataraghvan - Best Umpire Award - Trophy.
  
  
• Ayaz Memon - Best Journalist Award - Trophy.
  
  
• B. S. Sandhu - Best Coach Award - Trophy.
  
  
• Harsha Bhogle - Best Commentator Award - Trophy.
  
  
• VVS Laxman - Match-winning performance of the year - Trophy and cheque for Rs.1 lac.
  
  
• Sir Don Bradman - The Colossus