| 8th
Annual CEAT International Cricket Rating Awards 2002-03
The 8th International Ceat Cricket
Rating Awards ceremony was held at the Taj
Mahal Hotel in Mumbai on 31st October, 2003. It sparkled
the evening with a star-studded affair with crème
de la crème from the cricket, Bollywood and corporate
world making their appearance at the event. Prominent
personalities present were Maharashtra Chief Minister
Sushil Kumar Shinde, cricket greats - Sunil Gavaskar,
Ian Chappell, Allan Border, Farokh Engineer, Ajit Wadekar,
Bishen Singh Bedi and Syed Kirmani, Bollywood stars,
Jackie Shroff, Akshay Kumar, Twinkle Khanna, Diya Mirza,
and corporate big wigs Adi Godrej and Anand Mahindra.
The charming Mandira Bedi
and champion presenter Charu Sharma
– the hosts  –
brought in their world cup commentary experience to
enliven the show with anecdotes that made one smile,
laugh and, at times, think!
A mélange of entertaining acts
by top performers and Bollywood stars was presented
on a spectacular set which dawned a giant cricket ball
and was glittered by stunning laser beams.
Renowned musician Taufiq Qureshi
opened the show with his melodious musical creatin and
left the audience mesmerized. His sounds from the cricketing
world were, to describe modestly, magical.
 The
first highlight was the presentation of the CEAT
International Cricketer and Batsman
of the Year Award to Australian captain, Ricky
Ponting by Mr. Harsh Goenka,
Vice Chairman, CEAT Ltd., and Sunil Gavaskar
preceded by a sizzling performance by Bollywood sensation
Urmila Matondkar.
The CEAT Best Fielder Award
was bagged by Virender Sehwag which
was presented by ex cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar and film
star Jackie Shroff.
While the CEAT Max Best Match
Winning Performance Award went to the jodi
no. 1 Mohammed Kaif and Yuvraj
Singh, presented by Syed Kirmani, Harbhajan
Singh triumphed with the CEAT Best
Bowler Award, which was presented to him by
Hema Malini and Polly Umrigar.
The presentation of the CEAT
Best Cricketer of the World Cup to India’s
cricketing genius Sachin Tendulkar
was yet another high point of the evening and was given
by Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and
Farokh Engineer.
Mr.
Harsh Goenka also presented a huge cricket
bat to the Indian cricketers as a token of good luck
with more than 500 signatures on it for the on-going
tri-nation tournament involving India, Australia and
New Zealand.
Entertainment followed with the next
act which brought out the evolution of the great game
called cricket right from the humble beginning –
when there was no marked pitch and one’s palm
drove or pulled or hooked or cut the red cherry , even
to the boundary! Ramona, well-known VJ and model, drove
the audience through this wonderful journey.
The high point of the evening was the
special show on India’s living cricket legend
– Sunil Gavaskar – presented by another
legendary cricketer Ian Chappell. The episode was a
very pleasant tour of Gavaskar’s life and times
which will make watching of this entire show , to be
televised on Sony, imperative.
 The
audience gave a standing ovation when Captain Vijay
Hazare was honoured with the CEAT Liftetime
Achievement Award for his contribution to Indian
cricket. Bishen Singh Bedi and Shobha De were full of
pride while presenting this award.
The stage wore a golden touch the moment
ex Miss World and Bollywood heartthrob Priyanka Chopra
appeared on the scene along with the Indian Spice Girls
to celebrate the coming of age of women cricket with
musical performances on various popular tracks such
as the hugely popular “Saiyan Dil Me Ana Re..”
Vikram Sathe, popular cricket comedian
, then took the stage and the audience was left with
no choice but to break into laughter. Vikram imitated,
in this own inimitable style, great commentators such
as Tony Greig, Geoffrey Boycott and India’s one
and only Siddhu.
 The
CEAT International Team of the Year Award
went to Australia and was received
by Allan Border on behalf of the Australian Team, presented
by Ian Chappell and Akshay Kumar.
The show ended with Charu’s Angels,
a spoof on the hit movie, Charlie’s Angels, recreated
Hollywood on the stage. Mandira Bedi, Sandhya Mridul
and Gauhar Khan performed to the audience’s delight.
Click
here for the Pictorial Tour of the Awards Night...
The following awards were given during
the function -
- Ricky Ponting
- CEAT International Cricketer of the Year
- Australia
- CEAT International Team of the Year
- Ricky Ponting
- CEAT International Batsman of the Year
- Harbhajan Singh
- CEAT International Bowler of the Year
- Virender Sehwag
- CEAT International Fielder of the Year
-
Mohammed Kaif
and Yuvraj Singh
- CEAT Max Best Match Winning Performance
Award
- Sachin Tendulkar
- CEAT Best Cricketer of the World Cup
- Vijay Hazare
- CEAT Lifetime Achievement Award
Archives
|
