Cricket and Bollywood Stars Sparkle The
8th Annual CEAT International Cricket Rating Awards



Sachin, Harbhajan, Sehwag, Ponting win awards

Mumbai, October 31, 2003 – The 8th International Ceat Cricket Rating Awards ceremony, held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, 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.

The razzmatazz of this evening will be presented on MAX on Saturday, November 23, 2003 at 9 p.m.

The CEAT International Cricket Rating, now into its ninth year, comprises a Player rating and a Team rating. Performances of cricketers and cricket teams in Tests and one-day internationals from 1st may to 30th April are tracked and rated through a comprehensive and easy to understand points system. The player and team that top the rating are declared the CEAT International Cricketer of the Year and the CEAT International Team of the Year respectively.

Previous winners of the CEAT International Cricketer of the Year Award are Brian Lara (1995-96), Venkatesh Prasad (1996-97), Sanath Jayasuriya (1997-98), Jacques Kallis (1998-99), Sourav Ganguly (1999-00) and Muttiah Muralitharan (2000-01 and 2001-02). The CEAT International Team of the Year Award has been won by Pakistan (1996-97), Australia (1997-98, 1999-00 and 2001-02) and South Africa (1998-99 and 2000-01).