The Hindu : Sport : Prasanna gets lifetime achievement award

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Saturday, Sep 30, 2006
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Prasanna gets lifetime achievement award

Special Correspondent

ON A HAPPY WICKET: Castrol Lifetime Achievement Award winner Erapalli Prasanna and Special Award winner Jhulan Goswami are all smiles in Mumbai on Friday. — PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE

MUMBAI: Spin maestro Erapalli Prasanna received the Castrol Lifetime Achievement award and a cheque of Rs. 5 lakh from former captain Ajit Wadekar at a glittering function here on Friday.

Prasanna, 66, while thanking Castrol's initiative to honour the game's finest, narrated an early episode in his career, wherein the then Maharajah of Mysore Jayachamaraja Odeyar had to intervene in 1962 to make sure that he went to the West Indies under the captaincy of Nari Contractor.

"My father felt I was playing cricket for fun and feared I may not be able to complete my engineering degree if I went to the West Indies," he said.

"I did not expect to be chosen for the West Indies tour. I was the first Kannadiga to be chosen for the Indian team and hence the Maharaja of Mysore told my father (he was employed as Director of the State Medical Commission) that it was too good an opportunity to be missed," he said.

Meanwhile, India U-19 captain Piyush Chawla was declared the Castrol Indian Junior Cricketer of the Year. India U-19 coach Lalchand Rajput received Rs. 50,000 and the trophy on behalf of Chawla from former National Junior Selection Committee chairman Praveen Amre.

Fast bowler Jhulan Goswami received a cheque of Rs. 1 lakh for her outstanding show during the recent tour of England.

Former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Nari Contractor, Hanumant Singh, R.G. Nadkarni, Inderjitsinhji, Karsan Ghavri, Ghulam Parkar, Kenia Jayantilal among others graced the awards function.

Naveen Kshatriya, Managing Director, Castrol India Limited, said the awards for senior cricketers would be given during the South Africa series.

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