It was a gesture which clearly floored everyone!
For, when the 1983 World Cup winning team captain Kapil Dev preferred to cancel his scheduled visit to Indonesia today and be in the city to join his friend and former Mumbai and Hyderabad Ranji star Vijay Mohan Raj, who is celebrating the silver jubilee of Uniglobe Sameera Travels, there was joy all-round and a mad rush to get an autograph or a snap of the illustrious cricketer.
“The reason why I invited Kapil is because our group’s traits are similar to what made him an outstanding cricketer – sincerity, commitment, hard work, leadership and longevity,” Vijay said setting the tone for the select gathering.
In response, the great Indian all-rounder of yesteryears said he did not regret to skip his Indonesia trip for he was overjoyed at the fact that this friend (Vijay Mohan Raj) was successful in life after cricket. “These are times when the BCCI tells the players how to talk unlike during my playing days when we were out of the team if we talked,” he remarked in a lighter vein, leaving the audience which included BCCI vice-president N. Shivlal Yadav, former India left-arm spinner S. L. Venkatapathi Raju, former Hyderabad Ranji captain Kanwaljit Singh, in splits.
“I take pride when a cricketer, who played with passion during his primetime uncertain about his future in post-retirement life, is successful later on in life also,” Kapil said. “Somehow even I experienced this. I hated the word retirement. I kept telling myself what is this retirement talk.” Mind you, we did not have IPL but played the game with passion,” he said on a more serious note.
And, to the delight of large members of cricketing fraternity who turned up, the great cricketer of yesteryears sent the audience into laughter when he remarked: “He (Vijay) was a horrible batsman who never threw his wicket away. We always used to discuss – Yeh to marta nahin and na hi to marne deta (neither he hits the ball around nor lets the bowlers hit him).”
“Cricket is not all about scoring winning runs like Indian captain Dhoni but also about players who set up the winning moments. So, even in life the success of an individual is a reflection of the collective effort,” concluded Kapil amidst another round of applause.
