Harsha Bhogle
His friend, master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, was there, saying that Bhogle’s ‘insight on cricket is incredible.’ Going down memory lane was Tendulkar, recalling holding a bat at the age of five, walking into a stadium at the age of 10 to see West Indies take on India in a Test match, and starting off playing for India at the age of 18, not with the aim of earning big bucks but since it was a passion.
Everything else was incidental, he added. Bhogle and Tendulkar were engaged in a lively discussion on ‘Cricket in changing times’ along with Lalit Modi who suggested there should be day-night Tests so that more people could watch the traditional format of the game and Sanjay Manjrekar who said he was a purist but loved to see the ball whacked over the boundary line.
Listening to all this to-and-fro cricket banter were the likes of former cricketer Kiran More and other sportsmen like billiards champ Michael Ferreira and former Indian hockey captains Dhanraj Pillai and Viren Rasquinha.
The packed house also included names like Nandini Sardesai, a beaming Shenaz Treasuryvala, a stubble-faced Rahul Bose, a poker-faced Cyrus Broacha and our very own Oscar winner Resul Pookutty.
