BCCI can save Anshu’s life!

Aunshuman Gaekwad during his book launch at CCI last year

BCCI announces R125-crore reward to T20 World Cup-winning team." I couldn't have missed this headline-making news as Sunday evening drew to a close.
I was chuffed because the players deserve every rupee of it. I mean, let's just not look at the final in Barbados. Remember, the players had just finished a hectic, tiresome IPL-17 and then undertook their World Cup challenge. Sure, some players whose franchises hadn't qualified for the IPL Playoffs reached America earlier than others. But it's not easy to recover from an IPL season.

Great show by Rohit & Co

They met their challenges on the tough American pitches and landed in the West Indies unscathed. That's how they were till the last ball was bowled in Saturday's final. What a fabulous performance they dished out. What steel they showed in a perfect example of a team making its own luck!

We felt there were far too many spinners picked in the squad. The team lacked a gun reserve batsman. But in the end, Rohit Sharma and his troops played like true champions, the kind of victors who deserve to rake in the moolah.

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2024 | Hardik Pandya: The man who stayed under the headlines!

The BCCI has walked the talk with this humungous cash reward. It's unprecedented but not undeserving from the players point of view. A Board can have money power and yet not share the pie with its players. Here, BCCI is putting out the best spread for the people who have made their country so very proud.

The Board is well known for helping its former players through assignments, one-time payments, lifetime awards entailing cash rewards. Medical help too. I visited
London in May for a function and happened to catch up with my former India and West Zone teammate Aunshuman Gaekwad. He was in hospital fighting blood cancer. Anshu told me that he needs funds for his treatment. Soon, Dilip Vengsarkar and me spoke to BCCI treasurer Ashish Shelar. In fact, our calls were made to Ashish Shelar after seeing Anshu at King's College Hospital in London.

On priority, please

Ashish Shelar instantly said he would look into ours and other former cricketers' request for funds. I'm sure he will facilitate this and, at the risk of sounding macabre, save Anshu's life. Any cricketer from any country should be helped by his Board, but Anshu's case must be taken up on priority and treated as paramount.

He coached India in another era, but the current players have been inspired by the cricketers he coached during his successful stint. I'm no stats man, but I think
Sachin Tendulkar was most successful during Anshu's term. Not for a moment I'm suggesting that all those runs came from Anshu's blade, but he was there when Sachin needed all the moral support to play his natural game and that was, to blast away. He was also a national selector in the 1990s and currently the president of the Indian Cricketers' Association.

Gallant Gaekwad

And how can we forget Anshu's bravado as a batsman. One only has to refer to the events that unfolded in the Kingston Test against the West Indies in 1976, when the India camp resembled a casualty ward.

If not fully, BCCI secretary Jay Shah has played a big role in this reward to our T20 World Cup champions. His father Amit Shah was president when Anshu was coach of Gujarat. I plead that this case be considered.

Rahul Dravid, India's outgoing coach, played under coach Anshu. Knowing Rahul, he too will be moved to do something in his own way to ease Anshu's pain. India is rejoicing at the moment. The country deserves to. It's also a time to reflect and do our best to look after players of a previous generation.

The BCCI to its credit has stepped out of its crease as it were to help their players. One big step for Anshu will send his worries and ill health out of
the ground as it were.