The past, the present and the future rubbed shoulders with each other, thousands of Test wickets and hundreds of Test tons coming together to inspire a bold new generation that provided the perfect Platinum Jubilee gift with the Twenty20 World Cup triumph in South Africa last month.

On show was humility and great appreciation of each other by legends such as Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, the spinning trio of Bishan Singh Bedi, EAS Prasanna and BS Chandrashekar, Chandu Borde and Ajit Wadekar, and the massive three of Indian cricket — Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly. The current lot was taken through a journey down memory lane. If the deeds of the past masters don’t inspire this generation and the ones to follow, nothing else will, really.

The likes of Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, S Sreesanth and Dinesh Kaarthick ought to have felt humbled and honoured to be in such elite company. With international brand ambassador Adam Gilchrist in attendance, Castrol celebrated the tenth anniversary of its annual cricketing awards function by rolling back the years, bringing champions together and sparking wet eyes and lumpy throats.

It was fascinating to listen to Borde talk about having to face ‘Hally’ (Wes Hall) and ‘Gilly’ (Ray Gilchrist) from no more than 17 yards — those were the days of the back foot no-ball rule — without a helmet. “We often used to lose the Test in the dressing room,” he said to great laughter. It was no laughing matter, though.

Gavaskar firmly refuted Harsha Bhogle’s suggestion that he was the one that showed the world that Indians could play fast bowling. “That’s not fair on people who have played the game before me, and who had done exceedingly well. Maybe they didn’t have the support that I had, so people’s perceptions are what they are. But I definitely wasn’t the first person to show that we could play fast bowling with aplomb.”

Talk then moved to the number of bats cricketers carry with them these days. “When I made by debut as Test opener,” Contractor said, “my bat broke at nets and I had to play with a borrowed bat in the Test because I had only one bat.” Bhogle couldn’t help himself. How many bats do you carry, he asked Ganguly. “The problem is that if I carry only one bat and it breaks during practice, I will be accused of lack of commitment!” the Kolkatan said, bringing the house down.

Castrol honoured players of various eras, awardees ranging from Col CK Nayudu to Tendulkar and Dravid, felicitated all Indian Test captains in attendance, gave Ganguly a special award for being India’s most successful Test captain, and have introduced a Woman Cricketer of the Year award from next year, an announcement made by the ICC Woman Cricketer of the Year, Jhulan Goswami. It was a night to cherish and treasure, to celebrate and nurture. And to use as an inspiration in the remaining games against Australia, hopefully.

THE AWARDS

Cricketer of the era:

*1932-1947: Col CK Nayudu (received by daughter Chandra).
*1947-1961: Vinoo Mankad (received by son Atul)
*1961-1971: Tiger Pataudi
*1971-1981: Sunil Gavaskar
*1981-1997: Kapil Dev
*1997-2006: Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
*Captains honoured: Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Ajit Wadekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Gundappa Viswanath, Col CK Nayudu, Vinoo Mankad, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid.