Srikkanth, Anjum to get CK Nayudu Lifetime Awards

Former India women’s captain Anjum Chopra is the co-recipient of the lifetime achievement award for the year 2019.

The BCCI Annual Award function will be held in Mumbai on January 12 ahead of the first ODI against Australia on January 14.

“Srikkanth and Anjum will be conferred with the Lifetime Achievement award for their contributions to Indian cricket. Everyone in BCCI feels that they are perfect choices for the award,” a BCCI source said on condition of anonymity.

Srikkanth, inarguably, is one of the biggest names to have come out of Tamil Nadu cricket stable apart from another former India skipper S Venkataraghavan and Ravichandran Ashwin. He represented India between 1981 and 1992.

The 60-year-old Srikkanth played 43 Tests, scoring 2062 runs with two hundreds and 12 half-centuries.

However, it was ODI cricket where he was a trailblazer, way ahead of his time hitting those audacious hook shots off fast bowlers without wearing a helmet.

His crowning glory certainly was the top score of 38 in the Prudential World Cup final in 1983 against a fearsome West Indies attack comprising Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Andy Roberts and Michael Holding.

He also scored a half-century against Pakistan in the Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket final in 1985.

Srikkanth was appointed captain in 1989 for a tough tour of Pakistan where Sachin Tendulkar made his international debut.

However, after a drawn series, he was removed from captaincy as it is believed that a heavyweight BCCI official fromthe all-powerful Mumbai lobby went by feedback on his captaincy from neutral umpire John Hampshire.