THE LEGACY OF THE AMARNATHS

IN NOVEMBER 2017 the management committee of the Delhi Cricket Association named the eastern stand of the Feroze Shah Kotla ground the Mohinder Amarnath stand.

The honour to the 1983 Man of the Match of the Cricket World Cup came nearly three decades after he had created a media blitz by declaring the cricket selection board in India "a bunch of jokers!" "I had already tasted adulation after the famous victory in Trinidad in 1976 and the World Cup reception in Bombay in 1983; however, when I entered Bangalore airport, I was no less than a superstar!" writes Mohinder Amarnath in his memoir, Fearless, as he reflects on the public response to his 1988 Press conference after being dropped from the team selected to play the Bangalore test match.

The memoir is written with younger brother and author, commentator and cricket analyst Rajender Amarnath."

A Prophesy

"At that moment," the author goes on to say, "I had a flashback of another prophesy of the astrologer Ramesh Chandra. He had predicted that I would become more famous with my words than with my bat!" That prophesy of the family astrologer would have to subsume the stellar performance of a batsman across two decades spanning 1969 to 1989, comprising 4,378 test runs.

It would have to supersede the glory of him uplifting the stature of developing India on an international sporting ground, and trouncing the cricketing veterans of the day.

World Cup

The day 25 June, 1983, when India defeated West Indies at Lords in England, was a day of jubilation across the nation and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the following day a public holiday.