The former Indian legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev will be bestowed with the award of the new legend by Legends Club in Mumbai on Tuesday.
So far, the Legends Club honoured veteran Indian cricketers at Cricket Club of India’s C.K. Naydu Hall. On their respective birthdays, those cricketers who were awarded include Vinoo Mankad, Vijay Merchant, Sunil Gavaskar and Little Master Sachin Tendulkar.
The 53-year-old 1983 World Cup-winning skipper for India, Dev was not available on his birthday to receive the award and further to discuss varied topics of the game.
“The birthday of Kapil Dev was on 6th January and since he was not available on that day we chose to confer him on this Tuesday”, Rajan Jayakar, the honorary secretary of the Club said.
In 2003, the prominent Legends Club was formed by the former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Raj Singh Dungarpur in Mumbai.
“The committee has decided to celebrate the birthday of our legends on dates other than their birthday, as per the convenience of the legend, preferably in the same month,” he added.
Similarly, like England’s Master’s Club which was formed by cricket commentator John Arlott in the memory of late English batsman Jack Hobbs – Legends Club was formed.
“The chief guest for Tuesday’s function will be our legend Sunil Gavaskar. Since he could not attend our functions on his earlier birthdays, we have decided to present a citation to him as well”, he concluded.
Chandigarh-born Dev played 131 Tests for India in which he has bagged 443 wickets and scored 5248 at an average of 31.05. In 225 One-day Internationals, he has scored 3783 runs and claimed 223 wickets.