February 2: ``If you were offered a million dollars to captain the Indian cricket side, would you accept?''Inspired by the Demi Moore-Robert Redford starrer Indecent Proposal, the question was popped to Sri Lankan cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga. ``Captain Cool'' had no problems brushing aside the bouncer.
``I think India has enough of good captains. They don't need me,'' he said, without batting an eyelid.
``Does that mean a million is not enough for you?'' pressed on a tongue-in-cheek compere Harsh Bhogle.
``If it is for the game's benefit, then not a problem...'' smiled the leader of the world champions, who had assembled at the Khar Gymkhana on Saturday with a few members of the Indian team.
But when posed a slightly tricky query on the Kumara Dharmasena-chucking issue, the portly veteran stayed unruffled. ``We never had a problem with the action of our bowlers, so we kept them on. The match referee is not in a position to decide whether a bowler is a chucker or not. In fact, even the umpirehas to be 100 per cent sure,'' he stated.
While the Lankans arrived an hour and a half late, most of the Indians turned up after the mikes had been switched off due to election restrictions. Only Sachin Tendulkar, Abey Kuruvilla, Sanjay Manjrekar and Salil Ankola came early. The rest -- Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Vinod Kambli, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Nilesh Kulkarni -- were delayed because of their Deodhar Trophy engagement at Kochi.
A lively Bhogle took great pleasure in pushing the jet-lagged Lankans into an embarrassing corner. Dharmasena was asked why he was popularly known as the night-watchman -- was it because he batted well in that position or because of his liking for the night life in the country? The red-faced off-spinner just about managed to mumble his way out.
Sanat Jayasuriya was asked the now predictable question on his marriage and the opener said he might tie the knot sometime this year.
Tendulkar said he will be happy to live upto his own expectations, when asked if the people'sexpectations weighed heavily on his mind. When asked what these were, he said, ``Let me get there and I will let you know.''
Sanjay Manjrekar put aside doubts of a career change by saying that his stint as commentator was only for one match -- the Abid Ali benefit on Tuesday -- and he had no intention of wrapping up his pads. Ankola, when asked of his new career as a television actor, said he was just trying to bowl a ``few maidens over!''
Former Mumbai off-spinner Kiran Mokashi was presented a cheque for Rs 2 lakh while the players were given momentous.
Few people knew what the function was all about. Confusion reigned as children, dressed in ill-fitting suits, jostled for autographs. A little child systematically wrote down the names off all players as directed by his father and later ran around displaying his collection, oblivious of the fact that he had Dravid's autograph under Kuruvilla's name.
The disorder affected poor Ajay Jadeja the most who arrived a little after all the cricketers had left.He was mobbed by autograph hunters, signed a few and fled the scene.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
