He arrived in Delhi on Saturday, along with the SUI Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd, but has remained surprisingly low-key since. Waqar Nisar — son of Mohammad Nissar — watched Virat Kohli and Aakash Chopra hammer the opposition fast bowlers on a lifeless Ferozeshah Kotla track, battling for a trophy named after his father.

Waqar, incidentally, works as chief information officer in the IT department for Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited — the team who look favourite to clinch the title this year. “But I have not come here on behalf of my company, I have come here to witness the match held in honour of my father,” he says.

Waqar has presented the trophy to the winners on both occasions since its inception. “I was in Dharamsala when it first took place in 2006 and then in Karachi last year. I haven’t missed a day’s play till now, and I am eager to complete my hat-trick of presentations here,” he jokes.

In case you are wondering, as we were, about the extra ‘s’ in the father’s name, there’s a story behind that as well. “Actually, my father used only one ‘s’ in his name, but the English always used to refer him as Nissar. Later on, he adopted it and the name stuck,” he says.

This isn’t the first tournament to be played for a trophy named after Mohd Nissar either, he points out. “An inter-railway tournament used to be played in Pakistan for the Mohammad Nissar Trophy between 1963-68,” he said. “I am happy that the two boards have made an effort, especially Raj Singh Dungarpur, to reassert the historical importance of my father in India and Pakistan.

... contd.