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Dubai: "UAE cricket lovers deserve to honour the 1983 World Cup heroes," said Ajay Sethi, chairman of the Channel2 Group Corporation that will stage the 'Legends of Lords' global Silver Jubilee celebrations of India's World Cup victory function at the Atlantis on October 23.
"Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi have always been keen to develop the game. Cricketers have enjoyed playing here and the fan following for the game has also been tremendous," added Sethi.
"This event will surely inspire young cricketers here as it is this team which laid the foundation of the popularity of the game around the world. The World Cup today has so much recall value purely because of the 1983 World Cup," he said.
Re-union for cricketers
"It was my meeting with Sunil Gavaskar in Mumbai that resulted in this event being held in Dubai. He invited me for the silver jubilee function at Lord's in London. That evening we decided to stage the finale in Dubai and when Gavaskar announced it in London, all the players said, 'we love Dubai'."
Sethi is confident that the felicitation function will be an evening to remember.
"We saw a lot of hype when this team was recently felicitated in India and in London. We are also keen to make it spectacular and hence decided to stage it at the new and prestigious Atlantis. It will be a great re-union for these cricketers."
Talking about the function, Sethi said: "We invited Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan [Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research] as the guest of honour as he is a keen lover and promoter of the game.
"The replica of the 1983 Prudential World Cup, studded with diamonds will be unveiled at a function in Mumbai on October 18 and it will be auctioned here and the proceeds will be distributed among the team members," he said.
The World Cup heroes will also be taken to the Al Noor School for Special Needs. "It will be an opportunity for the children to meet them and a charity auction will be held there," said Sethi.
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