Kolkata: Not Arun Lal, former India opener and Bengal captain Gopal Bose is to be felicitated with CAB Lifetime achievement award this year. Gopal Bose is overwhelmed after hearing the news of receiving such an honour from CAB.
He said, “I am overwhelmed with joy and happiness with the respect CAB is giving me. I have played for Bengal from my younger days and to receive such a respect from an organisation like CAB it feels great.”
Regarding Sourav Ganguly as President of CAB, Gopal Bose said, “For the last 20-30 years, the way is being run, it will be difficult for Sourav to change every thing overnight. But the way things are being possessed for the last one year or so, good results can be expected. One thing is clear that Sourav is not here to waste any time but he wants to do something for CAB and Bengal cricket and gradually we are seeing those changes.”
In the early 70s, Gopal Bose was one of the prime contenders for the post of Sunil Gavaskar’s opening partner. The be-spectacled Bengal batsman was known for his intense concentration and his ability to play a long innings. A marathon knock of 170 for Rest of India in the Irani Trophy match against Bombay in 1973-74 brought him closer to national selection. Picked for the tour of Ceylon later that season, Bose did commendably. In the first `Test’ he got a hundred and shared a 194-run opening partnership with Gavaskar.
Not unexpectedly, he was selected for the tour of England in 1974. He started with a half century in the opening game but then found runs hard to come by and scored only 326 runs (20.37) in first class matches. He could not find a place in the Test side but played in the second one day international at the Oval where he scored 13 and bowled a full quota of 11 overs with his off breaks and picked up the wicket of David Lloyd.
Back home, India were still struggling to find a suitable opening pair with Gavaskar injured during the 1974-75 series against West Indies and for the fourth Test at Madras, Bose was brought into the squad of 14. It seemed sure that he would open but surprisingly the selectors left him out of the playing eleven and he was never considered thereafter. He however continued to represent Bengal with much success in the Ranji Trophy.
Now, the question is few days back through media, a top CAB official announced Arun Lal’s name as the candidate for receiving CAB Lifetime achievement award. But today eyebrows raised when Gopal Bose’s name was announced.
No top officials from CAB is speaking clearly on this issue. Actually, the decision on CAB’s lifetime achievement award is taken by the trustee board. Trustee board member, Goutam Dasgupta said on this issue, “The lifetime award is awarded as per seniority. Apart from Gopal Bose, Arun Lal, Sambaran Banerjee and Palash Nandy’s name were also discussed, but as per seniority Gopal Bose deserves this respect.”
When trustee board has the right to take this decision, then how come a top official officially announced Arun Lal’s name to the media. On this issue, Goutam Dasgupta was straight forward in his reply. He said, “It’s unfortunate that someone over trammed us and took some other’s name in front of the media. This should be immediately ruled off.”
Arun Lal, who got cured from cancer few days back said on the lifetime award issue, “I heard from the media that I will be given the award but now I hear from you all only that Gopal Bose will be awarded with the Lifetime award. I have nothing to say. But, I would only like to say that I did not receive any official message from CAB.”