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[caption id="attachment_47359" align="alignnone" width="580"] India will face Bangladesh in the semi-final of ICC Champions Trophy 2017 on Thursday. File Pic[/caption] Debasis Sen, London: The Indian team took time out of their schedule, and attended an official dinner with the High Commission of India in London ahead of their semi final clash against Bangladesh on June 15 at Edgbaston. The dinner was hosted at the Long room of the Lords cricket ground. It was a great occasion as Kohli and his team got an opportunity to meet former India cricketers like Farooq Engineer and Dilip Doshi. It was a nostalgic moment as legends like Mke Brearley and Farokh Engineer, as well as past and contemporary icons such as Dilip Doshi, Monty Panesar, Andrew Strauss and Anil Kumble also attended the evdnt The event was a precursor to the Cricket@IndiaUK exhibition at the Nehru Centre here as part of the UK-India Year of Culture 2017. Curated by the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, it narrates the hoary history of Indian cricket since the early twentieth century. A copy of a report of the first ever test match between India and England played on June 26, 1932, was displayed. Mike Brearley, one of the most successful England captains, recalled playing against India in the 1970s and called the legendary leg spinner, B S Chandrasekhar, who was the scourge of England batsmen during the 1971 tour, “a great bowler”. Farooq Engineer paid tributes to the visiting team, and said: “This is perhaps the best Indian side ever”. Indian high commissioner YK Sinha recalled the long cricketing ties between the two countries, and hoped India and England meet in the ongoing Champions Trophy final: “And may the best team win." A confident Kohli acknowledged the hope among many for such a line-up in the final, but said the team was ready to take on any adversary: “It doesn’t matter who we play against, we are ready”. An illustrated book titled ‘Cricket Connects: India-England Cricket Relations’ has been published along with the exhibition, tracing the various aspects of the game in India over history, including India’s baptism in international cricket, coming of age, and exploits in the World Cup. Also in attendance were BCCI acting president CK Khanna, Rajiv Shukla and BCCI CEO Rahul Johri. The cricketers were accompanied with their wives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYXlSYFM-Pw