MUMBAI: The seventh international Ceat cricket rating awards ceremony, held on 28 January 2003 at Mumbai's Police Gymkhana grounds was a star-studded "cricketainment" affair with cr?me de la cr?me from the cricket, Bollywood, and corporates making their appearance at the event.
The grand finale of the evening was the presentation of the Ceat international cricketer of the year award to Srilankan, Muttiah Muralitharan by Ceat India vice-chairman Harsh Goenka.
The highlight of the awards was the presentation of the ICICI Lombard Ceat international cricketer of the century award to Kapil Dev, who has scored the highest Ceat cricket rating points in the last century.
During the ceremony, twelve awards were given for best performance in the game of cricket to personalities such as Roger Binny and Sharda Ugra for the Ceat best coach award and Ceat best sports media personality respectively. Bishen Singh Bedi was awarded the Ceat lifetime achievement award. The Ceat international team of the year award went to Australia.
Bollywood star Aamir Khan, Sri Lankan cricketer Murali and Ceat India vice chairman Harsh Goenka at the seventh Ceat ratings awards presentation ceremony
The audience was hysterical when the two special awards were declared - Ceat greatest influence to the game of cricket award, which was presented to Aamir Khan for the success of Lagaan and the Ceat outstanding performance as the leader of the Indian cricket team award, which was presented to Sourav Ganguly, in association with Provogue.
Some of the well-known faces that dotted the guest list were Clive Lloyd, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Ajit Wadekar, Saurav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Aamir Khan, Anil Kapoor, Tina Ambani, Sunil Shetty and Mana, Dimple Kapadia, Poonam Dhillon.
The hosts for the show were Cyrus Broacha and Malaika Arora who presented the entire show in their inimitable way.
The ceremony saw a mélange of various entertainment acts, on a spectacular set with a giant cricket ball and laser lights, by Bollywood stars which left the 5000 plus audience mesmerized.
The show started with a brilliant song and drama in which Malaika Arora, who impersonated the World Cup trophy, being chased by dancers with costumes representing the twelve participating international cricket teams.
Saif Ali Khan tried his hands on playing cricket in an entertaining act, which was followed by a scintillating performance by Shilpa Shetty, who was shown looking for her dream lover in the cricket team, Sachin. Javed Jaffrey once again made the crowd roar with laughter, in a unique rendition of a test match commentary act, presented in his inimitable style.
After all, cricket is no longer a game; it has become an entertainment soap opera called "cricktainment"!
