Captain 1983 World Cup
It is not easy for me to write on Syed Kirmani. He has been playing since I was a youngster and did not know if I would ever even play for India. We were in a school camp in Bangalore and Kiri came to visit us children and encourage us. His was the first autograph I ever took. He wrote on my bat back then- wish you tons of runs and wickets. I am eternally grateful for that. My first tour was with kiri to east Africa before I even played for India. We were even, then part of a team though I was a nobody and he was a test player Kiri has been a big part of my career from my very first to his last test. Always a gentle, soft spoken soul on and off the field. How many of my catches he took behind the wicket, for which I owe him a large part of my success as a bowler.Here I must mention that he was given the best wicket keeper award, in our historic prudential world cup tournament of 1983. We were also batting partners for a large part, as we were number seven and eight. I loved our partnerships together. He was calm, easy and effortless to be with. He is as graceful and effortless with his family too, whenever I have seen them together. All my good wishes to him and the family always
