Flashback: 1996 World Cup Oscars

H Natarajan

The 1996 World Cup cricket had several moments that ranged from the spectacular to the ridiculous. It had its heroes and villains and it had its moments on and off the field. The nominees were aplenty, but the World Cup Oscars finally went to…

The UN Award for International Unity: To the UAE team comprising 12 foreigners.

The Carnegie Award for Winning Friends and Influencing People: To Javed Miandad for inviting Bal Thackeray to witness the World Cup final as his personal guest.

The Gone With The Wind Award: To Italian Gianfranco Lunetta for blowing away the laser show at the opening ceremony.

The Venky's Award for The Best Chicken: To Mark Taylor's team for persuading the Australian Cricket Board not to send the team to Colombo.

The Where Eagles Dare Award for Unsung Bravery: To Kenya and Zimbabwe jointly for flying to Colombo.

The Amul Award for The Best Slip Tease: To the butter-fingered English team.

The Elizabeth Taylor Award for Split Decision: To Md Azharuddin for announcing his divorce just before going to out to toss in the Gwalior match against the West Indies.

The Coca-Cola Award for The Best Unofficial Campaign: To Pepsi for stealing the thunder over Coke.

The Muhammad Ali Award for The Best Knock-out Repartee: To Arjuna Ranatunga for reacting to Shane Warne’s stare in the final by saying: ``When I bat, I don't look at eyeballs or any other balls. I look at only the cricket ball.''

The Benazir Bhutto Award for The Best TV Editing: To Pakistan TV for almost succeeding in making the viewers believe that Imran Khan did not exist when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup.

The Public Choice for The WG Grace Award for The Best Acting: Wasim Akram. Around 95% of Pakistan voted for the man they thought who missed the Bangalore match against India feigning injury.

The HKL Bhagat Award for orchestrated crowd trouble: To the Eden Garden spectators at the India-Sri Lanka semis.

The Laxmi Parvati Award for An Extra Turning Into A Hero: To Sanath Jayasuriya, who came into the World Cup with a career batting average of 19.73 and smashed everyone around to win the Most Valuable Player Of The Championship Award.

The Onida Award for The Best Envy: To Pakistanis for their reactions after India lost to Sri Lanka in the semis.

The Home Alone Award: To the Pakistan team for sneaking into their country and shutting themselves up to avoid the backlash after losing to India at Bangalore.

The Maneka Gandhi Award for Championing The Cause of Animal Rights: To the sizable contingent of Indian journalists in Pakistan who skipped several lunches and dinners for want of vegetarian food.

The Jim Corbett Award for Big Game Hunting: To the Kenyan team for shooting down the West Indies without expending a single bullet.

The BCCI Selectors Award for The Best Player-joker: To Mike Atherton for his attempt to raise a laugh by calling a Pakistani journalist buffoon in the midst of a post-match press conference.

The East India Company Award for The Best Attempt To Revive The Days of The Raj: To Ray Illingworth who insisted on addressing the British and the Indian media separately in Ahmedabad.

The Sumo Wrestlers Association Award for The Best Body: To Inzamam-ul-Haq.

The Fort Knox Award for The Most Unbelievable Robbery: To Kenya for stealing two certain points from the West Indies.

The Nike Award for Just Doing It: To the Lankan team for winning the World Cup.