A friendship of 69 yrs: NZ High Commissioner recalls the first match between Team India & Kiwis in 1950
Joanna Kempkers also looked back at the 2015 World Cup when the Black Caps were runners-up.
Cricket as a tool in modern-day diplomacy
“Sports has the ability to reinforce people-to-people links and draw countries closer together. Our sportspersons are ambassadors in their own right. They represent the culture and values of the country they come from, so sports can be an effective diplomatic tool in international relations. New Zealand and India played their first Test match in the mid-1950s. Since then, we have been regular sporting rivals on the cricket pitch, and that has only strengthened the longstanding friendship between the two countries.”
Favourite World Cup memory
“We were the proud hosts of the previous edition of the World Cup along with Australia in 2015. Everyone will agree that our collective best moment was when New Zealand made it to the finals, facing Australia in front of a crowd of 90,000 cricket fans. It was the closest we came to the World Cup, and a feat we’re hoping to repeat. Being the hosts and the runners-up was a fantastic feeling.”
Favourite cricket memorabilia
“The Black Caps dropped in at the New Zealand High Commission in 2016. We naturally made the most of their visit by getting them to autograph cricket balls. I am yet to get my hands on any World Cup memorabilia.”
'Prince of Kolkata' and 'God of off-side' are just phrases that try to define the legend that Sourav Ganguly is. Fondly known as 'Dada', Ganguly is considered as one of the greatest captains in the history of Indian cricket.
An incredibly-gifted player, Ganguly's 16-year cricketing career boasts of 311 ODIs where he scored 11,363 runs. The man who stands as the third-highest run-scorer for India in ODIs, has 22 centuries and 72 half-centuries in his name, in the limited-overs format.
The former skipper, who hung his boots from the game in 2008, has groomed several of India's finest players including Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag.
After quitting the game 11 years ago, Dada went on to make his mark in other fields of life. Today, as the legend of Indian cricket turns 47, here's a peek at what Dada did after retiring from all forms of cricket.
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