JOHANNESBURG: Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has been invited to attend the inauguration of the new non-racial United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) here.
‘The invitation has been sent through the Indian High Commission in Harare UCBSA managing director Dr Ali Bacher said.
Dr Bacher said Gary Sobers had also been invited and he had accepted the invitation.
“It will be an honor for us to have Gavaskar here for our historic event. With sobers already accepting the invitation if Gavaskar also attends the function it would be a major inspiration to our deprived and under-privileged community” the UCBSA chief said
He said they extended the invitation to Gavaskar through the High Commission “because we want to go about our work through the front door and correctly.”
Dr Bacher hoped that with the African National Congress (ANC) also supporting the new board there would not be any objections to Gavaskar to attending the inaugural function and banquet.
Dr Bacher said the UCBSA liked India to be the first country to visit South Africa after it was re-accepted into International Cricket Conference (ICC).
India docs not only have historic cultural and religious links with a significant percentage of our population but it has been the first country to offer official recognition to the ANC and take up the case of the oppressed in South Africa” he said.
“We would like to honor India by having its cricketers visit us as the first official Test players in the post-apartheid era” Dr Bacher said.
He said once countries like India and the West Indies start playing official Tests against South Africa it would be a tremendous boost for the up-and-coming cricketers of all races especially the under-privileged sections of society.
The UCBSA chief said: “Within the next decade we hope that a South African Test team will represent the entire population group strictly on merit.”
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