It was a proud moment for Sourav Ganguly at a function held in Karachi on Friday June 27, where he was presented with the inaugural Castrol Asian Cricketer of the Year award for the year 2007 as well as the overall award for batting. But the popular Bengali cricketer chose to skip it in order to be with his ailing father in London. These awards were instead picked by his wife Dona Ganguly, whereas Sourav himself voiced his gratitude at ‘being honored to win the award’ through a video screened at the event. The day’s lustre gained a sepia tinge as the Pakistan Lifetime Achievement award was presented to the original little master Hanif Mohammad.

Apart from Sourav Ganguly, there were other Indian cricketers too in the list of the Castrol Asian Cricketers’ awards. The universal favorite Sachin Tendulkar was hailed as the best ODI batsman, whereas Gautam Gambhir was upheld as the best Twenty20 batsman. A special award was presented to Yuvraj Singh for his six sixers off a Stuart Broad over in the ICC World Twenty20 previous year. Sachin Tendulkar too was unable to attend the function. Most of the other awards were clichéd by the Sri Lankan cricket players.