LAHORE, 18 May — Salahuddin Ahmad ‘Sallu’, a former chairman of the Pakistan selection committee, was honored by the Lahore City Cricket Association at a glittering function here recently. Sallu, a former Test all-rounder, has the unique distinction of being a Test selector nine times, the last stint as chairman in 1999-2000.
At the ornate hall of the Pearl Continental Hotel here, speaker after speaker praised Sallu’s devotion and dedication to the cause of cricket. The event was marked by the presence of a galaxy of sporting stars, many of them coming from Karachi to attend the function.
LCCA President A.H. Rokhri welcomed the guests and enumerated the achievements of Sallu. “Though Sallu is from Karachi, his services to the game have been for the entire country and the LCCA decided to record its appreciation of all that Sallu has done,” Rokhri said.
The chief guest of the evening, Lt. Gen. Tauqir Zia, president of the Pakistan Cricket Board, said the LCCA was setting a good precedent by honoring Sallu and hoped that more senior players will be honored in future at similar functions.
Giving details of statistics of Sallu’s performances in Tests and in first class cricket, Gen. Zia said the selectors were perhaps unfair to Sallu. “He hardly played any Tests but in first class cricket, he has scored 17 centuries and scored over 5,000 runs. He definitely deserved to be given more chance at the Test level,” he added.
Karachi City Cricket Association President Munir Hussain, a veteran cricket administrator and commentator, spoke of his long association with Sallu and praised his integrity and sincerity.
Compere Mirza Iqbal Baig, a popular commentator who conducted the proceedings efficiently, asked Sallu of his experiences as a cricketer and selector.
Sallu’s witty answers, punctuated with fun and humor and accompanied by apt couplets in Urdu, had the audience in splits.
Anwar Maqsood, the legendary TV and theater personality, called to the stage some of the sportsmen present and interviewed them in his inimitable style.
Earlier, he recited a poem entitled “Twinkle twinkle five star” which was immensely appreciated by the audience for its content, humor and satire.
Squash legend Jahangir Khan, hockey Olympian Islahuddin, cricketers Moin Khan, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Abdul Qadir, Iqbal Qasim and Shafqat Rana were also present at the function.
Dawn Editor Saleem Aasmi, Sports Editor Rehan Siddiqui, Washington Post correspondent Kamran Khan who is a close friend of Sallu and several other leading journalists also attended the function.
Sallu also thanked sponsors ARY Gold whose Haji Muhammad Iqbal was present.
Famous pop singer Jamshed Junaid, best known for his “Dil dil Pakistan”, entertained the audience with his songs. The function concluded at midnight.
