The evening belonged to AC Muthiah. The function got up by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association at Chennai on Friday to felicitate its chief on his election as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India was also an occasion for a get together of players, administrators and enthusiasts of the game. They all hailed the dynamic qualities of `ACM' as he is popularly known and expressed the hope that he would go one better than his illustrious father MA Chidambaram who was the BCCI president from 1960 to 1963.

The popular industrialist and a well known figure in cricket circles as a promotor and administrator for some three decades now was the recipient of encomiums from the dozen dignatories who spoke on the occasion. Among them were former Indian captain S.Venkatraghavan, N.Ram, editor, Sportstar, film personality and journalist Cho Ramaswamy and SK Nair, chairman, BCCI finance committee. Not unexpectedly, Cho Ramaswamy was the star speaker as he held the audience spellbound with his inimitable wit and humour.

The chief guest of the evening was Rajeev Ratna Shah, the chief executive officer of Prasar Bharathi who flew in from New Delhi to preside over the function. It may be recalled that the agreement signed by Prasar Bharathi and the BCCI soon after Muthiah took over as president which gave Doordarshan the TV rights for coverage of national and international cricket in this country was not only a lucrative deal but also a far sighted move which ensured that cricket coverage would reach the far corners of the country.

Messages from cricketing personalities such as past BCCI presidents PM Rungta and Raj Singh Dungarpur, ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya and former Union Minister C.Subramaniam congratulating Muthiah were read out at the function.

In his reply Muthiah said he was touched and overwhelmed by the affection shown and the kind words spoken. ``This affection of the people is my main source of energy,'' he said. He spoke about his commitment to revitalise domestic cricket by consulting former players in this regard and about starting a medical benefit scheme for former cricketers. Stressing on the importance of physical fitness, he said that a physio being attached to every Ranji Trophy team and the setting up of a physical training centre were two agendas which were on the BCCI's priority list.

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