SMC fetes cricketer Richa Ghosh , hockey player Chhetri

PARAG BISWAS, SNS, 22 APRIL 2023 : Faced with tremendous criticism for his dismal performance both with the bat and as a skipper in 1992, a visibly upset former Indian cricket captain Md Azharuddin had said in reply to a volley of questions during a press meet: "I will not say anything. My bat will do the talking."

Thereafter, Azharuddin achieved a series of success in his career and became the first Indian cricket captain to lead his team to victory in 90 ODIs, the highest until surpassed by MS Dhoni on September 2 in 2014. He also won 14 test matches as captain, which was a record until it was beaten by Sourav Ganguly, who has 21 test match wins to his name.

Taking a leaf from Azzu Bhai's memorable decision to remain tight -lipped and let her performance say it all, the Indian women's cricket team member from Siliguri, Richa Ghosh, who has done north Bengal proud by becoming the first women cricketer from the region to make it to the national squad, refused to say anything during a ceremony at the Dinabandhu Mancha in Siliguri today, in which she was felicitated by the Siliguri Municipal Corporation along with former Indian hockey captain, Bharat Chhettri.

The mayor of Siliguri, Gautam Deb, speaking on her behalf said that though Richa had been very successful at the international level during the recent years and had a lot to share, she told him before the start of the programme that she would prefer not to say anything and let her bat do the talking in the coming years. The mayor congratulated the 19 year-old cricketer for both her success and her decision and hoped she would become one of the greatest woman cricketers of India.

Chhettri, who agreed with the mayor, likened Richa to MS Dhoni and hoped that the Siliguri girl would one day become as successful as the Ranchi lad. "Richa has a striking similarity with Dhoni. Both are wicket-keeper batters. I am almost sure that like MSD, Richa would one day become the captain of the Indian women's cricket team and lead India to a series of success and make us all very proud and happy. I would request the parents and guardians in our region to emulate the example set by Richa's parents and help, support and encourage their children to excel in whichever field they wish to make their mark in life," said the 41-yearold Kalimpong born former goalkeeper of the Indian hockey team. 

Bharat and Richa were honoured with uttariya, memento, citation and flower bouquets by the mayor, while the SMC chairman, Pratul Chakraborty, deputy mayor Ranjan Sarkar, mayor-in-council (sports) Dilip Barman and the SMC commissioner, Sonam Wangdi Bhutia, handed over a wrist watch, travel bag, flower pot and sweet packets respectively to the two. Over 50 different organizations of Siliguri also felicitated Bharat and Richa with mementoes and attractive gifts on the occasion.