Cricket fans in Dhaka had their first glimpse of the ICC World Cup 2011 trophy, the game’s ultimate prize, when it was paraded in different parts of city on Thursday.
Hero Honda, a global partner of the ICC, hosted a series of progammes with the trophy, which arrived in Dhaka a day earlier amid tight secrecy.
However, it remained unclear to many if the trophy that arrived is genuine or a replica and the Bangladesh Cricket Board did nothing to remove the confusion.
‘It’s very heavy. So it may be the genuine one,’ joked BCB president AHM Mustafa Kamal after he lifted the trophy at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium.
‘It’s not very unusual to have the replica as it happened in the past for the other sports. When a trophy moves around the world usually only the replica takes the ride,’ Kamal told the inquisitive media.
The confusion was created after another ICC partner Reebok held a programme in India with the trophy on Wednesday, the day it arrived in Dhaka covered by wrapping paper.
Hero Honda, who organised the trip, initially informed the media of its arrival only to come up with a contradictory statement an hour later, adding fuel to the speculation.
G Sahi Hari, export manager of Hero Honda, however, claimed they brought here the original trophy and the one used in India was a replica.
The day of the trophy began with a road show starting from the premises of Hero Honda’s local distributor at Tongi. Dozens people cheered as the trophy was on its way to Rampura television centre and the office of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner. A few people jumped on the caravan that was carrying the trophy and took a snap.
It was then taken to the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium in the afternoon where the final match of the Inter Hero Honda Hunk Inter-University Cricket Tournament was taking place. The World Cup trophy was kept in an open place for more than an hour until the end of prize giving ceremony of the tournament.
Many cricket fans were overjoyed seeing the trophy and took photographs with their mobile phones. Fans hardly faced any trouble to go close to the restricted zone as there was hardly any security.
When the trophy arrived at the Dhanmondi ground people gathered to be a part in the prize giving ceremony of the inter-university cricket tournament. They came from far and away to have a look at the trophy as the security was not that tight.
‘It’s a wonderful feeling and I hope someday we will be able to make it our own,’ AHM Musataf Kamal, president of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, told reporters.
Iftekar Naeem, a student of AIUB who won the man of the match award, got the chance to touch the trophy and was elated.
‘This is the biggest day of my life and I could not believe my luck. I never thought I could come this close to the trophy,’ he said.
The trophy will go back to India today and will return on February 9. Pepsi, another ICC sponsor, will then keep the trophy in their possession for three days before handing it over to the BCB for displaying it through different programmes until February 16.
