Johannesburg: South Africa President Jacob Zuma will be the chief guest during the one-off Twenty20 match against India in Durban on Sunday which will also mark the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Indians in the Rainbow nation.
During the sell-out game, which will also be Makhaya Ntini’s swansong international match, Zuma will honour four people – two South Africans and two Indians – for their outstanding efforts in strengthening the relationship between the two countries, Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive Gerald Majola said.
“President Zuma will be CSA’s guest of honour at the match and he, in turn, will be honouring four people for outstanding services that have furthered the relationship between South Africa and India,” Majola was quoted as saying by ‘News24’.
“President Zuma will make the awards posthumously to the late chief Albert Luthuli, former president of the African National Congress and South Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, as well as to the late Dr Yusuf Dadoo, a former anti-apartheid struggle hero and chairperson of the SA Communist Party. Members of both families will accept the awards from president Zuma at the match.
“In this way, he will also honour two prominent Indian business leaders, Mr Anand Sharma, the Indian minister of commerce and industry, and Mr M D Mallya, chairman and managing director of the Bank of Baroda,” he said.
Majola also said that during the match the CSA will also honour Ntini and India’s champion batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who created history during the series by becoming the first cricketer to score 50 centuries in Test cricket.
“CSA will also make special awards to South African cricket icon, Makhaya Ntini, on this his swansong from international cricket, and to Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar for his outstanding and ongoing contribution to the growth of cricket worldwide,” he said.
“CSA has also invited all the members of Clive Rice’s Proteas squad that made that first historic tour to India in 1991. These players will be capped in a symbolic ceremony to be held on the field shortly before the start of the match,” Majola said.
“The match itself between South Africa and India will be played for the inaugural Krish Mackerdhuj Trophy, named after the late president of the United Cricket Board (now CSA) and a pioneer of that first tour to India,” he added.
The three-match Test series between India and South Africa ended in a 1-1 draw at Cape Town on Thursday.
PTI
