Engineer brushes aside allegations of unfair advantage to India in Champions Trophy

Farokh Engineer entertains at MCC banquet with humor, praises India's spinners, predicts India's victory in Champions Trophy final.

True to his witty personality, Farokh Engineer entered the Madras Cricket Club (MCC) banquet hall, where he was being felicitated on Friday, with a wisecrack.

Arriving on his mobility scooter, the 87-year-old said to the gathering at large: “Hi, I’m Farokh, and this is my Ferrari!” Excited murmurs turned into hearty laughs.

The mood remained light-hearted for the rest of the evening as Engineer entertained the audience with his humour-laden speech. Former India off-spinner S. Venkataraghavan and Indian tennis great Ramesh Krishnan graced the occasion.

MCC member R. Mohan, Resident Editor (Chennai) - Deccan Chronicle, was the host for the evening. The event was sponsored by Epson and Kochar Homes. Epson presented the ‘Cricketing Excellence award,’ a cheque for ₹5 lakh, to Engineer.

Speaking to journalists after the event, Engineer said that India playing four spinners in ODIs is “wonderful” since it aligns with playing to the team’s “strengths.”

“Horses for courses. We are playing on turning wickets. So, I don’t blame them for taking four spinners. And we’ve got class spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Varun Chakaravarthy.

“Varun is a superb spinner. He reminds me of B. Chandrasekhar a lot. Chandrasekhar, for me, was the greatest Indian spinner, or the greatest Indian bowler there ever was. He was a match-winner,” he added.