Former British Prime Minister John Major and ex-Pakistan cricket captain Intikhab Alam were conferred honorary life membership of the Cricket Club of India at a function in Mumbai on Friday.
Major, who received the honour from former Board of Control for Cricket in India president N K P Salve, said he "will cherish it forever".
"I am honoured to be given the honour and to be amidst so many greats of the game," Major said.
Several past Indian cricketers and administrators were also present at the function.
"I remember the Vijay Hazare-led Indian cricket team's visit to England in 1952 and especially the Lord's Test in which Vinoo Mankad put up such a great performance [with both bat and ball]", Major told the gathering.
"I have seen the hundreds and 200s scored by Polly Umrigar and Sunil Gavaskar [both of whom were present at the function] against England. English crowds love Indian cricketers as they are real entertainers. Your spinners add charm to the game," the former British PM added.
Recalling the feats of great spinners from India and the subcontinent, Major said the tradition continues even now, with only Australia's Shane Warne the odd celebrated spinner not belonging to this part of the globe.
Eulogizing the immense contribution to the game by Indians, including Ranjitsinhji who invented the leg glance and played for England in Tests, Major said, "It is the only game which has helped seal the Commonwealth and see it through a difficult period."
Gavaskar, who presented Major with the Millennium Cricket Eleven Plate, 2000, in his inimitable humor, wondered whether Major would be able to get through the British Customs with the excessive baggage.
The cricket legend said the game is followed with intense interest by statesmen and politicians like Major, the president of the Surrey County Cricket Club, and current Australian PM John Howard.
"We Indians have fond memories of the Oval cricket ground (owned by Surrey). It was at the Oval in 1971 that we won our first Test in England under the captaincy of Ajit Wadekar. It was at the same ground that Sachin Tendulkar played his 100th Test," Gavaskar said.
CCI president and former BCCI chief Raj Singh Dungarpur presented Major with the plate brought out by CCI on the occasion of Tendulkar's 100th Test match appearance at the Oval in 2002.
Intikhab, now the coach of the Punjab Ranji Trophy squad, also expressed happiness at being conferred life membership of CCI, which was presented to him by Major for whose county, Surrey, he played cricket for 13 years.
"I remember my visit to the Brabourne stadium with the Pakistan team in 1961, but I was not included in the playing eleven in the Test. But I played in the Lala Amarnath benefit tie here on the same tour and got three wickets and made 99," the former Pakistan all-rounder said.
"I recall that during my innings [former Indian] wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer kept telling me to advance down the wicket against Vinoo Mankad, saying there was no turn. I heeded to his call and was stumped," recalled Intikhab, talking about how he was deceived by the flamboyant ex-Indian stumper into throwing his wicket away in the exhibition match.
"In my days as Pakistan captain I used to visit the rival team's dressing room with a few senior team members and have a chat with the rival captain and others. This developed a life-long friendship. Sadly, these things are absent in modern day cricket," the former leg spinner added.
