The inimitable Syed Kirmani is the winner of the CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award by the Board for Control for Cricket in India. For younger cricket fans who may not be aware of his exploits, Kirmani was one of the real characters of Indian cricket in the 1970s, never averse to doing something unusual on the field (as the video above demonstrates)

But Kirmani was also one of India’s finest stumpers, effecting 198 dismissals and keeping wickets very effectively to India’s famed spin quartet of Prasanna, Venkatraghavan, Chandrasekhar and Bedi. He was adjudged the best wicket-keeper in the 1983 World Cup, taking an outstanding catch in the final to dismiss West Indian batsman Faroud Bacchus.

He also had the ability to get under the skin of opponents as Dennis Lillee found out!

Sadly, one of Kirmani's best innings as a batsman was the one which never got televised – it was Kirmani who held the fort at the other end on that epic June 18, 1983 in Tunbridge Wells against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup while Kapil Dev put together his legendary 175. Kirmani may have just scored 43, but his 126-run partnership was the fulcrum on which Kapil’s epic was constructed, pulling India out of the hole it had sunk into at 17 for 5.