Jai Kumar Nath Shah, the former president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), was felicitated by Gairidhara Club on Monday as he became the first Nepali to receive the honorary life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
Shah, 78, was given the rare honor by the world’s one of the oldest cricket club based at the famous Lords’ Cricket Ground, London, for his contribution to cricket. MCC awarded honorary life membership to very few personalities and the current list of such members include Sir Garfield Sobers, Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Botham, Henry Olonga, Andy Flower, Hashan Tilakratne, Dickie Bird, David Shepherd and Alec Stewart.
Shah, who served as CAN president for four decades, was also honored by life-time achievement award by International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2004 when the ICC Development Award was initiated.
CAN’s founding member Sarada Bhakta Pant handed over the letter of felicitation to Shah who speaking on the occasion became nostalgic seeing old friends. “I went to Lords for the first time in 1949, and since then MCC, for me, had been a home of cricket,” Shah said.
“I always considered myself a humble servant of cricket, and I will remain so until my last breath,” Shah, who was relieved out of CAN in 2006, said. Also present on the occasion were CAN president Binay Raj Pandey, who praised Shah for his contribution to cricket, CAN officials and club members.