India, Oct. 19 -- Nearly a decade and a half after the iconic 'Tera kya hoga, Kaliya?' line in Sholay, Raj Singh Dungarpur reprised Gabbar Singh in real life with the most famous four words in Indian cricket - 'Kyon mian, kaptaan banoge?'

Dungarpur, then the senior selection panel boss, directed these words at Mohammad Azharuddin, not so much a rookie in international cricket as a novice at captaincy. Perplexed by the question, Azhar said something along the lines of, 'Sir, main toh kaptaan hoon'. It took the Hyderabadi, at the time the captain of the South Zone side playing in the Duleep Trophy, a little while to realise that Dungarpur was offering him the captaincy of the Indian national side.

This was in January 1990, just weeks befo...