Gautam Bhimani, Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Chappell, Pommie Mbangwa, Harsha Bhogle and Mike Haysman strike a pose in Sharbari Datta creations

The much-touted inaugural edition of Champions League Twenty20 may have failed to grab eyeballs, but there was one good reason for Calcuttans to tune into the League Stage games last weekend. A design doyen from town was dressing 11 cricket commentators for a Diwali special.

Sharbari Datta — who has outfitted everyone from Al Gore to Abhishek Bachchan — added 11 more feathers to her client cap in one go.

“They (ESPN-STAR Sports and the BCCI) called me a week ago to do this for the tournament that is being held in Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad,” said an excited Sharbari. That meant a real time crunch, but the design veteran managed just fine. The resulting collection of kantha kurtas, uttariyas and churidars was a mix of pieces from her existing collection and some new creations, all originals. “I am told they have liked it a lot and were very excited,” she smiled.

Sharbari Datta

While some like the dapper Ravi Shastri had put in a request for a black number, for Little Master Sunil Gavaskar, Sharbari knew exactly what to design. “I like his personality so much… Once when he came to meet me, he shook hands with my grandson and introduced himself as Sachin Tendulkar — such is his sense of humour! Since he has bought clothes from me before, I gave him a colour that I know he doesn’t have,” she said.

Gavaskar, however, is not the only sporting star to have worn her designs before. “It is a long list,” she said. Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar, Imran Khan, Shoaib Akhtar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Syed Kirmani, Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Leander Paes… Phew!