How ICC insulted top Indian officials after denying them free tickets for 1983 WC final

India lifted the ICC 1983 World Cup trophy in front of a capacity crowd at Lord’s, London. The image of the then captain Kapil Dev lifting the trophy at Lord’s balcony went down as one of the most significant moments in Indian cricketing folklore. India became superpowers in the sport and hosted the next ICC World Cup (in 1987), thus taking away the hosting rights from England, who previously hosted all three editions of the quadrennial event.

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1983 World Cup: How NKP Salve brought ICC World Cup to India in 1987

The late NKP Salve was the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) around the time India won the ICC 1983 World Cup. It is reported that during the 1983 final, he requested the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for extra tickets, only to be flatly refused by the English cricket authorities. Rejection aside, the disrespectful attitude of the officials was quite evident since they also refused to hand out paid tickets. The tickets were reportedly meant for Siddhartha Shankar Ray, who was the President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) at the time and also the former Chief Minister of Bengal.

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NKP Salve, who himself was a Central Minister along with his BCCI Presidency, did not take the rejection well. The refusal was considered as a direct humiliation towards India as a country by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and England Cricket officials. He then approached Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and she gave Salve the nod to go all-out in bringing the next World Cup to the country. Other top Indian cricket officials like Jagmohan Dalmiya and IS Bindra also led the charge and helped NKP Salve to move the tournament out of England.

While Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984, Rajiv Gandhi assumed the role of India’s Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi and industrialist Anil Ambani also gave their full support to NKP Salve. The fourth Cricket World Cup ended up being hosted by India in 1987 and the tournament also saw a change in sponsorship name. Prudential, sponsors of the first three editions, was replaced by Anil Ambani’s Reliance Industries for the quadrennial event in India.

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Image credits: BCCI and ICC Twitter