When Nightingale of India rescued BCCI post '83 win

When Kapil Dev lifted the World Cup at the Lord’s balcony, the erstwhile BCCI president and one of the powerful ministers in the Indira Gandhi Cabinet, late NKP Salve, had a different worry. It was still some years to go for economic liberalisation and an astute businessman like Jagmohan Dalmiya’s foresight to turn cricket into an industry.

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Kapil’s Devils needed to be celebrated, but the BCCI barely paid its cricketers a daily allowance of 20 pounds. Salve had to turn to his “Man Friday” and Indian cricket’s “one-stop Encyclopedia” Raj Singh Dungarpur for a solution to be able to reward the players for such an achievement.

“Raj bhai”, as Dungarpur was known in Indian cricket circle, decided that the only way was to request his close friend and one of country’s biggest cricket fans Lata Mangeshkar to do a pro-bono concert in the national capital’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The IG was packed to capacity as Lata ji did a near two-hour programme.

The event ensured that BCCI collected enough money and each of the 14 members got Rs 1 lakh each as cash award. “It was a very decent sum in those days. We would otherwise save up tour money and daily allowance for that month and it came to Rs 60,000,” Sunil Valson recollected. — Agencies

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