From insults, a ‘Reliance World Cup’ to the richest cricketing board in the world: The rise and rise of BCCI
1983 — the year that transformed cricket in India. June 25, to be exact. Kapil Dev & co lifted India’s maiden World Cup trophy, having beaten the fiery West Indies on British soil.
India would have to wait another 28 years to win the trophy again, this time on home turf.
It’s 2023. And the cricketing world is witnessing a young Indian team as it cements its position at the top in the 50-overs format once more.
But what drove India’s stake in the Britain-born game?
The India-Pak cricket coup
It all began when N.K.P. Salve, the then Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President and Union Minister, was denied two extra passes to the 1983 World Cup final from the Test and County Cricket Board (TCCB).
With a bruised ego, Salve pledged to bring the World Cup out of a country which has hosted three editions already, England.
Salve met with his Pakistani counterpart — PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) president Air Marshall Nur Khan, and laid out his plans to host the next 1987 World Cup.
In 1984, the two neighbors joined hands to out-vote England 16–12 at the ICC general body meeting, and in 1987, the World Cup moved to the subcontinent.
This didn’t come cheap to either country though. According to a report by ESPN Cricinfo, to outdo England, India and Pakistan together sought to provide each participant country with a total of 40,000 pounds for the tournament, as against England's 20,000 pounds.
The format was also shortened to the current 50-overs with days in the East being shorter.
Breaking bank
Two problems fixed, another arose — where was the money?
“Getting money out of the two governments was not easy, but Salve had the Indian prime minister’s ear and strong connections with Indian business,” writes
