Speaking of fallen heroes, let us spare a moment's thought for the men who, about 25 years ago, defined a nation with their underdog achievements. Knights, like the Templar, who in the last 25 years, have been forgotten, remembered, ostracized and humiliated by the modern version of that all powerful, "hand of God" organization, the BCCI. Of course I refer to that band of 14 merry men, led by the Robin Hood from Haryana.
"Kapil's Devils" fired the imagination of a generation. For a country that has always struggled in sporting arenas across the world, they brought with them the tag of "World Champions". As every news channel in this country has already pointed out, they "Lorded" over the "Mecca of Cricket". This was the team which made cricket what it has become in India, and consequently, the world today. Think of it this way - had June 25, 1983 been another West Indian triumph, there would be no IPL, no ICL, no Champions League, nothing. There would never be enough money in cricket, compared to the millions and billions in Soccer, Basketball and suchlike. That victory was what made the Indian cricket fan buy into the sport, fill up the seats, watch it at 3 am on TV LIVE from the Caribbean and allow every corporate worth their salt to dip their hands into cricket advertising.
On the Silver Jubilee of the cup, the old men, some of them now Granddads, got together again, and everyone in the Indian media was there to interview them, with the same, pedantic questions... How did Ballu Sandhu manage to bowl the perfect inswinger to dismiss Greenidge? What was Kapil thinking of when he took the famous "running backwards" catch off Viv Richards? How did "Mr. Trivia" Sunil Valson feel about getting a winner's medal, despite never playing a game? Even the BCCI hosted a gala event, awarding everyone 25 lakh rupees each for their achievements. But it was a funny sight to see Mr. Pawar standing next to Kapil, about 2 days after insisting that no one with any links to the ICL would be allowed to play in the Champions League, and threatening English counties towards the same. And the irony, it seems, was totally lost on the Indian public...
Kapil Dev Nikhanj, the World Cup winning captain, the centre of all attention, heads the breakaway league, with colleagues Sandhu, Madan Lal and Sandeep Patil as coaches. Each one of them has been mercilessly targetted by the Board for stepping "out of line"... Their pensions have been stopped, and perhaps it was only after Sunny Gavaskar had twisted a few arms in the organization that the Board actually decided to save face and "honour" the players... What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is another case of "history repeats itself", albeit on a smaller scale... Pope Pawar XIII, along with his cohorts - Bishops Modi, Manohar, Shah and the like, is out to get the old devils...
What the Indian public should understand after this episode, is
that the Board, which was just about bankrupt in 1983 and would've remained were it not for the efforts of these men, has become a conniving, hypocritical organisation, driven by profit motive, which has understood how to milk its cash-cows, the players. And like any Yankee farm-owner, it will shoot the cow that strays onto another's pasture. But at least for a few days, people like Gavaskar and Shastri, the morally-correct lay preachers, were reunited with the Devils, and thank goodness that after the media glare, the BCCI and everything else thrown at them, they got their old boys' reunion in the long-room at Lord's, far from the madding crowd. And ofcourse, justice was delivered...
The Holy Grail of World Cricket once again found its way into the hands of our own Mary Magdalene/Satan, one Mr. Kapildev Ramlal Nikhanj.
