Former BCCI president Inderjit Singh Bindra, who played a major role, along with the late Jagmohan Dalmiya, in India hosting the World Cup in 1987 — the first time it was held outside England— passed away on Sunday. He was 84. Bindra was the BCCI president from 1993 to 1996, and was also the president of the Punjab Cricket Association for over three decades. He served as principal advisor of the International Cricket Council. Capt (retd) Sushil Kapoor, one of the PCA office bearers, who had worked with Bindra over the years, first met him in Patiala when Bindra was an IAS cadre officer in late 1970s. Bindra was instrumental in getting the International Stadium at Mohali in his capacity as Punjab Cricket Association president — a post he held from 1974 to 2014. “I had met Mr Bindra in Patiala, where he was posted at that time. The first impression was of him being dedicated to his work as well as his ability to plan cricketing activities in Patiala as well Punjab. When he came up with the idea of having an international stadium at Mohali, he regularly visited many banks to seek loans and one of the central banks provided a loan to the association for the stadium. Remember, these were pre-1996 World Cup days. It was his persistence that the stadium at Mohali got built,” Kapoor remembered. Bindra had become the BCCI president in 1993, a post which he held till 1996. Bindra along with Jagmohan Dalmiya would be instrumental for getting the sponsorship as well conducting the marquee event in the subcontinent. Kapoor remembers one particular moment during Bindra’s time as an administrator which showed that he would go the extra mile to get things done. “There was an India-Pakistan ODI at Mohali and it had rained the previous day. On the match day, I took the Pakistan manager to the Sukhna Lake for a walk at 11am thinking the match would see a delay. Suddenly we got a call from the PCA office that the match was starting at the scheduled time. When we came to the stadium, we got to know that Mr Bindra stayed the whole night at the stadium ensuring that the ground staff as well other staff made sure that match would happen. Such was his dedication. Over the years, international teams as well as captains would praise the hospitality of PCA Stadium. Even now, after the new stadium has been built at Mullanpur, players remember the atmosphere and hospitality at the old stadium,” Kapoor said.
When IS Bindra stayed up all night to ensure stadium was ready for India-Pakistan game after rain
