'Mr Bindra stressed the importance of marketing the game which helped Indian cricket massively. Not only have state associations become self sufficient but the cricketers have also benefitted greatly.'
As he is laid to rest, Indian cricket bids farewell to one of its greatest administrators -- a visionary who understood that breaking monopolies and building stadiums were about the same thing: Giving millions of cricket-loving Indians the infrastructure worthy of their passion.
Inderjit Bindra, who raised Indian cricket on the world stage in the 1990s and early years of this century, passed into the ages on Sunday. 26 years ago, Mr Bindra spoke at length to Rediff about his vision for Indian cricket, an interview which we republish in his memory.
'If the BCCI's coffers are inundated with funds today, much of the credit must go to Jagmohan Dalmiya.'
The Supreme Court needs to step in and order an independent inquiry into the whole IPL scandal, conflicts of interest between office-holders of the BCCI, team-owners of the IPL and even members and captain of the Indian team, says KC Singh
It was Dalmiya's decision to open sports broadcasting to private channels in the country. Until the late 1990s, Doordarshan held sole rights to broadcasting BCCI events in India. Dalmiya along with IS Bindra, another cricket administrator, took on the state and fought for air waves to be opened up in cricket broadcasting.
Some stellar performances by seasoned veterans and promising youngsters continued to raise the bar in Olympic sports but there was heartbreak in equal measure when corruption scandals blighted India's favourite obsession, cricket, in a see-saw year for the country's sportspersons.
'No country can go from zero to hero at the Olympics.' 'A hundred Indians now feature in the world's top 25 and that's progress,' says Shekhar Gupta.
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