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Lankan who united India, Pak

Last Updated 10 August 2017, 19:18 IST

At 88, Neil Perera’s tall frame betrays few signs of the handsome hunk he was during his playing days.

There is hesitation in each of his steps as he moves along with the help of his walking stick. His memory fails him every now and then.

“My memory is bad now,” he says with an innocent smile as he proudly flips through numerous clippings about himself in Sri Lankan newspapers.

His spirit, though, is still intact. His eyes light up as he talks about Lanka’s first win away from home (in New Zealand) with him as the manager of the team. His delight is obvious when he recalls his visit to India in 1975, again as manager, and flashes a mischievous smile when he talks about India-Pakistan (cricketing) relations.

“They are always pulling in different directions,” he tells you. 

In a rare such occurrence, however, Perera can proudly claim to have succeeded in not only bringing India-Pakistan to the same table but also convince them to join hands with each other to bring the 1996 World Cup to the sub-continent. 

Perera, to this day, has preserved the letter from the then BCCI secretary the late Jagmohan Dalmiya who was all praise for the Lankan’s successful efforts to get all three Asian nations on one side. Dalmiya, the tournament chief, wrote: “I would like to thank you for all the hard work that you did in the last few months to make the joint bid of Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka successful. In fact, without your crucial role in the ICC meeting in London on February 2, 1993, the ‘cake’ would have not come to the subcontinent. In the meeting, we observed how you intervened on time and placed your opinion forcefully, even in the face of strong opposition from the other side. And the success of the joint bid owes a lot to your hard work and efficiency.”
 
Having been readmitted into International Cricket Council, South Africa were keen to host the 1996 World Cup and England wanted the tournament back in their country after the 1987 (India-Pakistan) and 1992 (Australia-New Zealand) events. While India weren’t interested in hosting the Cup, Pakistan wanted to go alone and Sri Lanka had been instructed by their government to support South Africa’s bid upon Nelson Mandela’s request.


“At the meeting to decide the hosts, I suggested to my Pakistani and Indian counterparts as to why we can’t jointly host the tournament,” Perera says as he takes some time to refresh his memory. “India were receptive to the idea but Pakistan weren’t. They wanted to go alone and so we had to abandon the idea of hosting the World Cup. We already knew that South Africa wanted to host but at the meeting, England too put their bid forward. There were nine full members in the ICC, which was headed by Lord Colin Cowdrey as its chairman. South Africa and England got four votes each, while Pakistan voted for themselves.”


Sensing an opportunity, Perera decided to step in to get India and Pakistan together and convince them that with all three nations together (including Sri Lanka), they had a better chance of winning the bid. He spoke about the same to his Board and got their consent to execute the plan. 

   
“The meeting was temporarily adjourned to resolve the stand-off between the delegates and that’s when I approached the then PCB President General Khan and told him that since Pakistan didn’t have much of a hope to host the tournament, he should bid with us and India. He reluctantly agreed and when the members voted again, South Africa pulled out. Our joint bid got five votes and England managed four but it wasn’t enough as we needed two-third majority and Lord Cowdrey nominated Sir Clyde Walcott to work out a solution to resolve the crisis. A compromise formula was finally struck with England opting to back out on condition that they get the World Cup in 1999. Similarly, South Africa demanded hosting rights for the 2003 World Cup and thus the matter was resolved,” he reminisces.


Unfortunately, Perera wasn’t part of Sri Lanka cricket board as he had to step down in 1994, but his effort was duly recognised. He was invited for both the semifinal (Sri Lanka vs India) in Kolkata and final (Lanka vs Australia) in Lahore and got to witness Lanka’s greatest moment in their cricketing history as they won the event.

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(Published 10 August 2017, 19:18 IST)

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