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Former BCCI president IS Bindra. (FILE photo)
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.
Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a three-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. His latest Laadli Award, in November 2025, came for an article on Deepthi Jeevanji, who won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship and was taunted for her unusual features as a child. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More
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