If the Afro-Asia Cup resumes, cricketers from India and Pakistan may join hands – just like they had to field a combined XI against Sri Lanka at Colombo ahead of the 1996 World Cup.
The story should begin with the 1983 World Cup final, when BCCI president NKP Salve asked for two extra passes and the MCC turned his request down. An angry Salve vowed to take the World Cup out of England, the only hosts of the tournament until then.
Salve knew it was not the job of one board. He joined hands with Noor Khan and Gamini Dissanayake, his counterparts in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Asian Cricket Council was founded in 1984. The Asian bloc ensured the 1987 World Cup was co-hosted by India and Pakistan.
Salve had fulfilled his vision, but the Asian bloc went a step ahead. England were all set to host the 1996 World Cup when, in a remarkable turn of 1993 ICC meeting, the Pak-Indo-Lanka Joint Management Committee (PILCOM) trumped them yet again. The three nations hosted the 1996 edition. The two boardroom triumphs out of Asia underlined the might of the three nations joining hands.
