Kapil to hold it aloft again

India’s most cherished piece of silverware — the Prudential World Cup — will leave the BCCI headquarters for the first time since 1983; Sharad Pawar to present him the trophy in New Delhi on June 22

MUMBAI: A quarter-of-a-century after Kapil Dev wore his buck-tooth smile and held aloft the Prudential Trophy standing on the Lord’s balcony, India’s only World Cup winning skipper will be presented with the country’s most cherished piece of silverware again — albeit briefly.

BCCI president Sharad Pawar will present the Prudential World Cup to Kapil at the felicitation ceremony of the 1983 World Cup winning team that will be held on Sunday at the Taj Palace hotel, New Delhi. For the shutterbugs it will be a delight.

After being under lock and key for 25 years, first at the dilapidated BCCI office attached to the Brabourne Stadium and over the past 18 months in the trophy cabinet at the new glittering headquarters of cricket’s apex body at the Wankhede, the Prudential Cup will be carefully taken to New Delhi on Saturday.

“It will be the first time that the Prudential Cup will be moving out of the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai since 1983,” the Indian cricket board’s chief administrative office Ratnakar Shetty told DNA.

“After the BCCI president presents the trophy to Kapil, there will be a commemorative team photograph taken along with the Prudential World Cup. Both Pawar and Kapil are set to make speeches and each member may also speak about the 1983 World Cup experience. It is India’s finest victory and we will celebrate it in appropriate style,” Shetty added.

Incidentally, the Taj Palace is the very same hotel where Kapil’s Devils were felicitated when they returned to India after winning the World Cup. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had invited the team to New Delhi.

The cup will be brought back to the BCCI headquarters once the felicitation ceremony is completed as it is unlikely that it will be transported to Lord’s where the World Cup winning team will be participating in a celebratory dinner on June 25. “As on date we have not received any request for the Prudential Cup to be taken to Lord’s,” Shetty confirmed.

Incidentally, the cup, that has the names of the first three winners of the World Cup embossed on the metal ring along the wooden base, has not been in the public glare, except on a couple of occasions.

It was just before the Caribbean World Cup in March-April last year that the trophy was shifted from the old BCCI office to the new one as there were many requests for a photo opportunity of the Cup.

Previously, in 1999, the Prudential Cup was damaged when Shiv Sena activists ransacked the old BCCI office to protest against Pakistan’s tour of India. However, since then it has been restored to its pristine condition.

Just last week the cup was polished to ensure that it looks at its best when Kapil holds it aloft once more on Sunday

Meanwhile, in a bid to soothe Kapil Dev’s hurt sentiments, the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) on Wednesday assured the World Cup winning captain that his memorabilia is being preserved “in the most befitting manner” and his mural, which was removed due to construction work, would soon grace the Mohali stadium again, according to agency reports from Chandigarh.

Miffed after his mural was brought down two weeks back, Kapil shot off an e-mail to the PCA, asking them to return him all his memorabilia if they cannot preserve them.

PCA secretary MP Pandove said, “We have full respect for Kapil Dev and all his memorabilia and gifts are well preserved. This has nothing to do with Kapil joining the Indian Cricket League.”

Pandove also said that Kapil’s mural would soon be back where it was. “It was removed as the construction work is going on and after the rainy season Kapil’s cutout will be back at its original place,” Pandove said.