Lata Mangeshkar : An avid cricket fan
Nightingale of India, Lata Mangeshkar is an avid cricket fan. She even had the chance to watch the 1983 Cricket World Cup final from the galleries at Lord’s stadium.
The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has invited the Bharat Ratan awardee on the silver jubilee celebration of the world cup triumph to be held in Delhi on Sunday. The legendary singer, however, refused the invitation citing ill health.
Although she admits that neither she can forget the world cup final nor her 1983 concert in the capital, which she did to raise funds for winning team.
The jubilation ceremony is meant to partially thank her for her special concert that had helped pool Rs 20 lakh for Kapil Dev’s troops in 1983.
She reminisces, “I had invited Kapil Dev and his players for a dinner before the match in the hotel where I stayed. I wished them all the best and after that our team created history.”
At that time she was in London for a concert. But, her heart beat at the ground of Lord’s. She was desperate to watch the final as Indian cricketers won the semi-final against England. Mangeshkar smiles, “after clinching the trophy, Dev invited me for a dinner with the Indian team in London. I did go there and congratulated them.”
After she was back in India, she agreed for a concert without taking any money in lieu, the due amount for her performance was meant for the fund to reward the Indian winners. Mangeshkar tells, “the duration of the concert was four hours and all the team members sung a song, specially composed by my brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar along with me. I remember, Sunil Gavaskar and Dev stood beside me.”
Two decades later, Jagmohan Dalmiya who headed BCCI in 2003, repaid the debt to Lata by a fund raising match for her Pune hospital. The match was held after 2003 world cup when Saurav Ganguly led Indian team reached in the final.
“The duration of the concert was 4 hours. I remember that all the members of the team have sung a song with me specially composed by my brother Hridaynath. Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were standing besides me.” remembers the melody queen.
“After winning the trophy Kapil Dev has invited me for a dinner with the Indian team in London. I went there for a while and congratulated the team.” she said.
She told that after that concert in Delhi she had to flew back to London for a show thus could not get a chance to meet the players.
When asked about her favourite player, she said, “undoubtedly Sunil Gavaskar. He was the number one. Kapil is also amongst my favourite and how can I forget Sachin. He is the god of cricket. He is favourite of all cricket lovers.” said Lata.
Lata still has that enthusiasm and love for cricket. She watches all the matches of Indian team and defeat still upsets her a lot.
“Team India lost in first round in 2007 world cup. I felt very bad but it is pars and parcel of the game. I followed IPL also and backed Mumbai Indians for obvious reasons.” she said.
She finds the changes in the game in these 25 years are for the better.
“Why cricket only, everything has changed, including music. I don’t see any harm in it. It is natural and good.”
Which song of hers would she like to dedicate to the 1983 World Cup winners? “It has to be Vande Mataram,” she says.