Prez’s trip down memory lane
NEW DELHI: Former India allrounder Madan Lal played a vital role in the upset win over West Indies in the 1983 World Cup final. And on Saturday, he got a big ‘Thank You’ from President Pranab Mukherjee. “I thank you once again for that over in which Viv Richards got out…Otherwise we would have lost. It was the turning point of the final,” Mukherjee told Madan Lal, who met him to gift a book on cricket. Mukherjee remarked that along with Indian culture, cricket too has been handy in improving bilateral ties. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday conveyed the best wishes to his four SAARC counterparts for the tournament. The President received a copy of “Cricket World Cup: The Indian Challenge” written by Londonbased cricket writer Ashish Ray. The author and Madan Lal had met the president. Although he is not sure how he will watch this World Cup, Mukherjee vividly remembered how the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked him to stop work and watch the India-West Indies final.