India is the powerhouse of cricket. And a significant amount of the success it enjoys today is due to 1983 world cup victory. The world cup victory was the first time when a billion fans rejoiced for the gentlemen's game in India. The underdogs had defeated the world champions in the first match, as well in the finals of the tournament. The world cup turned out to be a game changer, not just for India but also for world cricket, which changed forever for the good of the game. And one such incident in the 1983 world cup led to the foundation of Asia Cup.

The story of Asia Cup began a day prior to the final between India and West Indies. And the hero of the story is the then President of BCCI N.K.P Salve. On one side, India was surprising everyone with their on field performance in the tournament by defeating the best sides which played the game till then. And on the other side, a newly developed fantasy to watch the game engulfed the minds of those watching in India. From ordinary people to members of the Indian Parliament, everyone was keen to see India win, and they wanted to witness every moment live on television.

Amongst these fans, were a few prominent names as well. And one such prominent person, the Union Minister Siddharth Shankar Rai expressed his desire to watch the final match happening the next day. While speaking to his friend, the BCCI president and ICC member, N.K.P Salve, Rai asked if he could arrange couple of tickets for him to which Salve graciously agreed. He put the proposal to the Lord's cricket club and England cricket board requesting them to do the needful. However the English board bluntly refused by saying that Salve was given 2 tickets only for ICC members and should rather be just happy with those instead of demanding few more.

This angered Salve as it was his team which was the one playing the tournament final, and he had been denied of something which was rightfully within his ownership rights. What further infuriated him is he saw most of the MCC members seats vacant on the day of the final. It was crystal clear that India defeating England in the semi-final had irked the hosts to the extent that they had no interest to entertain Indians anymore. And knowing these, Salve decided that he will take a revenge on the English, by hosting the next World Cup in India.

On 25th June, 1983, Kapil Dev and his men did the unthinkable. And immediately on the next day, 26th June 1983, Salve set out to make a plan for making his dream a reality. He realised that he needed to unite Asian cricket playing nations together to make this happen. Amidst the political tensions between India and Pakistan, he met the Pakistan board President Nur Khan on the same day, and he proposed the innovative idea to increase the importance of Asian countries in cricket. And Khan immediately agreed to what he said. The same year, a meeting was held in Lahore where Salve, Bindra and Jagmohan Dalmiya proposed the plan in presence of Khan and Srilankan board president Gamini Dissanayake. Salve was firm to make it a reality.

He knew that the journey was not easy. All the current and previous world cups were hosted in England. And there was an unwritten rule which allowed only England to host the grandest tournament in cricket. Furthermore, the veto powers possessed by Australia and English boards gave them the option to reject any proposal put ahead of them. And the same happened. When Salve proposed his idea of hosting the next world cup in India, it was rejected. The reason stated was that the lights in India would only allow a maximum 40 over each game, when the world cup had 60 over each game. Sighting that world cup was a long realised dream, Salve thought to prove them wrong by organising a full length one day tournament outside England. And that's how Asia Cup was brought into existence.

On 19th September 1983, Salve founded Asian Cricket Conference which would later be called as Asian Cricket Council. Salve presided the conference of cricket crazy nations which included India, Pakistan, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Singapore. This was the first time any other body than ICC was formed to organize international cricket matches. And it was the pioneer of continental cricket federations. Salve cleared the first step by creating a union of Asian nations for cricket, but still the dream of Asia Cup was far from reality as it required lot of funds and a stadium with appropriate infrastructure and facilities.

That's when Sheikh Abdul Rehman Bukhatir from Dubai came to the rescue. Bukhatir was deeply fond of the game since a long time, and regularly organised regional matches at the stadium he built in Sharjah. He accepted the proposal from ACC and went a mile ahead by financing the entire tournament along with giving a winning prize of 50000 dollars to champions. And a result of all of these combined led to the first ever Asia Cup being organised in Sharjah in 1984. It was a win-win situation for everyone involved in the tournament. Salve and his men were happy to organise the Asia Cup, thereby making a strong statement. And Bukhatir was deeply grateful to ACC to organise the first ever international match at Sharjah. Little did he know, that his favourite Sharjah stadium would go on in record books to host maximum number of international matches in the upcoming 4 decades.

World champions India led by Sunil Gavaskar went on to win the first ever Asia Cup by defeating Pakistan in the finals. And on the other hand, one Indian had defeated the English fragile ego which prevented any other country to host important tournaments outside England. The success of Asia Cup furthermore strengthened the case of Salve and India to host the entire tournament in the Indian subcontinent. And this time, the Veto powers had no reason to give, as a successful tournament of full-length matches was already hosted in Asia. Salve's persistence and Dalmiya and his men's combined efforts eventually helped them accomplish the dream of hosting the 1987 World cup in India and Pakistan.

The Asia Cup and the 1987 world cup happening outside England massively helped to decentralise cricket. The earlier self-proclaimed powerhouse of England was no more the only place where important tournaments would be hosted. And it led to every cricket playing nation have equal rights to host the important tournaments of the game they love and follow. Since Asia Cup pioneered the decentralisation of cricket, there was no need for any other continental organisation to come forward to do the same. Every country could now claim to host tournament, and hence there were no more continental cups organised to prove a point. Therefore, one does not find Australian Cup, Europe Cup, African Cup or American Cup even till this date. It was Salve and Asia Cup which did the job for all the cricket playing nations.

Asia Cup therefore is not just a symbol of the continent's love for the game. It infact is a symbol of a rebellion which increased importance of all the cricket playing nations bringing everyone at the same level. A insult of one Indian in 1983 world cup final led to the evolution of cricket as we see now. The 1983 world cup is often remembered by the fans for the victory against West Indies, Kapil Dev's magical 175, Sandeep Patil's semi-final heroics and few other aspects which are restricted to on field performances. However, it it much more than that. The world cup led to making cricket even better by breaking the monopoly of England and helping the game grow globally. The Asia Cup is therefore one of the most important tournaments in the history of the game. And to make it happen, there were a few men who were driven by the passion to do it no matter what. On the occasion of Asia Cup, we deeply thank N.K.P Salve for this gem of the tournament which helped making cricket better.