India, Feb. 3 -- There has always been a confluence of sports and politics, no matter the game, no matter the country. While politics has often fuelled rivalries on the field, sports, paradoxically, has also brought people together across borders, irrespective of political fault lines. Few sporting contests embody this paradox better than cricket's greatest rivalry: India versus Pakistan.

When India won the Prudential Cup in 1983 and ushered in a new era for world cricket, then BCCI president NKP Salve and his Pakistani counterpart, Air Marshal Nur Khan, together challenged the Old World Order to bring the World Cup to the subcontinent in 1987. Despite being on the brink of war, India and Pakistan co-hosted the tournament, a rare triumph...